A very poor NBA team comes in and just kicks our fanny. Numerous games where we collapsed late. A roster that's a horrific mess. I'm thinking that after this loss to the Wizards the players may start to tune Nate out as the playoffs are a pipe dream now. An owner that seems paranoid about GMs with a lick of sense. A management group based on back stabbing and getting rid of anyone who might get PA's ear to do anything good. An inability to evaluate talent and make sound draft choices or trades. I think I have finally come to the point where it is an absolute necessity for PA to sell the team to an owner and management group that is competent. Given the current circumstances I see no real hope of turning the franchise around. I mean, I realize we lost Roy & Oden to injuries and what a different team we'd be if we hadn't, but the other decisions have been so awful as to be wondering just what in the hell PA's doing.
Maybe so. I like Nate and think he's a better than average coach, but sometimes a change for change sake is needed. In the past he's often done a good job with poor talent and depleted rosters.
but wait mike barrett says "after 28 games last year the blazers were 14 14 hahahahaha gotta love the mikes
Well, I get all that. The argument would be that both Failton & Crawful are proven NBA commodities and even though they're playing poorly it's a matter of time before they snap out of their funk. That may or may not be true. In the case of Failton, he's just not a good player- period. His turnovers and late game mistakes have nothing to do with anything except his abilities. In the case of Crawful, he gets a lot of good looks that he misses, so it's not the system- it's him. As to Crash... maybe he's not as tough a player as we think he is. Or maybe Nate is using him all wrong. After all, he's no longer the featured player and plays a supporting role. Matthews is not, repeat NOT, a starting SG NBA material and never has been. I think he's a decent player, but his talent level was poorly evaluated by the Blazers. He needs to go to the bench in favor of Nic or someone else- maybe Crawful or Williams. And, yes, a coaching change is needed.
Yeah but he's 137 years old and will only coach a veteran team looking for a title. Lambier comes to my mind.
But Laimbeer almost certainly would. He's champing at the bit to coach in the NBA. He might be good, but I'm not sure. I think whomever we hire needs to focus on two players: Batum and Aldridge. Aldridge has demonstrated that he now has a winning mentality, but Batum is still inconsistent. We need somebody to come in and (to use David Thorpe's term) feed him the Royal Jelly. Some coaches are good at this but nothing else - I'm thinking of Isiah Thomas, who would always pick a particular player (Jermaine O'Neal, Eddy Curry) and build him up, but without making the team a winner. Kevin McHale seems to strike a good balance. Flip Saunders seemed to have that skill with PGs, at least until the Wizards broke him. I see Laimbeer as being more of a bully.
I'm not saying that Laimbeer wouldn't be interested in coaching the Blazers but when was the last a team has ever gone outside of the organization during the season when a coach has been fired? It just doesn't happen. The team just puts the assistant head coach in charge and rides with that until the season is over. Then they look at bringing in someone from the outside.
You're probably right. In fact, I think PA would be loathe to let Nate go. Nate will have to leave on his own. Then Bernie would take over for the rest of the season and then we can look for a replacement.
