Nov 04 2009
Post: Atlanta at Portland
Fire Nate.
Okay, I say that every season after the second loss due to questionable player management by Nate McMillan, and it’s mostly meant as a joke, but still: Fire Nate.
What changed from last year to this year with Nate? Sure, Batum’s out, but Webster’s a better player (I said it), and we lost Sergio Rodriguez for Andre Miller. For some reason, though, Nate has no clue who Andre Miller is. I can give him a clue, because I’ve said it quite a few times in this blog: he’s a rich man’s Sergio Rodriguez. That’s all you need to know Nate. Don’t play him like he’s not Sergio Rodriguez - he is. Would you ever put Sergio in with Steve Blake? No. Don’t do it with Andre. Remember last year when you would go to a lineup of Blake, Roy, Rudy, Travis, and LaMarcus, with either a bit of Greg and Joel sprinkled in? That worked! We won a lot of games with that group. The key behind what you did though, was not the variety of the lineups, but the consistency.
Anyway, a game happened last night and we got destroyed because Nate McMillan can’t do his job. That’s wrong, a few players contributed some crappiness to help Nate fulfill his destiny as Doc Rivers mk. II.
Andre Miller - He was crap. Don’t look at the 11 assists. Can you actually remember any of them? Off the top of my head, I can only count two. He got those assists because the guys were making jumpers, not because of a brilliant pass. He also had by far the worst +/- of the night, clocking in with an atrocious -13 (Steve Blake had a +2 so we can’t even blame the Blake/Miller lineup for this). Dude doesn’t fit. He needs to learn how to soon, or we’re going to see a lot more of what we got tonight. Andre Miller is not an answer to any question we want asked. (Here’s a question he is an answer to: “How do you turn a 54-win team into a 41-win team?”)
Joel Przybilla - Great job, Joel. You were good on defense, and you had a lot of hustle. Oh, you were held out of the game after playing only 19 minutes. Damn refs, they must have been all over…oh, you only had two fouls. Well, it’s good that Greg Oden was doing so well to keep you ou…oh, Oden only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble. So we had a center in for only 35 minutes last night, and we got outrebounded by ten. See, here’s the issue with Nate McMillan, and it’s been boiling during his entire tenure here: for all the reputation he has as a great defensive coach, he has absolutely no trust in his defense. Last season, we would consistently bring Travis Outlaw in for his offense to help us come back when it was his lack of defense that caused the deficit and made it worse. Well, now that Travis is reliable, Nate’s found a different way to do this - he pulls the goalie, he puts four guards in a lineup. When we fall behind Nate doesn’t understand that defense and rebounding can create offense, even though that was the reason for our lead in the first quarter. Oh well, Nate, do what you please, you’re the guy on the one year contract.
Everyone Else - Mediocre, by their standards. However, mediocre by their standards should be enough to win a game. LaMarcus and Brandon put up 20, Marty took over the game for a little while, and Travis got in the scoring action too with 19 points of his own. All good and normal Blazer things that usually contribute to a win. Except we lost.
So, final word, this team is good, but it needs a steady hand to lead it. Fire Nate, at least until he gets a little confidence in the team.
Agreed. First, the rapid substitutions are both tiring and confusing, especially on the defensive end. The Blazers need defined roles and soon. It’s not something I’m sure about, but I doubt that the eight smallest players in the ten man rotation are well practiced at three separate defensive positions. Nate knows this, and instead of recognizing the funneling effect it created into Odenland he decided it was our centers’ faults for trying to do their jobs and took them out of the game. Insert startling realization. It’s their job to be sure the other team recognizes the ‘Exit Only’ sign on our team’s ass!? Result? We get raped.
(Insert topic sentence). Second, all I can think about when watching Andre Miller on the floor is how much better Roy could do it. I don’t see any defense crowding the lane when Andre drives, and I don’t see Andre making the right pass when said nonexistent defense does so. The role of anyone on this team that doesn’t play the 4 (Outlaw excluded), or the 5, and who isn’t Brandon Roy is to play defense, hit open threes, and cut to the hole like a motherfucker.