Smith: Nate McMillan, The Morning After
Brian T. Smith has a transcript of Nate McMillan's thoughts from this morning's shootaround.
Nothing super surprising but there is acknowledgement of issues to address and discussion of communication between coaching staff and players, which is good to hear.
-- Ben Golliver | (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com) | Twitter
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Ben Golliver
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Seems pretty likely the team will respond strongly in tonight's game
Speaking of tonight’s game, Ben, have you considered a front page fanshot to ask people to bring pet food donations tonight?
Seems like if you want scoring off the bench
Running Juwan Howard out there for an entire quarter doesn’t help.
And Bayless is undoubtedly the second most likely bench player (behind Rudy) to put some points on the board, so you might want to bring him in while the game is still alive.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Lineup change
After reading that interview, the chances that Nate will be starting Rudy anytime this season seem remote
Moving Blake to the bench and starting Webster would help Roy to not get so worn down from guarding starting SFs, but it wouldn’t improve the bench scoring, much. One way to do it would be to start Blake-Roy-Webster-LMA-Przybilla and bring Miller/Oden into the game midway through the 1st-3rd quarters. LMA would be the post “presense” for the starters, and Greg would hopefully get more “touches” as soon as he entered the game
It’s hard to argue with “more” Bayless and Cunningham, they need to at least be given the “opportunity” to fail.
KP signing Juwan Howard and not acquiring a better backup PF this offseason = epic fail
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
LMA has a post presence?
McMillan keeps saying he needs scrappy play out of his players. His players don’t scrap. Maybe they’d give more effort if he figured out a way to utilize his players talents.
Maybe reading that article when I am already mad at Nate colored my perception of it but...
It seemed like Nate was once again putting it all on the players and accepting none of the responsibility for himself.
Unacceptable – Nate!
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 3-guard line-up isn't the problem
The problem is that the team doesn’t currently have a small forward (Martell is playing so poorly that he doesn’t count). Nate isn’t in love with the 3-guard line-up. It’s been forced upon him. And I say kudos to the notably inflexible Nate McMillen for employing it.
Having said that, I do agree with you and the many other BE’ers about the 2-foul rule. Nate’s knee-jerk pulling of GO every time he gets two fouls in the first half is killing the Blazers. I posted about this last season. Nate seems to fear having his centers foul out more than he fears losing. You have 12 fouls between GO and Przy, so why not use them? It ain’t like you can carry them over to the next game.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
To extend the thought...
More than any other sport I can think of, NBA basketball is a game of momentum. Once a team has Big Mo on its side—particularly at home—they’re almost unbeatable. They gain confidence, the opponent loses it, and the refs jump aboard the bandwagon. So for Nate to pull GO and LMA like he did last night—at a point when the Blazers had all the momentum on their side—was beyond foolish. It was flat idiotic. (Sorry Nate, but that’s how I see it.)
I’d have been so reassured to hear Nate say he was rethinking that strategy, but no. Maybe he believes it’s an acceptable tradeoff to sacrifice a few wins early this season in order to teach GO to avoid early fouls. I dunno. But it sure is painful to watch. And why on earth would you start applying the rule to LMA, who is a vet used to playing with fouls? It’s just inexplicable to me.
My hope is that, without admitting he’s been wrong, Nate will leave GO and LMA in the next time around. I don’t care about the Blazers’ coach giving mea culpas. I just want him to learn from his mistakes.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
The big thing I like to hear is that coach is LISTENING (hopefully) to the team...
All one way “sarge” system with frustrated players who feel they can’t even enter the conversation is fatal.
Nate has shown the ability to adapt in the past, which is what I am hoping for. If what you are doing is not working, try something else. Don’t be too afraid of making a mistake (e.g. fouling out, for instance).
"Travis went all wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow on everybody " Dave's recap, season opener
I noticed that, too
The strong implication there was that the players had some things to say and he listened.
I think something is going to change, and soon.
I suspect one of the things he heard was the 2 foul rule for LMA has to go.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
OH, I do hope you are right, jscot!
But I will believe it when I see him make a positive change.
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was only one game
It made absolutely no sense for that one game, but thus far it has only been one game…
Man. A day later and I still don’t get that. LMA doesn’t need his fouls managed.
M—
Ya, that's HUGE head-scratcher
We must be missing some key information. Something else was going on.
really? seems to be Nate’s two-foul rule for bigs, with Nate especially scared of Maggette.
i cry for nic
I just don't remember "Oden's Rule" applying to LMA before
Refresh my memory — were the LMA fouls stupid fouls? The type of bonehead plays that Oden is often guilty of?
If Oden and LMA
played that 2nd quarter we would probably have been up 20 at half and most likely the game would be over.
Who's handling the ball? & who could have it limited?
This article said that Bayless, LMA, and Oden were handling the ball and could have that limited, what a crock! Bayless, LMA, and Oden were not in that game durring the time we were having problems! Both Rudy and Webster were in for short times but the turn overs were on the ones no mentioned, yes Webster has not been playing up to his par, Rudy is playing about the best over all. get real trust Bayless and Rudy out there play them together. It is to easy for a team to send everybody at Oden to get two fouls on him play him if he’s hot sit him if he’s not.
Miller, Blake, and Howard
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Nate found the problem.
On which players are handling the ball and who could have their ability to do so limited:
Martell (Webster), Rudy (Fernandez), Greg (Oden), LaMarcus (Aldridge), (Jerryd) Bayless. All those guys have played with the ball.
Webster (1), Rudy (4 TO, 5 Assists, and 4 Steals), and Bayless (0) combined for 5 turnovers. Rudy’s passes often are too high risk/reward. But Greg (1 TO) and LMA (2 TO) aren’t playmakers handling the ball (although Oden has had a couple of nice assists lately to cutting guards) so what the heck is Nate talking about there?
Miller had 7 turnovers (2 Assists) of our 23 total.
Nate already found a way to limit Greg’s and LMA’s turnovers last night – just don’t play them after 2 fouls each in the first half. OK, I understand what he is trying to teach Greg about fouling, but LMA plays 6 minutes in the first half because he has 2 fouls???
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Nov 21, 2009 1:41 PM PST reply actions
he's not teaching greg anything,
aside from 2 and you’re done, no matter how badly you were just mopping up the floor with the other team.
what about letting greg learn to play with fouls? that DOES have to happen at some point.
It is definitely teaching Greg to learn how not to foul. It just wasn't working letting Greg play with 2 fouls.
Two fouls almost automatically quickly became 3 fouls. He had to find a way to get through to Greg. I already see a lot of progress in Greg’s techniques since this was implemented. He has quit trying to block every shot, his arms are up more, he’s moving his feet better, and he is not body blocking guards nearly as much. In the short term less Oden in the first half hurts us, but long term we are much better off when Greg learns not to foul.
LMA with 2 fouls??? No, that makes no sense at all.
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Nov 21, 2009 2:03 PM PST up reply actions
It's not working. He is still fouling at an incredible rate however Nate McMillan in his infinite wisdom simply decides to cut his minutes as to stop him fouling out.
Which does nothing, what is the use of having six fouls at your disposal if your coach never lets you use them?
#88 > #23 > #25
Updated for latest line-up:
#5 > #2
Well, I think it is working. I see a big difference in the type of fouls he commits
now versus last year, or at the start of this year. He commits far fewer fouls with his body against guards. He is not reaching over people nearly so often to block shots. He doesn’t automatically try to block every shot and he’s better at moving his feet and coming at an angle when try to stop guards. I didn’t see that early this year.
While you can say “the policy” is cutting his first half minutes it increases his 2nd half minutes. He is still averaging 24.2 minutes a game vs 21.5 minutes a year ago. He’s averaged 25.8 minutes the last 6 games. It makes sense to have him available in the final stretch of the game, but he’s still finished 8 of 14 games with 5 or more fouls, so his fouls aren’t going unused. But again, the important thing right now is the improvement in the type of fouls he commits. That will lead to more minutes in the long term.
Sure you can say this would have happened anyway without Nate’s “policy”. But it hadn’t happened, and now it is. Something had to be done and I clearly see some results. The long term benefits to fixing this problem far outweigh any short term benefits that may or may not have occurred trying to stretch his first half minutes. If he regresses, and his minutes decrease and the fouls become sillier again, then you have to change “policy”, but for now I believe this is getting results.
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Nov 21, 2009 3:17 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Okay,
I’ll agree that the type of fouls Oden is being called for now are different than in the start of the season. That’s great. So, now what?
Simply because a strategy worked doesn’t mean that it is necessary in all situations and certainly doesn’t mean it should be continued indefinitely.
I think that if it has taught Oden to do things differently then it has served it’s purpose and is no longer needed. He needs to learn to play with the fouls he is getting now since he’s not habitually committing the ones that were such a problem earlier.
"She turned me into a newt!
A newt?
...I got better."
It's time
to let Oden play. He will learn to play with those two fouls. For goodness shake, leave him in the game, especially on a night when you have such a HUGE advantage at the center position.
Why is it time?
Why now instead of in 20 games?
Have you been talking to Greg to read his mindset? Have you been studying game film of his fouls with him to talk to him about why he committed that foul, the mistake that led to it, etc.?
What makes you so sure it is time?
I’m sure Nate would agree that there will be a time when Greg needs to play with two fouls. How do you know the time has come?
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
You are entirely correct, BFS1970
It IS having an impact, already having some impact, and will pay dividends by the end of the season.
People need to recognize what Nate is, and what he isn’t. To my way of thinking, Nate is a mediocre tactician (some would say worse than mediocre). But he is an excellent teacher.
If we lose a few games now and get the fouling under control, it’s worth it by far. This is a playoff team anyway. But I would rather have Greg’s fouling under control than have home court advantage, if it comes to that.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
I just don't see the cause - effect relationship that you do between the 2 Foul rule and Oden learning to not foul.
Yes, I think Oden is getting better at not fouling but I don’t believe Nate’s Stage Hook is the reason.
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you dont teach someone not to foul by taking them out
you teach them not to foul by TEACHING THEM HOW TO PLAY DEFENSE.
If Greg stays in the game with his 2nd foul, you’re telling him he’s doing fine and, in all likelihood, the refs are still picking on you. Let him foul out for cryin out loud! Whats the difference if you sit him and let the lead go away, or lose him but still get his production. At least by letting him play with two fouls he will learn, “Oh! This is how I play defense and not pick up fouls! Maybe if I play defense this way when i have zero fouls, I’ll be able to stay in the game longer!”
And PLEASE!!!! Somebody teach Nate the importance of calling a timeout to STOP THE OTHER TEAM’S MOMENTUM.
Not everyone learns the same way.
Don’t you think they already spent a year trying to teach him not to foul by playing defense better?
Sometimes you gotta take away the kid’s car for a while to get him to quit getting tickets. But I suppose another approach is to let him crash it a few times and hope he doesn’t kill anyone or himself.
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Nov 22, 2009 3:26 AM PST up reply actions
great
so we’re going to see a heavy does of walk the ball up the floor and give it to Roy offense again. no cutting, no movement, no fast breaks, no, thread the needle passes. Sure, our turnovers will be down, but we’ll be back to never getting an easy hoop again. It’s fools gold.
Tell you what, I’d rather accept a couple of turnovers a game extra from Rudy and Miller because the trade off is they will also give you an extra 8-10 baskets that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Yes, it’s higher risk, but it’s also higher reward.
I may be in the minority here, but I don’t think our offensive problems this season have been about turnovers.
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
by douglast on Nov 21, 2009 1:59 PM PST up reply actions 6 recs
Unfortunately, I felt your post deserved a rec...
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well we will just see after tonight.
I hope what you said doesn’t come true. But I have a feeling you may be right…
After the fact
at least we saw some quick passing to the open man, instead of getting the pass, holding it, dribbling a little, and then passing to someone else.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Nate is guilty of a self-imposed Catch 22
He wants his teams to “scrap”, but punishes scrappers with bench time because what he rewards is commitment to deliberate execution.
Deliberate execution, however, gets trumped by dynamic execution.
It’s only a hypothesis – but what I mean is that McMillan wants his players to execute his offensive schemes, and punishes players that play basketball loose and creatively.
You need both – because overcommitment to execution gets you playoff series like Houston and losing streaks to teams like GSW. You have to have players ready to have fun playing basketball – not just out there trying to force a particular scheme.
I think some back to basics is good.
Last season the Blazers had low turnovers and outrebounded the other team. This came to be a given and resulted in sufficient extra possessions so that even when the team’s shooting % was lower they prevailed. Basic stuff.
There are other issues, but that was a big part of how they won last year. This year the team is losing the rebounding battle now and then — and if you just look at that one stat it often tells you who won.
Playing zone defense (whether to protect your center from fouls or whatever) makes it much more difficult to box out. This is some basic basketball.
The team has some other issues as well.
ignacio
Playing zone defense with Morrow on the floor was a glaring mistake.
Sure, let’s leave the best three point shooter in the league wide open, maybe 2 or 3 times a play. Yeesh.
#88 > #23 > #25
Updated for latest line-up:
#5 > #2
Yes, some back to basics thinking is in order here.
Such as:
Always Playing a True 5 at the 5 Position.
Always Playing a True 4 at the 4 Position.
Always Playing a True 3 at the 3 Position.
Always Playing a True 2 at the 2 Position.
Always Playing a True 1 at the 1 Position.
How much more “Back to Basics” can you get?
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
agreed mostly
at the 1 and 5 spots, I agree 100%. We have 2 high quality 5s, and one of them should always be in the game. Thankfully, we generally do that this year. We have two 1s on the active roster. Again, one of them should be in the game at all times. I’ll go one further and say they should never be in the game together.
At the 2 and 4 spots we can also hold true to this rule (assuming you call Dante a 4 – and Dante should be getting the backup minutes instead of Howard). However, unless you want to play Martell 48 minutes a game, we really have to play some non 3s and the 3 spot, at least until Batum comes back.
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
I think that DC should be considered a 3-4 just like Trout and should be played accordingly.
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also don't think that Howard is as disastrous as many here think.
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
Stop playing the 3 Guard Line up and Stop Using the 2 Foul Rule – NATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Howard isn't THAT bad, I agree
I just think he should be reserved for closing out a quarters where the Blazers are leading. The last two minutes of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd if leads are 10+. Thats it. The Blazers did great when he came to meet them at half court for high fives on time outs. More of that!
Like I said last night, Howard is pretty bad.
But it’s not his fault he found someone to pay him for another year, and, remarkably, found a coach who will play him in a critical quarter in front of a bunch of other, far superior, players. Good for Juwan—all he can do is play as hard as he is able when called upon. Bad for us.
Nate is a good man, but unfortunately, not the right coach for this team. What happened in the 2nd quarter against Golden State on November 20?
by RenoBlazerFan on Nov 21, 2009 5:14 PM PST up reply actions
No, Juwan Howard really is that bad.
Dear Paul Allen:
Fire Nate McMillan & hire Jeff Van Gundy.
Sincerely,
AK1984
He's fine in a very limited role
when your top two PFs are in foul trouble, he can come in and play for 3-4 minutes sometimes. Or when one of your PFs turns his ankle and has to miss a game, for 12 minutes or so for a couple games.
He’s probably good at telling a rookie where he got burned on that play. And helping guys to know which restaurants to go to on the road. That’s all cool.
But if Dante isn’t good enough to be our primary backup 4, KP needs to make a move.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Dante Cunningham can't play the 3 in the high-low zone offense, as he can't shoot from deep.
Dear Paul Allen:
Fire Nate McMillan & hire Jeff Van Gundy.
Sincerely,
AK1984
Frustrating read
Maybe he’s just feeding the media coach-speak, but once again Nate gives an interview where he has no problem calling out/singling out players not named Blake or Roy. Brandon and Steve are both key parts of this team, and Roy is the cornerstone of the franchise, but when they play poorly Nate needs to apply the same general standards to them as the other players (obviously, Roy has earned more leash than anyone else based on performance) or he’s going to be dealing with a fractured locker room sooner than later.
"man, steve blake is clutch *dead*" - Ben Golliver on Twitter
I knew this would happen
when we let Channing Frye walk.
But seriously, we have no use for a 6’11" guy who can play the 4 and sink a jumper. Do we? Nah. Thought so.
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