I'm quite surprised on how he's handling close games. He actually calls good time outs and doesn't look like he panics. I really thought he would be in over his head.
If Canales was hired to tank, he should be fired, because the Blazers have a better record (admittedly small sample) with him than with McMillan.
I don't think management wanted to tank. I think they wanted the fans to have something to cheer for. No one would really cheer for the lotto.
Not just better this season (6-6 vs. 20-23) but better total record with the Blazers (6-6 vs. 266-269). That's right. In six and a half seasons in Portland, Nate McMillan had a losing record as the Trail Blazers head coach. But hey, he was a nice guy and a sharp dresser... BNM
OK, nice guy, sharp dresser and led the league in 2nd half point differential in spite of a losing record. BNM
A winning record as a head coach despite running D-League talent at times and being comptetive in nearly every game. I rest my case.
In fairness, when Nate arrived the team was coming off a year where they had the worst record in the league. Not winning at first was excusable. Never winning a playoff series, not so much. This season, not at all. And really, it would only be a fair comparison if Canales coached for 5 years, which I doubt will happen.
Actually, Nate coached them to the worst record in the league. I actually did a talent comparison from our current team to that team that only won 27 games. The stats are very similar actually. In fact, the team had very similar talent. I think Nate proven that he can only win when he has a superstar wing. The only times he had winning records is when he had either B-Roy or Ray Allen on his team. I think Nate should look for a team with a superstar wing. If he can't find one, then he will never win.
Who was Nate's superstar wing in Seattle? Ray Allen isn't exactly a wing who consistently creates his own offense. And how did he manage to coach a team to 48 wins last year with an ineffective Brandon Roy? Or, can we also say that Canales is a .500 coach with an All-Star and All-NBA front court player? Comparing Canales to any NBA coach at this point is not only unfair to Canales, but it smacks of desperation.
Last year's difference was Andre Miller. He played out of his mind last season and worked perfectly with Aldridge. Also, Miller didn't listen to Nate like the other PGs and called his own plays a lot of times. Oh and Ray Allen was absolutely a superstar wing in Seattle.
So the Blazers made the playoffs in spite of Nate last year. Yet this year, Denver is barely hanging on to a playoff spot, yet George Karl plays Miller off of the bench. Got it. Ray Allen's game and Brandon Roy's game aren't even close to being the same. I feel like you're being a bit vague with your "superstar" wing comments. I also wonder what coach has been successful without a "superstar wing". I suppose the Spurs, but Ginobli has made some All-Star games. I think having a "superstar" is a rarity, but if you think Roy and Ray Allen are superstars, then I guess we have a different definition of that term.
"superstar" isnt clearly defined, i would define it as someone who is on alot of national commercials
Ray Allen is more of a superstar than Roy was. And for brainiac, he had a movie and was in commercials. So I guess he was a superstar. And miller is coming off the bench in Denver. So his contribution to Denver isn't the same as it was in Portland. And miller had to learn a new playbook. I bet our team would have been much better this season if we didn't trade miller for Felton.
Allen had two seasons of 70+ games with a PER over 22, and only one was in Seattle. Ginobli had a higher PER that year. That's not a "superstar", IMO.
