There has been way too much speculation about Andre’s attitude, his role and the communication between him and Nate and Brandon.

The only two facts we know is that
1. Miller came in to the team expecting to be the starter and that for now he’s the back up to Blake.
2. The team has looked out of sync at times during the preseason.

We don’t know if Miller is upset by it. We don’t know if he’s angry at Nate or Brandon. We don’t know if he and Nate sat down for a long talk and worked all this out with Miller before Nate announced who was starting. We don’t know what the team chemistry looks like in practice. We don’t know what the minute distribution will be. We don’t know if Nate is going to change his starters as the season progresses like he did last season.

So until there’s an actual incident where Miller acts upset about the situation, we don’t have any concrete basis to say this is a problem.

really? please calm down. i’m sure nate and andre haven’t talked a single time this preseason…

I knew it would be a different night when McMillan cut off our pregame interview early.

"I have to go,’’ the coach said. "I need to talk to a couple of players.’’

Quick doesn’t say, but it’s very possible Nate spoke with Miller as well as Przybilla, before the game

After the game, McMillan is as pleased as he has been all preseason.

"That first group established how we want to play,’’ McMillan said. "This (Phoenix) team the last time we played had 30 fast break points and tonight by our count, they had 10. So better job of executing the game plan and defending. And offensively we had good movement.’’

So did that mean Thursday’s starting lineup of Blake, Roy, Batum, Aldridge and Oden would open the season against Houston?

McMillan smiled and his eyes danced. It was the type of smile, the type of look, that after five years of covering him I understand means "yes", but he wasn’t going to go on record and say it.

"You write what you think,’’ he said, finally breaking into a laugh. "I’ll let you know in a couple of days.’’

After the game, Roy emphatically said that would be the lineup.

Nate still hadn’t directly told the media who was going to start at PG, after the game. Roy spilled the beans. That’s “bad on Brandon” if Nate hadn’t had his chat with Andre.

I never did get to speak with Miller after Thursday’s game, he left by the time I was done talking to Roy and Przybilla. But as I talked with Przybilla, the center nodded over toward Miller.
 
Przybilla has been a staunch supporter of Miller, and earlier in training camp he chastised me for printing that Miller failed his conditioning test. Przybilla felt Andre was being unfairly labeled. As we talked Thursday, Przybilla wanted to make sure everyone knew that he felt Miller would handle playing on the second unit just fine.

"Andre wants to win. He has the same mentality I do,’’ Przybilla said. "He understands what Coach wants and what the team needs from him to win. Seriously. I have never heard him say one negative thing, ever…"

Has anyone read/heard any comments from Miller, since last night?

I haven’t been following all the “junior high melodrama” of the last couple of weeks. But the fact is, the starting job was handed down last night. And Brandon finally showed up. And there has been a lot of the talk in the press. So it seems an appropriate time to evaluate the whole move.

And though Nate’s initial quote in the press did bother me, I didn’t make a post about it. No, this seems like the time to speak up on this.

As for the tone of the post, the whole “maybe you…maybe you…” second person thing is an attempt to stress that this is just a stab in the dark.

But, really, do you think it is so far from what happened? It’s just a young team. And a young management. I am no chicken little here. Just taking a shot at these guys for some apparent sloppiness.

 but he has proven to me he is twice the point guard steve is.he deserves the 1st team the same as oden does. this will definatly bring down odens chances at getting the ball inside via pick and rolls to the basket, and allyoops.

McMillian did not sign his extension because he was not sure if he would be the one that could lead this team to the Championship? My feeling is that Nate is too committed to the players he likes personally. I mean you Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. This does not mean these guys aren’t good. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be successful. But one has to wonder why we have a fast pace team and a slow coach. Lastly, if Brandon is sandbagging it he should be ashamed. That lacks total professionalism. I would rather have a guy that is honest about his sandbagging then one that does it because he is covering for a buddy. You get paid to play with who ever is on the court. That is why you have a MAX CONTRACT!

not necessarily negative but just a relection of his nature. His interview with Yahoo Sports for example was a knucklehead move and a genuine disappointment but not exactly the end of the world. Well, he gets his sad and lonely wish; to be left alone to throw the rock without any attachments to his teammates or fans. That’s part of his path I suppose; just don’t expect people to follow along on that sad journey. We’re having way too much fun crying over Blake and Travis and Oden and how long before we have a collective heart attack from these game winning last second shots. Way too much fun to wait for Miller to lighten up.

Miller needs to be thankful for the money and the opportunity the Trailblazers have given him. This is his chance to be on a contender. I’m sure he will embrace any role he is given, following the TEAM concept. If he falls to do this or becomes a problem, he can be traded.

It’s not like he’s Hall of Fame Material.

But I am loving what he can do for this team, if he accepts his role.

and now he’s happy, then I’m happy. Because his idea of happiness does not mean averaging 30pts/gm, it means Ws and having this be the best team possible.

I think Miller, because he can drive and score as well as dish, makes a lot of sense coming in off the bench. We’ll see how he plays with Rudy. This is not the only possible way to do things — but it’s not outlandish or crazy.

Until I actually see them play on TV, I remain in a state of what Sextus Empiricus, the Roman philosopher, called “mental suspense.” In other words I’m not drawing any premature conclusions and I could care less about this speculative drama-mongering for the sake of drama-mongering.

But perhaps I am guilty of it here. The use of the word “sandbagging” definitely makes it more inflammatory. My guess is that Brandon was not consciously undermining Andre. But that is not the issue. The issue is why does Brandon not feel certain enough of his own position and abilities to give the experiment a whole-hearted try. Why the emotional reaction? And why a head coach who seems unable to address this more efficiently?

And how do I know he reacted emotionally? I don’t. But it feels that way.

This post is not about Andre Miller or who should start at PG. It is about something I’m seeing and have seen from the Blazers leadership and management.

It is a lack of the killer instinct and the single minded purposefulness that underlies it.

Phil Jackson will use the media to get more out of his players. But when I see what looks like passive-aggression in the media, it leads me to think something else is going on. That the leadership of this team is not yet ready mentally to take the next step!

I agree that it appears that the miller situation has not been handled well. There does seem to be discrepancy between what Miller expected (to start) and what has happened so far. That points to poor communication to me. So I think the original post is a good juicy speculation with at least some grain of truth.

I am not feeling happy with the way the preseason has gone. It is hard to see what is going on cause I could not see the preseason games, so I can only speculate based on box scores. 4 of the past 6 games the opponent shot 50% or higher. That is a tendency I did not like last year and it is disappointing to see it manifesting in the preseason now. I would hope for a new vigor on defense (A Blazers weakness).

I don’t get the feeling that the preseason was used well to integrate Miller. Though I could not watch, I do not like that Miller had games where he was taking 15-16 shots. Too much imo. I would not necessarily criticize Miller for that, nor necessarily the coaching staff. Just overall it seems like a lack of focus from various directions and both on the court and in the faces and words in interviews.

In that interview above, Miller says he did not get to play with Roy much. IMO they should have played more together in the preseason. Even if Blake will start, he knows how to play with Roy and they do not need much practice. In that interview Miller also mentioned that they are not a running team and he will have to get used to bringing it up slower. Did the Blazers try some more up tempo play in the preseason? Anyone saw the games and can comment? I do have a certain lack of confidence in Nate to have some flexibility to use players to their strengths.

Go Blazers!!

put greg on the 2nd unit and bench the starting unit more!

its about greg scoring 50

I agree with everything. Andre’s so much better than Blake. I mean, Blake just dribbles in circles. Roy needs someone to pop his ego balloon. Nate needs to start playing favorites and babying a starting line-up, that, although many of you forgotten this, sucked against the Rockets. They were shut down completely on offense, largely because there was no one to set up a good offense. Their defense was like swiss cheese, largely because there wasn’t anyone playing tough against Aarron Brooks and Pryzbilla, Oden and Aldridge had to compansate, leaving Yao and Scola open and Oden in foul trouble. I’m not saying all of the Blazers’ shortcomings are Steve Blake’s fault, just most of them are.

It is good that the views and frustrations that are generated (often by shock jocks or one of two toxic-minded reporters) over the starting lineup. Our own Ben (definitely not toxic) has also generated some of this dismay over Andre on the bench . There are a couple of thoughts I wanted to add to the discussion at this point;

1. When you say someone goes behind another’s back that action is referring to a secretive move. Talking with the press is clearly not secret. It can also be attributed to stepping out of the chain of command. Nate is the coach and except for Isiah in NY being muzzled I can think of few instances where a coach is out of line talking with the press. Nate is clearly above Andre in the chain of command and therefore cannot be stepping out of that chain. Another definition:

[- GO BEHIND SOMEONE’S BACK -
.
GO BEHIND SOMEONE’S BACK means to interfere in people’s affairs without permission, usually in a dishonest or selfish way.]

2. The ease that we leap to judgments of others in this society seems to be a step back from a more civilized day. Perhaps the political climate has fostered this. My caution is that the more mature and civilized approach is to assume good motives for every action until the weight of evidence makes that assumption impossible. In other words the burden of proof is on the accuser and in our microcosm of fandom on Blazersedge it is all too easy to accuse from the anonymity of our access here. In my opinion bringing an accusation against another is a serious charge that should be done in an open way and with substantial evidence displayed to support the conclusion.

I make no judgment about you in your post as I do not know you and do not know your intentions. On the contrary I assume you are a passionate fan who only wants to see the team (including Brandon and Nate) do well regardless of the personnel and their timing employed, Perhaps next time you might consider avoiding what appears to me to be very strong, accusatory wording. You might simply raise the question of what possible causes the actions you describe could have, including your own impression of a possible cause. That might change the tenor of the discussion. I look forward to many more contributions from you.

It’s a little premature to be speculating about the PG position. In point of fact, Miller wanted badly to come to the Blazers, as was reported after his signing by Quick. At the same time, the day Miller was signed Mac stated publicly that Blake was the starter on a 54 win team, and that Miller would have to earn the position – regardless of his past. We then need to remember that Roy is a unique talent, and that it took Blake the better part of a season to integrate his game with Roy’s – which meant sharing the ball handling duties with Roy – as opposed to being a classic point who always handles the ball. We also know that the first unit needs a solid outside shooter to spread the floor and to complement our inside – midrange game of Oden/Aldridge/Roy, given that Batum is improving but not yet reliable from outside, and Webster is not yet 100%. And Miller does not do that. This leaves Blake.

Roy also stated a few days ago that he and Miller are still learning how to complement each other’s game and to play off of each other, and we know that Miller is still learning the playbook. Miller is a superior passer and can create his own shot, but until Batum/Webster step up consistently to provide an outside threat, the Blazers must balance the first unit.

Most of what is talked about here on this post is speculation with some basis, but not any certain information. Miller has a starter’s mindset – because he’s always started. But Mac made it clear at the outset that he already had a winning rotation which, with the expected improvement of Oden/Batum/Webster/Aldridge, was going to get better – and he wasn’t going to arbitrarily change that until he could see its benefits. Miller knew that from day one.

Miller also has the responsibility – as does Roy – to learn to make the changes to their games necessary for both to be effective on the floor at the same time. And this will take time, and you cannot expect this to happen in a few weeks.

In the end, the only controversy exists in the mind of some fans. Miller and Roy are professionals and they will eventually learn to adjust their games to each other.

Ironically, we forget how long it took Blake to do the same thing, in part because no one saw him early as the clear starter – which gave him the cover necessary to learn to adjust his game to Brandon. And once he did, he then started.

In my book, what we will see in the evolution of the Blazers will be three things. In the first case, the evolution of Batum/Webster in terms of providing an outside threat will offset Miller, and if and when that happens, Miller will be more likely to start. In the second case, Miller and Roy will learn to share the ball – and the scoring, and once that happens, this will also help Miller. And the final issue will be the degree to which Miller’s superior passing improves the Blazers inside game and Oden’s play.

Miller is a talent – but as some have pointed out, on this team, we already have two go to scorers in Roy and Aldridge – both of which are players who can almost always get their shot. Miller, who can often do the same thing, must adjust to this fact. Further, Oden’s post play is improving, and as it does, he will also become an increasing option inside as he will be able to get his shot against many of the other centers in the league. Rather than Miller being the second option, he then becomes a third or fourth option.

So, give it time.