What has made Nate a great coach in your opinion?
I ask this in all sincerity. What has Nate himself done that makes him a great coach?
Nate:
has the respect of his players.
has put together officiant offensive scheme over the past few years.
has developed a lot of young talent
has got his players to come together and play defense
has his team playing at a consistent level as much as any team
has a team that rarely gets blown out, and often blows out other teams
has the ear of his star players
handles himself like a professional on and off the court
demands his players handle themselves like professionals on and off the court, and they do.
has a balanced group of assistance that want to coach under him
has shown willingness to change his style as a coach when he feels it's necessary
That's my opinion and a lot of those things are qualities you won't find in every NBA coach. I don't think he's "perfect" and I think "near perfect" is the standard for most NBA fans. I think if you've coached, you understand that there are two coaches trying to be perfect, so the odds of either of them being 60% successful night in and night out is difficult.
I have the luxury of watching a lot of offensive sets that other teams run (because of my job) and I think people are often uneducated in their criticisms that the Portland offense is more predictable or simplistic than other NBA teams.