Nikolokolus
There's always next year
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2008
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I wouldn't be surprised if Nate never demands that Greg gets fed the ball at all this year on offense. Forget the fact that he covered up dribble penetration by Brooks and Lowry multiple times the other night bailing out his guards and set screens and rolled to the hoop never getting a single pass on the pick and roll. No, I think it's pretty clear that Nate wants Oden to play goalie and not a whole lot else.
Let's face it, the only players on this team who might at all even consider making a concerted, conscious effort at feeding Greg the ball are Howard (who is unlikely to play) and Miller, who is unlikely to be paired up with him and isn't going to play starter's minutes (if the Houston game is any indication).
I've been a pretty patient Nate supporter over the years because I thought he did a great job of getting results and motivating young players, but the way this team has seemingly failed to take full advantage of it's bigs (and even LMA plays more like a small forward than a true power forward) and show any kind of growth beyond the Roy iso or pick and pop is starting to wear a little thin.
I'll be very curious to see how this team matches up with Denver's frontcourt tomorrow night, and if there will be any attempt to create any kind of inside-out attack or run a proper pick and roll. I know it sounds crazy, but there actually was a time when Joel Pryzbilla was a helluva pick and roll player with Nick Van Exel a few years back. Is it possible to move beyond the "hey it won us 54 games, so we're sticking to it" manta? I'm starting to lose some faith.
