I don’t think that Nate’s defensive failure is “buy in”. I think his major inadequacy is the type of pick and roll defense he is using (and perhaps transition defense, but I believe that is just a preseason mental lapse). UDUB said it well with this…

“They are also one of the tallest and longest teams in the league, yet they can’t seem to play pick-and-roll defense or get their hands in passing lanes. At some point, if the Blazers don’t improve in these areas, all the fingers are going to be pointing at McMillan.”

We are too long, athletic, talented and hungry for this trend to be anything other than defensive strategy problems (which would seem to rest on Nate’s shoulders).

I do, however, agree that defense could be his downfall.

First off look at the losses we have LAC, ut x2, Phx, what do 3/4ths of those teams have i common? Some of the best P n’ R offense in the league.

Sloan and the jazz are famous for their P n’ R execution and Steve Nash with anybody is difficult even against the most seasoned D teams, and we are doing it with 2 new rotation players, neither of whom have EVER been lauded for their D presence.

Yes Roy has sometimes looked bad on the perimeter, but he has been flanked by Webster and Miller most of the time. Yes Blake is not that much better but at the least he and Roy knew how to play with each other and where they would be.

Adding to that the P n’ R is one of the simplest plays to learn but most difficult to master on both sides.

Young players and poor defensive PGs against 2 of the best P n’ R teams in the league does not bode well for us either way, especially without our best wing defender being replaced with Webster.

Case in point http://www.nba.com/video/games/blazers/2009/10/18/0010900082_den_por_3play.nba/index.html?ls=gt1hp0010900082

Granted we need to improve on D but once the roster shakes itself out and guys get used to playing with each other it will come together.

I further agree and hope that Webster will get the short end of the stick and that Batum and by default with Roy @ the 3, Rudy will get those minutes. I just do not see how Webster or even Outlaw (even though I am still a bit bullish on him even though no one else is) should cause Rudy or Batum to get less than their 25 and 18 mpg they got last season.

Lastly, I was reading the BDL season preview and Dwyer prefaced the entire thing with
 
“Portland fans probably won’t like the win total listed at the bottom of the preview”

but I could not agree with him more.

I see us having a lot of trouble in the early season figuring our rotations and learning to play with one another leading to about the same amount of wins if not a few more. I would honestly be shocked if this team won 60+ games, in part because I do not feel that we are vastly superior to every other team and can turn it on and off, but rather we will come up like the Spurs and focus on the more important thing in the playoffs. Use the end of 200i9 to get everything set and blow 2010 out of the water.

We need to start looking at the bigger picture and past this meaningless stuff and start thinking of bigger things. Yes take every game as it comes but do not worry as long as we are playing 70%+ ball in March, April and beyond, that is all that matters

It’s true that all of the teams have been subject to the bad refereeing, but it doesn’t follow from that that all teams have been equally affected. The replacement refs call games differently; they change the game. That change will help some teams and hurt others depending on their styles of play and their personnel. It’s possilbe that—for whatever reason—the Blazers are more affected by this than some other teams. We’ll only know once the regular refs are back.

The blazers are—to a large extent—a jump shooting team. They shoot from outside a lot, especially from 3-point range. But if you look at their preseason stats, one thing that jumps out at you is that they have been absolutely horrendous at shooting 3s. They’re ice cold. That should change eventually and when it does, they’ll suddenly look a lot better.

People often don’t appreciate what a big difference long range shooting makes in the course of a game. Every made three pointer significantly alters the momentum of the game and many missed three pointers lead to easy buckets on the other end.

But I do think he will be difference maker.

And LaMarcus will be signed this week (I predict). I agree that the decision not to award the starting spots to Miller and Oden is somewhat baffling. They both clearly deserve it and the longer the uncertainty lingers, the harder it will be for guys to build chemistry.