Air your problems with coaches not media.

..that darn BRoy is so selfish… Get rid of him and Blake and hand the team over to that proven winner… Andre Miller.

In all seriousness there is nothing irrational about our love for Brandon. He has actually done something for the Blazers… you know…contributed to their growth. Andre has yet to play in a regular season game for the Blazers.

The “Andre is better, he has to start” argument is simplistic and just flat wrong. I don’t think we really know yet whether Dre and Brandon will mesh well together, but it’s entirely possible that Andre > Blake, and yet Andre + Roy < Blake + Roy.

Everyone has always known Roy thrives on space and likes to initiate the offense. When considering potential upgrades at the point, nobody every said “let’s go get somebody with a career three point percentage under 25% – as long as he can create more offense it won’t matter.” That’s why Hinrich has always been fancied around these parts – he gives you Blake’s shooting and ability to play off the ball with an upgrade on creating off the pick and roll and a big upgrade on D.

The point is, if Andre and Roy don’t play well together, it’s really not all that surprising. Roy thrives on space, and needs a PG who can play off the ball, and that just ain’t Dre. Maybe they can make it work, but maybe their talents would be better utilized playing as few cross over minutes as possible.

Andre’s a nice new piece of the puzzle, but Roy’s the franchise. The Blazers will only go as far as he can take them.

That’s why I think Andre needs to recognize that it’s not about whether he’s proved himself or whether everyone respects his game. He’s a very good NBA point guard. But he chose to join a team with a GREAT young SG just entering his prime. The Blazers absolutely have to play the guy who maximizes total output – and if Roy’s more efficient with Blake, Blake should start 82 out of 82 games.

water is cheaper, right??

The fallacy is called “argument from authority.”

you cite “every non-blazer player, every non-blazer fan, and every non-blazer coach,” and yet you do not provide substantive reasons for WHY these supposed authorities “know” that Miller is a “proven starter” while “Blake hasn’t come close.”

Your argument is really quite sophomoric. And not even college sophomoric. I’m talking high school sophomoric. When I was a sophomor in high school I had a girlfriend named Suzie who was in the habit of criticizing me and backing up her criticism by saying, “Russ and Tom and Emily and Kris all say the same thing about you,” or “you can ask anyone and they’ll tell you the same thing.”

Suzie was always wrong. Her criticisms were hyperbolic. It always turned out that, while there might have been a grain of truth to her criticisms, everyone else’s thoughts on the matter were far more nuanced and ambivalent than hers.

Such is the case, I suspect, with Coastie’s statements about Blake v. Miller. And such is the case with Vinny’s entire fanpost. You guys need to come down off your high horses and acknowledge that the issues being discussed in this thread are too nuanced and complicated to fit into the simplistic frames you have constructed.

What I hate (hate is such a strong word… how about dislike) about this situation is that it is “much to do about nothing”. There is absolutely no basis for believing that a decision has been made on Andre’s role. I don’t care what somebody heard somebody say to somebody in Las Vegas months ago and I don’t care what Andre has proven on the several mediocre teams he’s been on previously. At this point he hasn’t played a single minute of real basketball with the Blazers… as a starter or a back up.

 I also don’t understand what taking shots at Steve Blake accomplishes. Steve is what he is. He’s been a valuable member of this team and a great teammate. Have you heard one single word from him regarding this situation? Has he been anything but a dedicated professional since Andre was aquired? I have read a lot of posts about this issue and do not recall a single one that claims Steve Blake is a better player than Andre Miller.

I am sorry you are embarrassed by the fact that I see nothing wrong with asking Andre to earn the starting role. It’s somewhat ironic that it’s been mentioned that we’ve “dis-respected” Miller. It would be far, far great dis-respect to brush Steve aside and hand Andre the keys to the team without competition… In my opinion.

or decaf, I’ve not quite figured out which yet, but I’ll be sure to let yahoo know when I figure it out.

Last time I checked, (earlier today), there is a big difference between honesty and crying. Neither involve the other. Besides, I ALWAYS believe everything I hear, especially on the internet. You really should go back and actually read that article. How’s that for artistic freedom?

People need to calm the blank down. We haven’t even started the season yet.

BOO HISSS on this whole subject.

on this issue? Oh dear, where have you been? According to Nate, the starting job belongs to Blake and that we will keep an open mind during training camp but he invisions Miller playing with the second unit with Rudy, Webster, Outlaw and ODEN! Nate is the one that started this debate, he should have kept his mouth shut first about his conditioning test then now about the starting PG position. This should have all been behind close doors! If he is trying to motivate the players then o.k but it still annoys the hell out of me when he shows favoritism to certain players!

players, fans, and executives for that matter largely ascribe to the idea the 5 best players on a team at each given position start.

I just don’t find this to be a convincing argument. If it’s just a convention that has no real value, then the coaching staff and management should be talented enough at communicating that players can look beyond the convention. Here’s the conversation, “Andre, you are the third best player on this team. I absolutely love your game and all that you do. You clearly much better than Blake as a point guard. To get the most out of your talents, I want to play you 32+ minutes a game, but have you play a big chunk of your minutes with the second unit. That means you would come off of the bench. That I want you to come off the bench does not mean I don’t respect your game or think of you as a back-up. If I did, I wouldn’t play you starters minutes or give you so much freedom as a point guard.” I really don’t think it’s that hard to understand.

I’m with AK – if you wanted to upgrade the backup PG slot all along, you get an Anthony Carter/Brevin Knight who is comfortable with that, it is a much tougher sell trying to convince a decade + starter to do that.

Miller would be doing much more than Carter or Knight in that back-up role… I agree that it’s an oversight to sign a player not willing and a happy to take the Giniboli, Terry, JR Smith, Lamar Odom role… but that doesn’t mean that the Blazers should have signed a lesser player.

if you don’t believe it, try to find where it wasn’t true. Other position don’t apply to this rule like the PG spot so don’t bring up those examples.

This argument is only persuasive if a) other teams coaches have made the right decision and b) other teams are similar to the Blazers. Condition b) is harder to satisfy. It is very rare that a team’s starting shooting guard is clearly a much better playmaker than the best PG, but the best PG is also very good playmaker. This is the situation for the Blazers. On teams in which the SG is the best playmaker, it is not at all uncommon to have a better playmaker at PG come off of the bench and have the starting PG be a stronger outside shooter. This has been true for the Lakers with Kobe—though the Lakers have not had a PG as good at making plays as Miller, so it’s hard to say what they’d do. At present Fischer is the better outside shooter, but Brown and Farmar are better at making plays.

Miller should start and Blake shpuld come off the bench! Miller should also be the first to be subbed so he can play with the second unit but Dre needs to start ! End off!

But I’d like to learn, and I know I need practice.

If it’s ok, I’ll start by hating you…er…of course only if that is compatible with your schedule, sir.

I hate the replacement refs. Man, the real refs are some lovable dudes

I think I just time traveled…

I can’t even come up with a joking answer. I think he’s thinking Jack, and I’m not going there.