Confidence in Nate?

[Ed O]

Quick temperature check on what we think of Nate.

What do you think?

Ed O.

 

[SodaPopinski]

Everyone with a pulse knows my feelings about Nate. I think there are a ton of fundamental problems with his in-game adjustments, and I also think he plays favorites with certain players and doesn't necessarily make his PT decisions based on what would be best for the team.

But I think we give him this year to see how we do. If we miss the playoffs, take a look at other options.

For the salary he's making (top 5 in the NBA), we should make the playoffs with this team.

-Pop

 

[C_note]

I like him much more than I used to, that's for sure. I'd like to see him slowly phase out Blake, in favor of either Sergio/Bayless or Roy and Rudy together.

Blake has virtually no shot-creating ability when the offense stagnates and he's stuck with the ball. No ability to penetrate and dish, as he stops dead in his tracks every time someone steps in front of him, and just backs out again.

Back on topic, it's obviously still early, but my main thing with McMillan is his questionable player rotations. I've definitely been pleasantly surprised this season though.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Our offense sucks, flat out. He says he wants to be both a running and a half-court team, but we rarely see an up-tempo offense.

A team of Rudy, Roy, Aldridge, Oden, ect., why aren't you running?! He's a great motivator but I'm losing confidence in his ability to run an effective offense. This snail-ball isn't working.

 

[timmay]

"If things don't get better, replace him mid-season"

Nate's showing signs of...

- Lack of communication with players
- Possible favoritism without stats to back it up (the Truthiness principle)
- Questionable rotations. How many times does the hot player have to sit for a quarter? (his rotations seemed a little better in the Houston game)
- Inability (or unwillingness) to get the team to adjust pace
- Unable to get the most out of some of his players (and you have to question how much he's getting from the rest, accordingly).
- No improvement in team defense

I know it's unfair to say "dump him at midseason", considering he'll be dealing with injuries. Also with such a small number of games so far this year to judge from. But these are all the same things we saw last year. I'm starting to feel the itch to see how a different coach handles this team and the players.

I like Nate! But I'd really like to see some sign he can take things to the next level, and that the team is still growing (which the coach helps along).

 

[Minstrel]

I don't think McMillan is the right coach for this team long-term. But there's no point firing him until there's a better option. If we could get Rick Adelman or Phil Jackson, I'd can him now.

As it stands, who's out there that we'd hire in his place?

 

[andalusian]

I look at results.

After the Zbo trade and Oden going down everyone was talking about a 25 win team. We won 41.

Before the start of this season people were talking about a 0-5 start, we are 2-3.

Anyone that tells me that Phil Jackson or Pop would get better results than this might be right - but I do not think either is available... - so I am more than delighted with the way Nate handles this team.

Brandon, LaMarcus, Travis and Rudy seem to be happy with their minutes and rotation. I am certain that Greg would be delighted with the amount of time he will get as well. I care not one bit that Sergio thinks he is worth minutes ahead of Roy, Blake and Rudy. I do not think Jerryd deserves big minutes yet. His use of Batum is right on the money.

If the goal is to build a championship caliber team - Nate is doing a great job so far. If the goal is to create a run and gun Golden States kind of team that flames out after a magnificent one year 2nd round playoffs campaign - than he is the wrong coach... Personally, I enjoyed watching GS in 2006, I liked to see PHX under D'Antoni as well - but I would frustrated as hell if I was a PHX fan and with the talent on this team they would never make it to the finals...

Choose your poison...

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I don't think we'd have to look far for a replacement.

Monty Williams is going to be a great head coach one day.

 

[oldmangrouch]

As I pointed out last season, how people feel about Nate is inversely related to how they feel about the roster.

If you believe the Blazers are sitting on 7 or 8 all-star caliber players, then Nate is doing a rotten job. If you have a more flinty-eyed view of the players, Nate is doing fine.

 

[andalusian]

I think the Blazers have 3 players that will almost certainly be all-stars at some point - and two more that are likely to be - but not at this stage in their career.

 

[MAS RipCity]

He has 1 year left with me...his team doesn't understand how to attack the hoop and our offenses are predictable and stagnant. he doesn't realize uptempo can work in moderation.

 

[timmay]

If the goal is to build a championship caliber team - Nate is doing a great job so far.

You're confusing Nate with Kevin Pritchard.

We really have no idea how much of the team's growth is due to the players' own efforts vs Nate's work. Every coach would have assistants to help the players grow.

Compare Nate to what an NBA-average coach would have accomplished. I'm not sure it's as different as you think.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Give the man a chance to coach and work out his rotations. Basing anything off of the first five games would be fucking re-tah-ded.

 

[andalusian]

Compare Nate to what an NBA-average coach would have accomplished. I'm not sure it's as different as you think.

Really? You think that Larry Brown would have gotten as much out of this young team last year (no he would not, he would demand to trade them and play Raef exclusively because he is a veteran)
Scott Skiles? Ask Chicago how he did playing the young guys?
Randy Whitman? Don't get me started on this train wreck.
Sloan? Probably would do just as well as Nate - but again - he is not available.
Nellie? Please - give him a young team that runs fast - they will run like deer but will develop bad habits and will never amount to much (see his legacy in Dallas - Avery, a Nate like control freak brought them up with a lot more experience -but they still fell to pieces)
D'antoni? No defense = no championship
Iavaroni? We will see what happens this year

etc... etc...

Again - the only 2 teams that were close in age to this team in the past were 15 and 17 win teams?

Will Nate be the one that takes them all the way to the promised land? I do not know - but so far - he definitely gets them to play hard and get better as time goes on - while working on their defense, ability to trust team-mates and growth as players. At this point - he is fantastic for this team.

Will he be the right choice when they have 2 or 3 more years of experience and ready to enter their prime and contend? I do not know - but at this stage of the game - he is doing just fne.

 

[timmay]

Give the man a chance to coach and work out his rotations. Basing anything off of the first five games would be fucking re-tah-ded.

I'm totally cool with the fact that we all disagree here. But let's be fair... nobody who's unhappy with Nate is basing it off these five games. It just happens to be the latest catalyst for this thread.

 

[Ed O]

Again - the only 2 teams that were close in age to this team in the past were 15 and 17 win teams?

Where did that stat come from?

I don't think that our team is historically young at this point. Golden State is younger this year, for example. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

Ed O.

 

[Foulzilla]

I think he means of last years team Ed. I remember something similar to that being mentioned then.

Regardless, I'm not totally sold on Nate as the best coach for the team. But I don't see anyone out there more appetizing. So until one becomes available, or Nate really blows it, no point in changing.

 

[THE HCP]

Nate is our guy! He has been in the trenches when things were not going well and deserves to lead this team to the top!

 

[Tince]

I find it weird that so many current/former players, current/former coaches, and media think Nate is one of the best coaches in the league, but so many people on here are not fans of his.

I side with the experts on this issue...

 

[BalancedMan]

Wrong thread

 

[BalancedMan]

I've been meaning to post a similar thread. In this sense: I don't think Nate will coach us to a championship. Commentators have said he is the perfect guy for our team right now. We have young players and McMillian will coach us up on defense especially. But you have to wonder if he'll be around in two or three years from now (or more) when we'll be making consistent late runs in the playoffs. My guess is that he won't be.

Then again, if you look around the league who do you replace him with. I'm kind of partial to coach's with proven experience, but it'll be very unlikely to have a guy like Adleman or Dunleavey come back, and Jerry Sloan, Pop and Phil aren't going anywhere either. So then again, I don't know who is out there that I'd particularly rather have right now anyways.

 

[MARIS61]

End of year decision.

I believe this season is being treated like a training camp, with little to no concern about wins, which is fine by me. We have a lot of talent to sift through.

If we're still fixated on Snailball in March, then I'd support a drastic change for future coach.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I'm totally cool with the fact that we all disagree here. But let's be fair... nobody who's unhappy with Nate is basing it off these five games. It just happens to be the latest catalyst for this thread.

I'm happy to disagree (I do it most of the time anyway). The way I see it is that most of the team's struggles can be attributed to Nate (and the players) trying to get used to a few new major additions in Batum, Rudy, and when he's healthy, Greg. Put that together with the five teams they've played and I don't see a whole lot of reason for these past five games to be a catalyst for anything.

From what I can gather, I think the current complaints about Nate are mostly a reflection of his choice of rotations and they way those rotations are working out this year ... similar to last year's arguments, but with a very different looking team.

 

[illmatic99]

Whoops. I clicked wrong. I mean the second to last choice.

 

[Ed O]

I voted reevaluate at the end of the season.

I don't think that he's doing a bad job, but if the team finishes sub-.500 AND there is a natural and potentially better option in the coaching ranks, then I would like us to consider shifting directions...

Ed O.

 

[timmay]

I don't think that he's doing a bad job, but if the team finishes sub-.500 AND there is a natural and potentially better option in the coaching ranks, then I would like us to consider shifting directions...

I'm not sure why I think this... but I get the feeling that if KP replaces Nate, he's not planning on a coach we know really well. He'll go over a relatively unknown assistant coach (or, less likely, college coach) who brings a very similar approach to the game that KP does. Kind of his final touch of making the franchise over in his image.

So I'm not sure if coach availability will be relevant. Though it may be prudent to wait until the off-season for an in-work assistant coach as well...

-Tim

 

[MrJayremmie]

I think he is doing fine...

He has a very hard decision on minutes, and has us at 2-3 after the first 5 which is amazing, imo...

we have shown improvement in EVERY year he has been with this team, and it took him a while last year, but after 17 games it finally clicked and we played some damn good bball...

By the time Webster comes back, I think we will be a top 10 team in the NBA... I think we need some consolidation and/or we need to let everyone know what their roles are on this team and try and trim this down to a 9 man rotation.

 

[Elton]

I still think he's a great coach, and slow ball makes sense for the core starters to play. I honestly think we'll see a lot more fast breaks when we get a better PG and have a (big time knock on wood) healthy, in-shape Oden.