So where do we disagree? Bayless is struggling and the team needs either Brandon or Andre on the court at all times. The offense is terrible when neither of them are on the floor and having Martel out there with J-Bay only makes it worse.
I think the point that a lot of folks are missing here right now is that there are some things the second unit is getting right: hustle and defense. Yea they are struggling offensively. But a few weeks back, we were not getting the hustle and defense out of this reserve unit that we are getting now. IMO getting stops is more important than the rest, because getting stops feeds the offense. Getting stops feeds more open court opportunities. As long as that second unit continues to play hard, you will get at least that much out of them.
You guys are acting as if the big adjustment came from McMillan. Getting rid of the 2-platoon system was possible only because Roy was forced to grow up. Roy now has to share the ball more. That's why he doesn't seem quite as good as last year, when he had his carte blanche cake and ate it too. (I tried to merge two metaphors.)
in the preseason and early season this was discussed a lot. it was something like half the playoff teams from last year who didn't start their best 5 so they could bring one or more of them off the bench. this year there is the lakers(odom), mavs(terry), nuggets(jr smith), spurs(manu), cavs(varejao), and hawks(crawford). in this specific case with the blazers, that strategy didn't end up seeming like it was working out the best. so it was switched. i was simply commenting that one of the reasons miller was coming off the bench at first was to make sure there was always a guard on the floor who could run the team.
Many of those players listed above, are volume shooters who do not get along well with starting units. But in a second unit that would struggle to score otherwise, they fit in well. But if Jamaal Crawford was jacking up the shots he does in the beginning of the game when Joe Johnson and Josh Smith should be getting theirs, that would not go over so well.
I guess I didn't get much beyond the "Nate needs to pull Miller earlier ..." part of your post that I quoted.
