I was wondering why the long stretch without Oden, when Pryz got his 5th foul. In retrospect, I think the staff recognized that Roy wasn’t clicked in, nor was Aldridge, and that we needed more scoring with those two off. And when Chicago applied pressure, it helped to have more ball handlers in (though the inbounds turnover on Rudy…sigh). It worked: Chicago had to leave someone open on the perimeter because all 5 on the court (4 when Bayless replaced flagrantly-fouled Rudy) needed to be guarded. Also, other than the backcourt violation, I don’t think Chicago’s pressing led to a turnover. Could check the play-by-play, but…

A successful use of the much-maligned Small Ball! It helps when your Small Ballers are better than theirs. With Dallas on Xmas, it wasn’t the case.

I don’t know why I wrote all this. I have no idea what was in the coaching staff’s collective head. The moves just seemed heady, to me

… you have to go in stages.

Right now Nate is going with those aspects his team can handle and working on getting improvement in areas they are weak. The team needs to get to the playoffs before they start worrying about winning there.

they won’t be 26th in defense for long.

That might drive some roster changes – the need for better perimeter defenders. – Elgin

I’ve been waiting for a good time to deploy this sentiment for a while. It’s been a while since things have been extra venti on that front, but that’s the irony of it.

Not trying to be a buzz kill. People should stay on Nate even when we’re winning or get off his back altogether.

I’m sick o’ sarcasm…you’vegottomakeyourfreethrows has been around here for a while, so I’m cool with whatever he writes, but it sure does seem like we get one of these posts at least once a week.

And maybe even those big sticks that the Lumberjax haul around with them. They make it a lot easier to dunk from the free-throw line. – Elgin

Take a flyer on a college coach? No way. Take a flyer on an assistant? Bad move. Resign Nate? Now you’re talking Timmay!

doesn’t have any interest in his old college coach. :(

at the current stage…if we were to hire a new coach…yes i agree a fresh and hungry coach would be nice….but if we are championship bound and need someone to bring us to that next level than i’d go with an experienced and successful coach all the way. so i guess…nate is fine for this team as he is learning as well.

Here’s our top 5 this year in FT %.

1. Rudy, .897
2. Sergio, .865
3. Blake, .857
4. Roy, .841
5. Bayless, .808

All these guys would have been better than having Steve Blake out there!

(Stats courtesy basketball-reference.com)

When I hate nate , it’s when he started Travis instead of Batum opening Night. That was absurdly stupid and although I understand completely why he made that choice, I think it wrecked the game before the game even happened.

:(
Sophia

i get that the offense is the reason we are doing so well. What I should have elaborated upon was why.

I want more penetration from the guards . The team plays well when Steve Blake is scoring well from inside and outside the arc. In my opinion Steve stays on the perim. way too much. That is not wholly Nate’s fault but Blake has the ability to drive and the bigs, namely LMA can draw a defender or 2 out to make room for Blake or Bayless to do so (see Bayless last night) . Again not totally Nate’s fault .

I think the pace is too slow and paradoxically I want Oden to be the focus of the inside out strategy from the gate rather than LaMarcus. Nate needs to get Oden involved early. He does sometimes but more often then not it’s LaMarcus they try to establish down low first rather than Oden and I believe Oden drawing defenders out the gate is more efficient in the long run.

Sophia