I hear you. But this is nothing new. Nate hates change. He hates risk. He stuck with Roy over Matthews long after everybody knew he was done. He stuck with Magloire over Aldridge in his rookie year. He stuck with Blake over Andre for an absurd amount of time. He had a pretty poor plan for using Oden back when he was healthy, trying to turn him into another Przybilla. He leaves his starters in at end of games in pretty major blowouts because there's a 10% chance of a comeback. He switches on pick-and-rolls to prevent the risk of the open 20 footer. He likes running a slow-paced, low-turnover game. This is just what Nate does. He's the most risk-averse coach I've ever seen. He does great when change is forced through injury, but otherwise, yeesh. Of course, he's also one of the longest-tenured coaches in the league (11 years coaching and never fired once!), so maybe he's figured something out. Coaches get fired a lot more for failed experiments than they do for failing to experiment. It's a little like not going for it on 4th down. Statisticians will tell you that it's wiser for the team to go for it on 4th down rather than punting in far more cases than what happens. But coaches don't get fired much for punting. They get fired when a team fails to get that 4th down, and the loss is pinned on that decision. So they punt. Sometimes what's best for a coach's career doesn't coincide with what's best for the team.
That's not a bad thing. A guy with a ~19 PER should play more than 26mpg, especially when he's one of the best and most versatile defenders on the team. ^this.
Yeah, Matthews has sure lit up the league. LMA was starting by year-end until he missed the last two weeks with his heart issue. He stuck with Blake for a whopping 16 games. Miller started the final 66 games. Completely not based in reality. The Blazers ran plays into Oden on the post, sometimes to the detriment of the team early in games. 25 point loss to PHX: Nolan Smith 13 minutes, Eliot Williams 10 minutes, Chris Johnson 9 minutes - Babbit and Johnson were in D-league. 16 point loss to SAS: 9 point SAS lead with 4:15 left. SAS scores next 8 points over 2:00 of game time. Nate empties bench with 2:15 left (N. Smith/Babbit/C. Johnson/E. Williams/C. Smith all enter game) Every other game has been within 8 points. Portland is 4th in DEF EFF this year. Whatever they're doing on defense, it's working. In the past, yes. This year, the pace is much faster, is Top 8 in the NBA, yet the OFF EFF numbers are down. He sure seems to be running more with this year's roster. Coaches get fired for failing, not for failed experiments. Nate has yet to fail in his boss' eyes, now in his second job. I agree with this, but as terrible as Nate supposedly is, he has his team in the running for a 4th straight playoff, and that's with a starting back-court that is literally the worst in the NBA offensively. Thankfully, both Matthews and Felton are still playing defense, so I'll credit Nate for keeping them focused when their offense is struggling.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record.... The vast majority of pro coaches (in any sport) shy away from risk. Bringing in a new coach won't change that. It will mean fresh eyes on the problems - and there is value in that.
Its not even the amount of minutes Batum gets (which I think obviously should be atleast 30+ a night) that bothers me. Its how when were playing like garbage early in games and have to play the inevitable comeback type ball, yet Nate still waits till there's 2 minutes left in the 1st to put Batum in the game. Or late in the 3rd. Stop the bleeding early Nate! Put your 2nd best player in the damn game!
That's a reasonable request to me. Move LMA to the 5, Wallace to 4, give Camby some rest, and see what happens. The team is bad in the first half.
