Hmm, that's interesting. It should be pretty easy, all the characters but one are on the left side of the keyboard.
^FYI, Mags.....Sarcasm^ I get it, Michael. I have been a broken record about it for 5 years because I saw it earlier than a lot of others did. Doesn't make anyone better than anyone else, just an observation. Nate's offense has been a joke for 11 years, but he has usually had a great finisher to make it look better than it is. People are now starting to see it, so it would be wise for me to just pipe down and not say I told you so. Even though I did
Well either you believe in Batum or you dont. If you going to coach him half assed and back and forth then its no wonder that he has no idea who he is as a player on this team. If Nate believes in him then its time to do 2 things. One, give him more minutes. And two, make him a solid second option on offense. Until you try these 2 things you will only continue to see flashes in the pan with Batum. No one doubts he has talents its stability that he needs. I would just assume go for it and see what we have with him.
So Nate yanked Batum b\c he passed up a 3pt shot and instead passed the ball to Felton (which was the REAL error\crime of that play). What is this, fucking high school? Nate has got to let guys just play, pull Batum aside explain to him that if he gets the ball like that again that he is expected to shoot it. What message does yanking him from the game show? Not a posistive one, that kind of stuff might work better in high school or college, it doesn't have anywhere close to the same effect in the NBA.
Yeah it's some serious bullshit. Batum is by far our second best player and it's criminal to give him less minutes than a guard tandem that is averaging less than 40% from the field and more turn overs than I can count. Felton is a failed experiment. Matthews is playing terrible. You would at least think Batum would be getting more minutes than these guys.
Nate's done, I think we are finally seeing the beginning of the end for his tenure, and thank goodness for that.
Makes me wonder. Who would say Nate learned his coaching style from. Karl? Im honestly not sure. And then I would wonder how successful his mentor has been with that style?
That's one of Nate's biggest problems. He tries to force his personel to match his system, rather than tweek his system to take advantage of his roster. Batum gets less minutes than the veteran Wallace, because when given the option, Nate prefers to play veterans over younger players. And, our guards suck. So, go big and play Camby, Aldridge, Wallace, Batum and Crawford, or go small and play Aldridge, Wallace, Batum, Matthews, and Crawford - DEPENDING on the match-ups. Nate NEVER adjusts his rotation to take advantage of mismatches. Why not, other coaches do it all the time. If there are any Nate apologists left (are there?), I'm sure they will claim Nate is doing the best he can with the roster he's been given; that it's not his fault our guard play has sucked. Bullshit! Yes, our guard play has sucked. SO FUCKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Dont' just keep trotting the same pathetic line-ups out there game, after game, after game and hope that something will magically get better. Isn't it the coach's job to make adjustments when the team is playing poorly? If Nate can't/won't make those adjustments, it's time to get someone who can. BNM
Nate's sticking with the existing starting lineup for tomorrow night's game: http://www.blazersedge.com/ Feeding time for the Ripcity2 piranha.
This seems silly considering the team was running a lot early in the year, and is still playing at a much faster pace, than in seasons' past. Portland is 9th in pace so far this year. All the posters who whined for years about pace are now getting their wish, yet they're still whining because the pace isn't producing wins. Maybe it wasn't pace after all, but rather a reason to whine? Seems to me Nate should go back to his comfort zone and start winning games instead of trying to push pace with a team full of turnover machines. EDIT - Portland is 5th best in the NBA in TO%. I pwned myself on that stat because I was just going with my gut.
The last three seasons, Portland was 29th, 30th, and 30th in pace. They were a playoff team. This year, Portland is 9th in pace, and are a full 5 points higher at 95.4 than they were in any of the three playoff years. I know, I know. I'm sure I'm just misusing stats again.
Portland is 12th in offensive efficiency and 4th in defensive efficiency. I guess I'm a "Nate apologist", because I guess I don't see the reason for panic. The team is in the top 40% offensively, and the top 15% defensively.
Nate is definitely running out of bullets. His guards mostly can't shoot, mostly can't be relied on to generate a high percentage shot (either for themselves or others) and guessing that he's thinking "isolation" when he says "finishing," he's rght, there aren't a lot of people capable of of consistently producing in these kinds of situations. But to blame offensive problems on consistency when he consistently keep his best shooter off the floor for 20-25 minutes a night, baffles me. He's not going to be able to work miracles by juggling lineups because there's a talent deficiency and the pieces don't fit together all that great, but it would be nice to see him at least toy with the idea of moving Wesley to the bench in favor of a Nic who should be able to do two things at a higher level -- shooting from the perimeter which creates space for LaMarcus and making a post entry pass (with at least roughly the same level of defense).
