Nate changes mind, Outlaw to start tonight

[The_Lillard_King]

If Nate is going to use a nine man rotation . . . good move.

 

[ehizzy3]

ughhh this sucks..although with the matchups its not as bad...outlaw can exploit radman and batum vs odom in the second units will be good matchup

 

[Blaze01]

Travis is the next guy to go....

Seriously, the guy has one "semi" skill as a chucker...that is all he knows how to do after all this time...jack up shots....He was free to do that last year, when coming off the bench he was one of the ONLY guys capable of scoring somewhat consistently,...he could just run and gun to his heart's content...but now that he has to play with players better than him...Roy\Aldridge\Oden, and becomes the 4th man on offense...he struggles mightily...He was absolutely TERRIBLE in the pre-season, and when Nate did put him in with the starters, he looked completely out of place...taking ill advised shots, forcing shots and showing his usual ineptitude of how to play within a team concept....

I predict he will struggle with the 2nd unit as well....now that we have some better\improved scorers in that unti as well...Fernandez\Frye\improved Rodriguez and\or Bayless....Now all of the sudden he can't just monopolize the ball and go 1 on 5 while everyone else stands around....In fact that 2nd unit (and the starters for that matter) works best sharing\passing the ball around and Outlaw has shown himself to be pretty much incapable?\unwilling? to do either in ANY consistent manner....

oh yeah...and I agree...moving him into the starting lineup over Batim tonight is a mistake by McMillan...Batum...even a nervous Batum...gives POR more out there on the floor that Outlaw does....

Let's hope Outlaw's shots are falling, b\c I predict we will see Outlaw taking some ill advised shots outside the flow of the offense....I wonder how long Nate puts up with that? Probably not very long if his shots aren't falling....and to date they haven't been....

Someone ought to give Travis a little memo.....Just b\c you want to show the rest of the NBA that you are an All-Star caliber player (in your head)...doesn't justify jacking up a shot (almost) every time you touch the ball, or going 1 on 3 while the rest of your teamates watch with disbelief....

The guy just doesn't get it...

Harsh observation? Yeah

100% true? Yeah



The guy is a one trick pony folks...scoring...and even with that he is inconsistent...and if Outlaw isn't scoring he is pretty much...no COMPLETELY worthless out there on the floor....

I look at the rest of the "core" players POR has, and then Outlaw...and he just doesn't fit long term...he has one decent skill...scoring, and he seems incapable of playing effectively off or with other players...and that just won't do going forward...I am betting that this will be a long and unsucessful 1/2 year for Outlaw, until he is dealt at the trade deadline...and I for one won't shed a tear when he leaves....

 

[blue32]

Hey whatever! Really, whatever helps us to win, plus, guess what, the blazers are finally, finally playing on TV, in the regular season! hurrah!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Good call by Nate. I just hope that Travis has strict orders to pass first and get garbage/hustle points only when he is in with the first unit.

Never thought I'd miss Martell this much.

 

[mgb]

Probably Nate just couldn't handle starting two rookies.

As someone else said I think it doesn't matter as much as long as Nate doesn't sub whole units. We should have some starters on the floor most of the time during a game.

 

[Uther TheGardener]

we will see how "i need my shots" trav does against kobi

 

[MAS RipCity]

Keep doubtin my boy..Travis is going to play GREAT tonight! I do hope he plays within the team tonight, if he does that, everything else will fall in place.

 

[ABM]

Somethin' ain't right, fellas. As long as Travis has been here, Nate had to sleep on the decision to start Travis over the previously-given-the-job 19-year-old Euro rook???

"After sleeping on it, I've decided it's just the right thing to do,'' McMillan said. "There are a number of reasons, and one of them is Travis is at the point now that he needs the opportunity to show what he can do.''

I agree with a post above, Travis has to show the coaches something BIG throughout this season or he's good as gonzo.