Portland Tribune discusses Andre vs. Blake

I am convinced that Roy and Mller will work just fine together. Rice said it best when Miller hit a 15-18 foot set shot: "You don't have to stand at the three point line to spread the floor" (or something to that effect).

Plus I think with Martel, Rudy or LMA in the game, Brandon has other options to drive and dish.

On the other hand I don't give a flying f@#$ if Miller starts or not. I want him in the game at the end of the 1st/start of the 2nd and the end of the 3rd/and most of the 4th.

 

Actually, McMillan was quite bad at running that mind-boggling platoon system until fairly recently. Maybe he thinks Miller can run the 2nd unit because he (Nate) still isn't used to running a more conventional substitution pattern?

My hunch is that the handling of Miller's signing/usage will be what gets McMillan fired within the year. For all the gushing over Miller's knowledge after that Vegas recruitment, what I want to know is, who exactly were they so excited about him making better? It can't have been all bench players, can it? Then why is that all that McMillan appears willing to let Miller play alongside?

 

Very well put, good sir.

I'm not usually a Nate basher, be he seems bound and determined to make me one.

He was perfectly willing to go with that idiotic 3 guard starting line-up that had 40% of the team, including our best player, playing out of position at both ends of the court, but he won't even TRY starting our best SG and best PG together, at their natural positions for a single game.

Pretty fucking idiotic if you ask me.

BNM

 

I really wish McMillan would just start Andre in place of Blake for at LEAST one game. I don't care if we lose that game by 200 points. I want to see Miller and Roy start the game together.

Egad...although our bench is vanilla haha:

Blake
Rudy
Bayless
Cunningham
Pryzbilla

Our second unit is going to struggle even more...

 

Yeah, that's true. Miller missing those first six minutes with Oden is a pain.

 

In past seasons I thought so, but this year he's been mixing personnel more, it seems to me. Miller seems to have been on the floor with different mixes of players. Which is fine, but I want Miller on the floor with Oden as much as possible and playing 30+ minutes (in competitive games).

 

The second unit will miss Outlaw's scoring regardless if Miller or Blake is the PG. Joel would benefit from playing with Miller, but I'd rather Oden receive that benefit. Bayless has a similar penetrate and draw fouls style to Miller. So, the two of them are a bit redundant.

Besides, other than garbage time, there will always be at least one or two starters (usually at least one of Aldridge or Roy) on the floor with the "second unit" anyway. So, it's not like we will have five guys who can't score out there together. I'd much rather optimize the performance of our starters - especially Oden, even if it means we sacrifice a little "second unit" scoring.

BNM

 

Agreed. I was referring to Nate's system up through at least the middle of last year, which seems to be what he's still referring to when he talks about Miller and the 2nd unit, even though he doesn't really run it anymore.

 

If Nate can't devise a system that allows basketball players as talented and 'hoops smart' as Miller, Roy, Aldridge and Oden then I have not a whole lot of faith the he'll be able to make a lot of in game adjustments and game to game adjustments that a 7 game playoff series requires.

I won't claim to be some coaching expert, and know the exact answer for how to get these players comfortable and producing at maximum effectiveness, but I know it when something isn't working and right now I see some fairly glaring holes in the game plan -- either in KPs ability to assemble complimentary talent or in Nate's ability to form a system complimentary of a roster's strengths.

 

If allowed to, Miller would mesh nicely with Roy in the Blazer backcourt. And perhaps Roy would grow better at moving without the ball and get some nice cuts for easy layups.

McMillan isn’t making that happen, at least not yet. When I ask Miller about that, he pauses, and then seems to reveal a little too much when he answers, “He’ll probably never get an idea of how I am as a person or a player. You have to kind of feel your way through it.”

Sergio knows exactly how you feel.

 

C. Fire assclown and start start Miller and Roy