<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Is there any doubt Nate McMillan is a blue-collar, working-class coach? Searching for a place to eat an early dinner before he watches a future opponent on the tube, the Trail Blazers? first-year coach chooses Sweet Tomatoes over a high-priced steak and seafood house. ?Got to get my fix,? says McMillan, grinning as he loads up at the salad bar. Tonight?s date with New Jersey ends an eight-game homestand and marks the halfway point of McMillan?s initial season with Portland after 19 years as a player, assistant coach and head coach with the Seattle SuperSonics. McMillan shares with the Portland Tribune how he feels about his players, his team and his new city. Trib: Your team, one of the youngest and least experienced in the NBA, enters tonight?s game with a 14-26 record. What?s your assessment of the progress you?ve seen thus far? McMillan: I can see some improvement with the players learning to play the game. We have a ways to go as far as trust in each other, but that just takes time because it is a new team. The biggest thing is the attitude and the commitment ? getting players to commit to a style of play and to winning basketball. It takes you a year or two to figure out what you have and what your players are all about. Trib: How are you with the win-loss record? McMillan: There are a few games we probably should have won. Nobody wants to be where we are. I?m not happy with that, even though we are in a so-called rebuilding situation. One of the most difficult things to do is try to rebuild, develop and win at the same time. Where do you draw the line? Do you risk losing games in order to develop (young players)? That?s a tough decision every night. Those young players need to be out there in a critical part of a game. You need to see what they can do with a game on the line. But you have some guys, like (Juan) Dixon and (Steve) Blake, who?ve been out there before and are a little more mature and can help get you over the hump on a particular night. Trib: Have you felt pressure from ownership and management to play the young players more than you want? McMillan: They haven?t come to me with that. Mr. (Paul) Allen has asked about Martell (Webster) and (Sergei) Monia and Travis (Outlaw) and all the young guys when they?re not playing. I tell him, they will play. The reason why they?re not playing at that time is, we can only play so many guys. They?ll get their chances. (Ownership and management) aren?t telling me they want to get the young guys more time. We try to develop that, but at the same time, we want to build a winning habit, a mentality. Throwing those guys out there and getting blown out doesn?t help us. You can blend them in with veterans and allow them to play and gain skill development. Sometimes watching and observing as opposed to being out there is advantageous. Actually, the young guys have played a lot of minutes. Trib: It?s almost unprecedented having 14 players average double-figure minutes a game, isn?t it? McMillan: When I looked at those numbers, I was surprised myself. But it?s really difficult to find time for everyone. Trib: How much communication do you have with the owner? McMillan: I call Paul occasionally, and when he comes into town, we talk. He wants to know how the guys are doing. We talked about Martell and Monia going to the developmental league. We have a good relationship. Trib: Was the six-game losing streak early in January the low point of the season for you? McMillan: Not really. Even though we lost all those games, you?re looking at how you?re losing, what?s missing and what you need to do. ? Because of where we are, I have to be careful about how low I allow myself to get. I knew we?d go through some of this. I knew with the plan we have in place, it?s not only going to be tough this year, but it may be tough next year. I have to get up in the morning and come back and do it again ? make sure we?re teaching not only for tomorrow, but for next year. Trib: Over the last six games ? four straight wins and competitive losses to Dallas and Denver ? has the team taken strides forward? McMillan: I think so. It?s been a good stretch where things have gone right. I?ve seen the players try to do defensively what I want them to do. Like Zach (Randolph). He did a nice job against (Dallas star Dirk) Nowitzki. I don?t expect Zach to ever become a stopper, but the effort is more important than anything. We know you score. That?s your mentality. Because you?re playing with the ball so much, your teammates will accept you taking as many shots as you do as long as you give an effort on the defensive end. Trib: You included yourself in shortcomings in the overtime loss to Dallas. How do you feel you?re doing as coach of this team? McMillan: Someone else has to make that decision. I work hard every day. Wins and losses don?t measure who I am or what I do. It will eventually be my measuring stick (by ownership and management), but I know what I bring every day. Trib: What?s been the best moment for you thus far this season? McMillan: Our road win against Memphis (on Dec. 21). We were trying to figure things out. Memphis was a pretty hot team. We beat them. We played hard. We played smarter. I felt good about that one. Trib: Has there been a surprise player for you? McMillan: (Long pause) Probably Ha (Seung-Jin). He may be able to become a pretty decent center one day. He works hard, and he listens. The other guys haven?t been a surprise because I knew their potential, and I?m trying to bring that potential out. Monia is another one I didn?t know about. He can play. Once he?s in this country for a few years and learns the terminology ? he looks like a choirboy, but he?s a tough kid. Trib: I thought you might say Blake. McMillan: I always felt like Blake could play. This summer when we talked about bringing him in, I thought he could do the things I want a point guard to do. He?s shot the ball better than I expected. When I saw him play in Washington last year, he played a lot like (Seattle?s) Luke Ridnour. He plays hard. He?s into the game on every possession at both ends of the floor. You don?t find many players like that. Trib: How long will it take to build a playoff contender? McMillan: That?s something we have to talk about within the organization. Basically, the plan has been for this year. I haven?t really gone past that. What will we do with the free-agent market next summer? We?ll know more on draft day. But I also feel if I get this thing in place and get the players who fit what I want to do here, it won?t be a short-term deal. It?ll be something that will mean consistent winning and a playoff team every year. Does it take two years of getting thumped? Maybe so. Because so much has gone on here in the past, maybe I?ll have to take some hits for a year or two. But we have the resources to get people in place to get this thing going right. Trib: Are Randolph and Darius Miles the cornerstones for the future, or must some moves be made at the top end of the roster? McMillan: They?re my guys. I inherited these guys. With the contracts they have, they?re going to be here. This is who I have. I have to try to get out of them what I can. With Zach and Miles, this is the way it is: If you?re going to be a go-to guy and be considered a franchise player, these are the things you have to do for us. This is the commitment you must give us. The organization made the decision before I got here that these are going to be the guys we build around. I signed a contract to coach this team. These are the two guys I have to develop. I have to get out of them what potential the organization felt they have. Trib: Attendance has been at an all-time low since the Rose Garden opened. Has that bothered you? McMillan: We have to prove to the fans we deserve their support and their money. If I?m going to pay for a ticket, I want to see something good, something I?m proud of. I totally understand that. Trib: How has the transition from Seattle to Portland gone for you personally? McMillan: It?s been smooth. A lot of people here don?t like me because I?m from Seattle. I can understand that. Over time, people will start to give me a chance. I don?t even feel comfortable in Seattle anymore, because I?m not there. It?s like I?m not even supposed to be there. It?s nothing toward the city, the fans or the organization. It?s just I work in Portland now. It?s where my heart is at. Trib: Your wife, Michelle, and your kids, Jamelle and Brittany, have remained in Seattle. Are they still visiting you at your West Linn home on a regular basis? McMillan: Michelle comes down every weekend. We have a nanny now, so she can leave the kids. My daughter comes down more than my son, because he?s playing (high school) basketball. But they all approved the move to Portland before I did. Trib: Has everything you are required to do been almost too overwhelming? McMillan: It?s a challenge. It?s fun when you win, but it?s only for a quick moment. As you walk out of the arena, you?re thinking about the next game. I?ve had to put out a few fires, but not once have I thought I should?ve stayed in Seattle. I know the move I made was the right move. Right now it?s more teaching than coaching, and that?s fun.</div> http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=33580
Nate should not be as candid with the media as he is, especially when talking about his opposition to what management feels (felt) about certain "franchise" and younger players. Nate hasn't done anything in Portland for him to walk around with some type of chip on his shoulder. In his five seasons in Seattle he made the playoffs twice, which doesn't seem horrible until you consider that the Sonics had only missed the playoffs once in the decade before he became head coach. Nate's leash in Portland may not be as long as he feels it will be. In my estimation if he doesn't make considerable strides in year two he may not get the opportunity to finish out year three. Nate is a strong mind, but he isn't a strong basketball mind. The iron fist that he leads with may end up striking him in the end--and something tells me that he is alright with that as long as he is cashing his checks. If coaching contracts weren't guaranteed Nate wouldn't have 1.) Taken the Portland job and 2.) Be on as high of a horse that he is riding right now. We don't miss him as much as he thinks in Seattle.
