Nate McMillan handed the keys to the bus back to Brandon Roy Saturday night, right about the same time both men threw Andre Miller under it.
Hey, I’m no big Miller fan. I don’t like being in a position to defend him, either. He hasn’t played all that well so far. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something wrong with the way this is coming down. Even after Miller was signed as a free agent, McMillan was reluctant to declare him the starter.
Then, as training camp opened, the coach made it clear he would start the players who earned it. Who played the best. But when Blake didn’t play that well in the exhibition season, he earned the starting nod, anyway.
Yeah, the Blazers played a miserable game Friday at Golden State. Yes, even though they’ve been winning, it’s been obvious Roy hasn’t been pleased with what’s going on. And everyone knows Roy needed to ditch the silly three-guard thing, quit playing small forward and get back to his normal off-guard position.
But come on, let’s get real here. It’s not as if it’s a no-brainer that Miller was the root of all Portland problems. It’s not as if he failed as the team’s starting point guard – he never got the chance to play it alongside Roy in the backcourt. There is no reason to suddenly blame everything on Miller, rather than Blake, the other starting point guard in this three-guard folly.
Why is Miller the problem, rather than Blake?
Because Brandon Roy deemed it so. Roy this season is slightly down from his career numbers in field goal shooting, three-point shooting, rebounds, assists and steals — and up in fouls and turnovers — and he’s pinning it all on Miller. That’s obvious. From the very start, he hasn’t liked Miller taking the ball out of his hands and everyone knew it.
Instead of taking control of the situation, McMillan tiptoed around it by using two point guards instead of one. It’s been all about placating Roy from the start. Why not spend 20 games with Roy being a more traditional off-guard? Learning to play off the ball, learning to move, set picks, get picks, get himself open — without pounding the ball in a spread court. Why not post him up once in a while?
He’d have been a better player for it.
But Roy didn’t want to take himself out of a comfort zone, so Blake right now looks like the most secure player in the NBA. And this change is being made during a stretch of games against mostly powder puff opponents (other than Monday night’s home game against Chicago), guaranteeing a nice little winning streak for the Roy-blessed lineup.
“I want to give the team back to Brandon,” McMillan said before the game. “It’s his team.”
That’s typical NBA coachspeak. It’s “his” team. Well, OK. I suppose then, Coach, you’ll be moving on? Why not just make Roy player-coach?
”There’s only one ball,” McMillan said before the game, although he wasn’t talking specifically about Miller and Roy.
Yeah, sure he wan’t. But by the way, there’s supposed to be only one coach, too. Who is it, Roy or McMillan? Here is what Roy said:
”I feel like we tried it (the three-guard lineup), and you could say it worked at times, but me sacrificing hurt the team, so it should get back to me playing full-out and getting some other guys in other areas to sacrifice a little bit,” Roy said.
Again, Miller is taking the fall for the failure of a three-guard lineup that was doomed from the start because Roy is not a small forward. Why isn’t Blake taking blame? Roy talked about how his own “sacrificing” was certainly a mistake. He said:
“. . . me sacrificing hurt the team…” and “getting some other guys in other areas to sacrifice a little bit.” Wow. Does that stuff make Roy look as bad as I think it does?
And get this:
“This team is going to go off my pulse,” Roy said. “Even if I’m smiling and trying to make it work, if I seem like I’m not totally comfortable, then Martell won’t be. And Rudy (Fernandez) will look like he’s in a funk. And L.A. (Aldridge) will look like he’s in a funk. They have been playing with me for a couple years and if I’m going well, they have more confidence.”
Whew! Those poor guys can’t get a thing done without Brandon Roy’s comfort level being perfect. He’s saying that if he’s pouting, nobody else can play well. Which, I guess, is probably true. And how about this stuff:
And, perhaps more important, the Blazers had what McMillan said would be their long-term starting lineup. His hope is that Miller embraces the opportunity to take over the second unit and flourishes with the control.
“I want both of them to have it. Brandon with that first group can handle a little bit more and Andre with that second group can be aggressive and make his reads,” McMillan said.
I’m sure a guy who has been a starter his entire career, who is considered one of the best point guards in the league, is really excited about taking ownership of the “second unit.”
Look, my advice to Kevin Pritchard is to get Miller out of here as quickly as humanly possible. Get whatever you can for him. Chalk this one up to one big mistake and forget about trying to bring a real point guard to this team — because it’s always going to be Roy.
This is no place for Andre Miller. McMillan wants to play Jerryd Bayless, too — and there’s no doubt now that Roy is the real point guard. You could bring Chris Paul in here and he’s not going to want to give Paul the ball.
And I’d offer this piece of free advice to Nate McMillan: It may be “Brandon Roy’s team” but if that team doesn’t win, Brandon Roy won’t get fired, you will. This is the same mistake that so many coaches make with superstars.
Yes, keep the guy happy. Yes, build the team around him. But that doesn’t mean he knows what’s best for the team and even himself at all times. You see this kind of stuff all the time in the NBA. Yes, it’s a players league. But guess what? Most of these players don’t have a chance to win until the right coach comes along.
And the great coaches know full well that all decisions aren’t easy. And they better remember that they’re hired to coach the players — and not let the players coach them.
