Morphing “Sarge” into “Surge” (it happened twice, so it’s NOT a typo),
with references to Paraclesus and Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan:

A very good post in the wake of DFW (who got shout-outs from ChewHoop AND Sports Guy).
And but then so well of COURSE I rec’d it.
Allston Wolf Spiders rule.

taking his $25 million at the end of five years and ride off away from the scorching sun.

Didn’t Kurt Cobain say, “It’s better to burn out than fade away”?

I showed my nerd card to you

will be a great opportunity for Nate to try and make a great defensive guard. Bayless has the athleticism to be a good defender and he also seems to have the drive to be a great defender. In a way, Bayless is a big test for Nate.

like almost every coach in the nba, nate would rather deal with the pressure of high expectations than deal with the headaches and turmoil that go with being short on talent.

nothing i have seen from nate indicates that he will wilt in the face of pressure.

i will also say this to explain nate’s defensiveness because i agree with JQ about that. nate does not get defensive for no reason and he doesn’t do it in a strictly emotional way. it’s not an emotional defensiveness (“how dare you question me?”) it’s a more logical (“yeah, obviously i thought of that, here’s why i didn’t do that…”). when he argues a point, he quickly brings up all the relevant options, ticking them off as to what the positives and negatives are, summarizing the best options, and then concluding with a justification for why he took the route he did and why it didn’t work in that specific situation but why it was still the best route to take at the time he made the decision. in some cases, especially regarding playing time, he does this very delicately so as not to throw any player under the bus in any way. nate will not (or very rarely) single anyone out. nate is a calculating guy. he is a long and deep thinker with an intellectual’s desire to play and coach perfectly. he has a PHD in the x’s and o’s of what will work for HIS team. people with PHDs often get defensive when questioned by those they see as less qualified to understand the problems they are arguing about.

if nate has a fault, it’s a loyalty to the players that he trusts. you’ve got to ask yourself, in the long term, is that really a significant fault?

I believe Sean Meagher runs the Qucik chats, not Casey. I wouldnt really call anyone who went to graduate school in English a nerd, as I imagine they rank right below MBAs in terms of social skills and dont touch on the nerdom of the physical science and math departments.

I wrote a diary like this about Michael Phelps, just before the Olympics.

and worthy of reads by everyone so I rec’d it, but I have a couple of nit-picky comments about your writing style if you are really trying to put forth a good argument. And maybe it’s me and maybe because it’s still early in the morning, but your lapses into personal comments stood out like they were highlighted. I’ll let some go, but one that got my back up was “get on with your own sad, illiterate life if you think that ain’t cool”. Well, I don’t think going for a grad. degree in English is cool – nor is it NOT cool – it’s what you chose to do. And I’m sorry you think my life is sad and illiterate – I don’t happen to think it is. But that’s not the point. The point is you suddenly attacked some of your readers – it certainly made me pull back and rethink about whether or not I was still agreeing with you. And the assumption that we’re “you ADD Generation Y Paris Hilton followers” is also an attack. I have ADD and didn’t choose to have it., but neither am I generation Y, or PH follower (and how many BE readers actually admire PH???).

I guess my concern is because I agree so strongly with your points that I want everyone to consider them and I feel that belittling your readers detracts from your otherwise well-written arguments. And don’t do it again, OK? [Insert smiley face here]

Let’s not forget that Nate is a relatively young coach, still learning as much as the youngsters he coaches. Even if there was another coach available that could eke out that additional .02% of effort, talent, what have you…there aren’t glaring issues with his coaching. I don’t forsee a time when the stars align and we are the favorites to win it all and yet are held back by Nate.

But you are absolutely right, he will be a lightning rod for criticism.

And here’s your superflous sixth rec.

and I REC’d it. But for an Enlish Grad student, your flip-flops of here/hear there/their are a little distrubing…. :-)

I think that its pretty easy for NBA fans, in particular, to focus on one or two instances in which a coach may have made the wrong decision rather than focus on the many, many instances in which the coach made the right decision. Its something that I hate about basketball and pro sports in general. There was only one real time last year when I actually questioned one of Nate’s decisions, and afterward he admitted that he made a mistake by taking Joel out of the game. I’ve also never found Nate to be all that defensive about his decisions, maybe I missed something there, but I’ve always found him to respond well to criticism.
I have also been bothered by the fact that KP gets all the credit for putting together the current team, when the coaching staff has done an excellent job building the players into what they are.
In Nate We Trust! Go Blazers!

The Blazers have had better records than most preseason predictions the past two years. He has done a fine job teaching the game and molding the young guys into NBA players without setling for losing seasons in the process. Now is not the time to question his coaching skills. After the next two seasons, we will have a pretty good idea whether Nate is the right coach to lead the team beyond the rebuilding process into an era of contending for championships.

Red Auerbach used to set down rules that no one could break without fear of dire consequences. Then he sat back and allowed the players to use what he’d taught them. He was not a micro manager or worry wart.

Good coaches put the responsibility for winning in the hands of the players, then get out of the way. The coaches who fail are the ones who never learn to trust their players to care as much as they do. Now that KP has found a group of adults ready to take responsibility, Nate will eventually learn to sit back and allow the players to put his system to use. Or he’ll be out the door. No team will win a championship as a result of being browbeaten into it by a fussy, insecure control freak who can’t let go. If Nate’s losing sleep over the team, I suggest he listen to Craig Carothers’s song, “Little Hercules.” There’s a great line in there:

“Now the only tyrant that you’re working for is you.” Nate, you’re a great coach. Now you have to let yourself believe it.

But name an NBA coach who ISN’T? None of them actually enjoys being second-guessed. Some respond with whithering putdowns or sarcasm—e.g, Phil Jackson & Greg Popovich.