I really, really don’t trust Nate to “do the right thing” with the bigs. He messed up with Pryz for half a year last year and now he’s starting to do it again…

But why single out Sergio? He wasn’t on the floor when the team had a total defensive meltdown. If Blake is doing what Nate wants him to do on defense and those are the results, then I guess I can’t blame Sergio for trying his own thing.

Here’s how Nate and Quick handled Frye’s loss of rotation position:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/02/now_out_of_the_rotation_frye_a.html

In the last three games, Frye has played two minutes versus Seattle, eight minutes at Seattle and did not play Sunday against Boston. McMillan said Frye has fallen out of favor because the coach has committed to playing center Joel Przybilla more minutes.

Here’s now Nate and Quick handled Sergio’s possible loss of rotation position:

"Defense,’’ McMillan said, a little more than a touch of disgust in his voice.

"Yeah, the pick-and-roll …‘’ I said, noting the Blazers’ team-wide problem that night. But before I could finish, McMillan was already shaking his head.

"No, just defense period,‘’ McMillan said. "He has to play better defense.’’

Note the completely different tone. Is this a matter of Quick using his writing to make Sergio’s mistakes look worse than Frye’s (and intentionally leaving out Nate’s exact quotes about Frye’s transgressions), or was Nate willing to go on record to say significantly more denigrating things about Sergio’s recent performance?

This one’s going to bug me a bit tonight. The tone of the writing was surprisingly negative, and I’m not sure if it was Quick or Nate that caused it.

I had just written earlier today here at BE that KP would never publicly denigrate Nate in front of the media, no matter how he’s feeling, because he clearly prefers to keep that stuff internal to the team, and good for him. I now know I can’t say the same about Nate.

It really sounds like Sergio is headed out if we do a mid-season trade.

2 personal fouls and gambling all over the place. And no, Blake wasn’t much better.

when was the last time Nate singled out a player and said he was playing bad defense? Usually coaches won’t do something like that publicly, that keep their comments either general relating to the team, or positive about specific individuals, or at least, in worst case scenarios, diffuse the criticism by saying things like “LaMarcus has been struggling with his shot.” btw, i have no problem with reading comprehension, but thanks for the concern.

if you really think about it, you know thats true. i kan tell my gf that shes getting fat and needs to excorsise, cuz im finding it more diffulcult to pretend that shes still attractive to me, and im starting to look at other women(her best friend) and question how i got trapped in this relationship with someone that im activly growing discusted with, or…______________________________

played solid D on Dirk in the second half. The Blazers played poor team defense in the second half letting Barea get to the rim at will. I counted five or six late rotations before I gave up and stopped counting.

They brought him and Mayo in to work out against each other. I believe it was a smokescreen, with Riley hoping someone would trade up to #2, but still. They thought Bayless was worthy of a high draft pick.

Look at this draft. Mayo, Rose, Augustin, McGee, Speights, Love, Westbrook, Beasley, Lopez, Batum…

We’re going to look back on it and view it as a very strong draft. Bayless was one of the most highly touted players in that class. I want to see how he fits.

I’m not saying we need to bench Sergio… I’m just wishing and hoping that they find some time for him to develop.

Well said.

I agree, and while I think of the three Bayless has the most potential to be a viable option during the championship window, the fact of the matter is each of the three PGs has strengths/weaknesses the other’s don’t possess, this year will be painful to watch at times.

i think Trout played worse defense than sergio

and that no one plays defense, so singling out one man is unfair?

yowzers.

It seems like KP is doing a good job of stocking the Blazers with defensive minded players. Batum fits the bill. Bayless seems to have the tools. Aldridge was touted as a defensive guy when he came into the league, even though his help defense is pretty awful sometimes. Greg is (will be) a defensive force. I think the Blazers are slowly moving in that direction, they just aren’t there yet.

I don’t think Nate is the kind of guy that the game came easy to him. He worked and scrapped to get into the league and stay there. Karl is talking about guys like Clyde or Magic or Jordan who, though they worked hard to be great, had a talent level most players are not going to be able to measure up to. Nate wasn’t in that category.

If anything, Nate might struggle with how easy the game comes to Sergio on the offensive end. He could be more frustrated at the potential he sees in Sergio and that he is not putting in the work where he needs to stay on the floor. He wants Sergio to be a complete player and put the work in that it requires to get there.

He found his way onto the starting 5 with his defense.

its not just sergio, but nates comment, or quicks line of questioning leed the reader tu the conclution that sergio is the crux of thu problem. at least, thats how im seeing it

If it was serious, it’s one of the most hilariously delirious comments of all time.

It’s Nate or Sergio and I choose Sergio.

Really? Um, I choose Nate.

Trade Bayless(my most unfavorite blazer)

What has Bayless done to make you say that? The guy has barely played and has done nothing to upset the team off the court.

Why is he your “most unfavorite blazer”??

that if the blazers found themselves with nash or billups or harris or even paul, that roy would adapt, he would get over it, and learn to play with the team. he did quite well next to paul, in fact i think he would akshually thrive. i also think royz statement concernong his comfort playing with a two gaurd as the point, and profering to prefer even, was more geared to endering confidence in the draft decision of bayless, for all concerned. now im not saying that sergio is on the same leval, or even close, or that we could ever aquire any of the above mentioned, im just saying that having a top leval point gaurd wouldnt kill broys affectiveness.

Sergio will never – and I mean never, start with Roy – and it won’t matter who the coach is. He’s the wrong fit. Roy will not play with a pure PG. And he needs a strong point defender when he’s on the floor. Roy will never be just an SG – don’t you get it?

This sums it up. If Sergio is going to be part of the Blazer’s future, it will be as a backup PG (which could work very well if the 2nd unit stays as an uptempo group – Sergio, Rudy, Batum, Trout, and Joel being the core). It would be one thing if Nate and Brandon weren’t able to coexist, then all this “fire the coach” talk would at least make sense, but as much fun as Sergio can be to watch, this is getting nuts.

This team is falling apart. I doubt they will ever win another game. Nate makes horrible decisions and I can’t believe he would actually expect his players to play defense. What a tool!

Could it be possible that Nate instructed Sergio to take on a specific assignment in that fourth quarter that involved playing defense, then he went out and ignored that assignment? Blake is not a talented defender but he works his a$$ off every play. Is it possible that Sergio doesn’t and that is what gets Nate more frustrated than anything else?

Did he “pin any aspect” of that game on Sergio?

I actually agree with timbo. Strange day….

it wasn’t the surge who missed all of those gimmies from half of the mav squad

Quick asked him why Sergio didn’t play much second half, and Nate told him. End of story. He didn’t suggest that Sergio lost the game – all Sergio lost was PT. The game was lost by other guys.

Nate didn’t really try to make Sergio the scapegoat and this is all media spin by Quick. The last thing that Sergio needs is something to deflate his confidence. The other players might worry too that if they did one thing wrong Nate will pull the plug on them and throw them under the bus to the media. If Nate really meant what he said in the context Quick put it, then I have a lot less respect for Nate as not only a coach, but a person. How are you going to tell your players to keep problems “IN HOUSE” and go to the media like this? At least when Sergio’s demands went public, he spoke to his agent in confidence…these words are coming straight from Nate’s mouth. I don’t think this is the example of “culture” KP has in mind. Honestly…I don’t know how much of this is bias or not, but I have never really heard Brandon say the wrong things in interviews, but Nate has been known to make some poor comments from time to time.

Well put bro!!

I throw away my calendar at the end of the year.

Congrats! It was marked for 4 whole days before it made it to the burn barrel.

Greg was having to challenge the ballhandler, and Blake didn’t switch to Bass. It was poor communication.

Go read Truehoop’s live blogging on the topic. Greg made one mistake on the pick and roll, and then was excellent every other time.

Because he was having to challenge every shot, he was out of position often.

should not have been in there during the 4th Q, period.

of a) “I think everyone can agree that Bayless is a better defender than Sergio.” This has not been born out in a single game this year, despite it being this assumption that everyone believes.

b) “The few flashes that we’ve seen of Bayless so far this year show that he has much more to his game than Sergio has.” Bayless has lower shooting %s (i didn’t think that was possible) and an atrocious assist rate and assist-to-turnover ratio. of course this is a small sample size and i wouldn’t make any conclusions against Bayless, but surely you can’t use his bad performances to say anything positive about his offensive game until he actually, you know, does something good.

A change in the roster when we are playing .600 ball? I’d be fired then if my boss was like you.

Sergio is just ok. And his sample size of NBA minutes played is pretty large actually.

the thought is that, against point guards, he will able to use his superior athleticism and fairly good size to annoy the opposing guard. Brandon said something along the lines of that during the offseason, noting that Bayless will be able to “tick people off.” Obviously that is a paraphrase, but the point remains.

if Serg logged 29 minutes with 27 points, shooting 100% from the field and had 6 rebounds, that’s not a mediocre line, by any stretch of the imagination. Of course it’s much more likely that his teammates would start making their shots with him in the game instead of going 1 for 8 (yes) and he’d pick up a bunch more assists and he might miss a shot or two.

"Why are you bringing up single-game +/- as a personal stat? Let’s dig a bit, shall we?

Sergio comes in at 3:21 left in the first. 24-18 Mavs. He’s guarding Kidd for 2 minutes, then Barea comes in at :48. Neither one scores or gets an assist for the rest of the first quarter, and we cut from a 6pt lead to a 4pt lead. Sergio has a 3, the amazing assist to Rudy, a layup and sets up Joel for his 2 FTs. So how does he have a bad rating ?

Then, to start the second, Sergio again scores a layup. Then another one. Then the man he’s guarding gets the first points or assists in 7 minutes of play when Barea gets a rebound and layup. Sergio then comes out. We’re now down 43-33. How can that be? Well, I’m glad you asked. I know Sergio is the whipping boy right now, but perhaps Nate should rethink his idea of having Frye and Outlaw out there at the forward spots at the same time. B/c here’s what happened for Dallas around those timeframes…2FTs by Terry, Howard 3, Nowitzki 2, 2 buckets by Singleton, a Wright 3. AND: Travis 0-3, Frye 0-1, Rudy 1-2, Joel Travel, Sergio Bad Pass. But I’m sure it’s all the fault of Sergio and his disgusting defense.

FFwd to the 4th quarter. 80-77 good guys, Sergio comes in, immediately commits the foul on Barea. Then Rudy is 0-1, Travis 0-1, Roy 0-2. Meanwhile, DAL goes miss by Terry, miss by Barea (Sergio’s guy), make by Nowitzki, make by Bass. Sergio leaves with it 81-80 them.

So to recap: when Sergio was in the game he was 4-4, 9pts, 1 turnover. The man he was guarding was 1-4 with 0 assists. His teammates were 1-10, 2-4 FTs and 1 turnover, while the other team (aside from Sergio’s man) were 6-12. Must’ve been Sergio’s disgusting defense. Couldn’t be that teammates were missing shots, getting lit up on their own by leaving their men open (and I’m looking at you, Rudy, Travis and Frye)."

Courtesy of BrianfromWA, dude did his homework.

stats don’t tell the story in this case. the poor +/- came from atrocious defense from Trout, and the rest of the team not being able to hit their shots.

but I find it interesting that so many are giving Nate a free pass instead choosing to assign the blame to J.Quick. On the surface, that just doesn’t appear to be an accurate conclusion. The quote Quick attributed to Nate I’m sure was not fabricated. Jason is better than that.

I made a similarly themed post right above before I read yours.

that stance seams tu be reserved for the nat supporters

but thats just me

thank god for our second unit and brandon’s scoring ability, otherwise we’d be more boring than the spurs to watch.

Sorry :/

nate has just been getting outcoached (glaringly the past 3 games) because his gameplan is becoming increasing more threadbare around the league, and it the manifestation of option 2,3,4,5 and on we have not seen these young bucks apply on the court (how many options has Nate given them?). That’s why having guys like sergio and rudy are so cool (yet TO and defensive liabilities on some occasions), they can improvise options 2,3,4 in a more fluid manner than your average NBA guy for some reason [smart stat guy prove me right here]. Sergio’s shot selection has grown on me this season. I don’t care about his defense as much as general communication from the team all around, I hope that the rookie Euros are learning at least “sreen,” “switch” and couple other key english words.

Yeah Jason, it’s all about you.

What is it about Blazer writers who want to make the story instead of report it?

Since one idiot who started local made it big, all the other clowns think they’re next.

Was that Nate took Greg and Sergio into his office for some extended face time. I love this. This means he is letting his players know what he expects of them and gives them an opportunity to give input as well. And look at the results, arguably Greg has his best all around game and Sergio is back to getting into the point guards face pressuring and making a couple of nice steals. He did get beat a couple of times, but not due to lack of effort.

Communication rules!

because otherwise Nate’s rotation seems a bit off. If the Blazers want to maximize wins then they start Przy and play Oden sparingly until he gets his confidence and a non-dunking move in his toolbox.

If they want to maximize player development, then Sergio gets more DNP-CD and Bayless finally gets some burn.

I’d like to see more tinkering with the starting lineups to maybe give Roy or Fernandez some minutes at SF against smaller teams.

He must trust the second unit as he did in the first games, and the results were good.

I don’t like math !

If you did you’d understand the basics of the statistical arguments that contradict most of what you say. So Bayless is supposed to be getting 15 minutes, and knocking Sergio’s down to 8 minutes? How in the world are you trying to justify Sergio, a player playing some of the best basketball of his life losing minutes to a player that has been disappointing almost as a rule. When Blake starts getting older is when Bayless should start getting minutes. Minutes next to Brandon. That’s where he fits, not next to Rudy, and the 2nd unit. That crew is tailor made for Sergio. I agree about TO getting minutes behind LMA at the 4, but as far as Bayless goes, 15 minutes at this stage in his career is completely unwarranted if the goal of your team is to win basketball games. If we’re trying to prepare for 2 or 3 years from now, dump Blake, and let both our young guys get all the minutes. That said, there is something to making the playoffs this year, and I think Blake will continue on with his role until the offseason, where it might be in the best interest of the team to say goodbye, depending on other available FA’s.

Just bc Nate doesn’t like or likes someone doesn’t dictate what KP does. Nate loved Jack…KP got rid of him. Nate hates Sergio…KP kept him.

give him minutes based on matchups. Blake is known to have trouble with quick PG. Sergio isn’t that much faster than Blake, but enough that I’d give him more burn.

Sergio will never have the potential under Nate to be an all star. Bayless and Sergio < Our Big 3. So I doubt we would be able to send 4 players to the ASG. Besides…they stopped selling Sergio jerseys since his rookie year.

that pits bayless against sergio…i want both to succeed. i know that bayless will be a starter with time, but right now sergio is better.