So, maybe Jason Quick isn't a bad journalist after all. Maybe he's a profit. He KNEW Marc Iavaronni was the best choice for the next Blazers coach and he had a vision of him on the sidelines coaching the Blazers. His timing was just off by a few years. BNM
I never looked at it from the prophet view point. You could be right. Although this team fucked up when it didn't hire TP. He is a solid coach with an understanding on how to best utilize his players.
I hope I don't rant too much after last night's game, but..... 1) Roy sucked (for being Roy) last night. He didn't suck at PG more than he sucked at SG. I wouldn't read anything into the Roy as PG thing based on whole game suckage. /begin{rant} 2) Even before our 10 pt lead evaporated in front of my eyes, I was wondering why Batum didn't get rotated back in. I kept waiting for it, but it didn't happen. Maybe he didn't want to put too much pressure on a rookie, but Batum's +/- was +12. It's not liked they sucked with Batum on the floor. Let me say that again, Blazers with Batum (who started): +12 Blazers without Batum (who started): -19 That's certainly not the end all stat, but geez, trust your guys coach. It really rubs me the wrong way because I felt like the coach was afraid to play Pryz in the 4th quarter last year, and watched players around the league (including LeBron) make layups to beat us in games we should have won. In my mind, he's doing it again with Batum. For a "defensive" coach he sure hates playing defensive-oriented players in the 4th. ...and I'm a staunch Nate supporter. The Nate-bashers must really be going nuts! 3) I know stats don't matter, but every time we lose the game by 3, Nate has to make sure we keep fouling at the end of the game so we lose by 7, and look like a terrrible team. Then we have to put up with John Hollinger's "analysis" which isn't smart enough to take this into consideration. (yes, it would be easy for Hollinger to do this). \end{rant} exhale. One more point about this topic: 4) As crappy as Roy was playing last night, he did get the ball to Rudy for a wide-open 3-pointer to tie the game at the end, and Rudy missed.
My "told ya so" moment is that one of Roy or Rudy is going to eventually have to be traded. Nate has to make some weird lineups out there just to get them both the minutes they should have, and Rudy is still getting far fewer than he really needs. It's throwing off the entire team. The good news is that both Roy and Rudy are extremely talented, cheap and young. You can target a really high quality PG or SF with either guy.
I have decided that maybe the two can play together, but there needs to be a different offensive structure. Both are great at attacking the rim, but with the stagnant offense that Nate runs the middle is always congested
When Rudy and Roy are in the game together, Rudy turns into pretty much just a shooter, which really limits what he can do. But i think it is rediculous to think we should trade 1, they are part of our core 5-7 (if you include Webster/Bayless)
It wasn't because Roy was playing PG last night. His whole game was off. When he was playing SG, PG or anything. He was missing easy shots, and not making good passes. But if you want to put it in the Chronicles of basketball history for somebody to look up and show you were right on one day, go ahead. I am sure plenty of folks will come and look up the stat, that you were right, in the future.
It's not the players, it's the coach. I would like to take you back to the 1980's when two combo guards names Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge played brilliantly together. It's something that isn't very hard to do. Nate just needs to come up with a better offense to take advantage of both of them.
Rudy should actually handle the ball in the backcourt instead of Roy when they play together. He is actually better at it then Roy. He is way faster and can get the team setup quicker. If nothing is there, then he gives the ball to Roy and begins his perpetual motion machine. Many, many other teams have done this. Why we can't? No idea.
One game. My guess is, Nate is still tikering with the lineup. I would guess if Nate said, "Brandon, you're our starting PG", then proceeded to build an offensive scheme around that decision, things would turn out much differently.
