Brandon Roy, LaMarcus & Batum all played a lot of minutes (and started) early on. What worthy young talent has Nate allowed to waste away on the bench?
Sort of... Roy, yes. He was definitely NBA ready from Day 1.
Aldridge started a few games in November of his rookie season, but only out of necessity when both Joel and former all-star Jamaal Magloire were injured. Then Nate forgot about Aldridge for the next three months as the team was "showcasing" Magloire in an effort to sucker someone into a trade. It was completely obvious that Aldridge was the better player, and he went on a huge tear when he was finally inserted back into the starting line-up on March 1. He had a GREAT March, until the last game of the month when he had to have the heart procedure for the first time. In total, Aldridge started 22 games and averaged 22 MPG his rookie season. He became a full time starter in his second season after Zach was traded to the Knicks on draft day.
Batum did start as a rookie, but he was a sort of token starter that only averaged 18 MPG as a rookie. He continues to be under utilized by Nate. He is now in his fourth year on the team and has shown considerable improvement, but other than that one buzzer-beatring alley-oop against San Antonio, it seems like the team never runs any set plays for Nic. You think after four years, Nate would know Nic's strengths and weaknesses well enough that he could come up with a couple set plays per game to take advantage of Nic's talent. But, I just dont' see it. Why not?
I've bitched for years about the Blazers passing on Paul Millsap and DeJuan Blair in the draft. In hindsight, I wonder if it would have even mattered. Would Nate have played them enough to matter, and had as much faith in them as Sloan and Popovich? Hard to say. He's in the habit of playing Aldridge such huge minutes that I don't know if a Millsap or Blair would ever get off the bench.
We have our own poor man's Millsap/Blair in Craig Smith, and in spite of Smith's very solid play, Nate has again buried him on the bench. Of course, this is unrelated to playing rookies, but why not use Aldridge a few more minutes per game at the 5, alongside Smith at the 4? The center spot is weak in the NBA. There are very few starting centers Aldridge would not dominate (in fact, many teams already put their starting center on Aldridge on defense). Why not expoit that and get Smith a few minutes a game at the back-up 4? Nate's definition of "shortening the rotation" seems to mean more minutes for the guys who aren't getting the job done. He's always been too rigid in his subsitution patterns and NEVER seems to adjust his rotation during the game to take advantage of a hot hand, or an obvious mismatch. It just gets frustrating watching this game after game, season after season. I was a Nate supporter in the past. Now, I just want him gone. This team is playing below their talent level, and I blame that squarely on the head coach.
BNM
