What bothers me about the Blazers
by andrewgolfsalot on Feb 25, 2009 8:00 PM PST
Email
PrintHi everyone at BE. I'm a long, long, long time lurker, and now a first time poster.
I wanted to make a quick observation about the Blazers tendencies and see how frustrating and/or noticeable it is to others.
We all know about the proneness to start slow, and get into holes, as we've seen the last two nights. Yea, that really ticks me off, and there's no need for it. But, that's not my main concern at this point.
What bothers me the most right now is the shot selection during runs. For example, during tonight's game, We were on a 11-3 run, within six, and Channing Frye came down the court, caught a pass at the top of the key and bricked a 21 foot jumper and the Spurs took it the other way and scored.
Frye did the same thing later, when we were down 5, shooting a three from the corner that had no chance.
Outlaw was guilty of this too, shooting off balance, and deep, contested jumpers that just happened to go in. And, as we all know, a shot that falls is not necessarily a good shot.
I don't understand how Nate's philosophy late in games, especially during runs isn't to get to the hoop more often.
Does this bother anyone else as much as it bothers me?
Lastly, thanks for a tremendous community and a wealth of Blazers information not available anywhere else.
41 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Is this "What bugs you Wednesday" ?
How about the Spanish Connection flat-lining right as we hit the playoff stretch run.
For me tonight it was
The constant switching on the pick-and-roll, giving Tony Parker open jumper after open jumper against LA.
Things happen for a reason they say, but I say there's a reason things happen.
Its games like this that really show how ill-equipped Nate is for playoff basketball
There is absolutely no excuse for the performance mostly of the coaching out there tonight. If that’s really the best Nate can do with an overwhelming talent advantage, this lets you know about how high we expect to be. When your coach is going to be permanently between 12 and 18 in the coaching ranks, you’re not going to be winning any titles. I’m ready for Larry Brown and I don’t care if he just comes for a year or two. At least our players would realize how winning basketball is played.
The problem with Nate.
Is he is still coaching as if he has his old Seattle team with Allen and Lewis. Those aren’t our strengths and they wont win much if at all in the playoffs.
Infact the only time I believe Nate’s team made the playoffs and won was the contract year for Allen/Jerome James and a few others including Nate himself.
by TSE on Feb 25, 2009 8:53 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
That actually makes sense.
He thinks Roy is Ray Allen and Outlaw is Rashard Lewis.
I can’t believe no one has brought this up before.
Jerryd Bayless has two emotions: Kill and Win.
"I want to put points on your face."
-Rudy to Pau Gasol
TRADE TRAVIS OUTLAW FOR A CHAIR
by rockingharder on Feb 25, 2009 9:02 PM PST up reply actions
JVG is a profit.
I think he’s better than Nate too. This team doesn’t need lessons in offense. JVG would help em with what they need.
He's gonna have a hard time sticking in the NBA, if that's true, it's a tanking league in this economy...
JVG is a profit.
Why is Channing Frye still here? Anybody??? Anybody???
I've Stated This Before
I agree wholeheartedly. Although I will miss his great commentary, his coaching skills would be worth it.
Let RudyMania Reign!!
http://twitter.com/downtwnchinatwn
by DowntownChinatown on Feb 25, 2009 9:12 PM PST up reply actions
An overwhelming talent advantage?
Seems a little strong for the game I watched.
It's not just playoff basketball
it’s against well coached teams. I’ve been holding off on major criticism of Nate for a while, but after this year, despite us catching almost every top WC playoff team in a serious injury crisis, we’re completely non-competitive in these games. Being young is one thing, going 1-10 on the road against every single team we’re competing against is almost inexcusable (should be 0-11, thanks CP’s groin). Even in our home games against them, we’ve managed to beat Utah minus AK47 and Boozer, Houston on a last second 30 footer, SA without Manu, and Denver without Melo. Our one decent win against a top 9 WC playoff at anything resembling full strength was against NO @ home. That’s embarrassing.
I’d have to look through the game logs, but I’d venture to say that we were down double digits in all but one or two of those losses. Well coached teams are simply taking us apart. Chalk that up to youth all we want, but that 06/07 Bulls team that we’re all terrified to turn into (which won 49 games, almost exactly what we’re on pace for) didn’t have this happen to them, and the differences in age between our current team and that team aren’t exactly humongous.
Personally, I’m really getting to the point where missing the playoffs should pretty much guarantee Nate seeing the door, and getting swept in the first round (looking pretty likely now if we get there) isn’t far off there.
I know we were missing Oden and all, and that SA did this to Dallas (missing Terry, far more important to them than Greg is to us), but this is really getting out of control, any way you look at it.
Flip Saunders is only slightly ahead of Nate
He absolutely destroyed Larry Brown’s Pistons team. He’s not a great coach either. He also has a lot of defensive issues, which apparently Tony Parker by himself is enough for G-Pop to work with in both cases. Disgusting…
Flip Saunders is slightly AHEAD of Nate?
Ummm…. I’m having a hard time responding to that without saying something I shouldn’t.
Nate is so far above and beyond Flip it’s just silly. Look at what Flip did to a CHAMPIONSHIP VETERAN TEAM and look at the good things Nate is doing with a BUNCH OF 23 YEAR OLDS.
There isn’t even a comparison. True, a lot of the credit goes to Roy and LMA, but you have to give Nate, and his staff, a BIG round of applause for what they are doing.
Want more aggressiveness? Try less Baylesslessness.
by prezofdeath on Feb 25, 2009 9:24 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I really don't know which way to go
Do you want the games in which we were embarrassed at home, or the only other time we played them that we also lost. Jason Kidd is a shell of his former self, and Dirk Nowitzki is a soft jump shooter. Am I supposed to believe that Nate is better despite losing to this team twice? Am I supposed to believe that Nate is better despite him never doing a thing in the playoffs? Sorry. You don’t get credit for things you haven’t done, and Nate just hasn’t done much.
Flip and Nate are both in that 3rd tier of coaches. Good enough to hang onto there jobs, and bad enough to ensure they’ll never win a title without a completely lobsided roster. Fortunately KP has filled the cupboard up real nice. Unfortunately, we might not know what we haven’t got (a Championship caliber coach) until its too late.
"Unfortunately, we might not know what we haven’t got (a Championship caliber coach) until its too late."
Oh yeah, our championship window is closing real fast. Drastic changes need to be made.
Karma
by Sabonis4Ever on Feb 25, 2009 10:20 PM PST up reply actions
If you've paid attention at all to Oregon you'd know what I'm talking about
Ernie Kent has done just enough to get by for years and years, and the Ducks would’ve been much better now if they had just made the change when they could have. Just getting by shouldn’t be enough. Make the playoffs this year may be enough, but if we’re not in the WCF next year I’ll be disappointed, and Nate might be the guy holding us back.
You and I think alike as11osu. And also, the window is closing fast. Lakers will still be a dominant force (maybe even better if Bynum stays healthy) and wherever LeBron goes in 2010 (along w/Bosh??), those teams could be impossible to beat in a 7 game series…
Let RudyMania Reign!!
http://twitter.com/downtwnchinatwn
by DowntownChinatown on Feb 26, 2009 7:27 PM PST up reply actions
Most importantly, I wouldn't want to look at Flip Saunder for a whole season, much less half a decade
Brandon is one of those quiet assassins. - Chris Paul
I think Nate is substantially better than Flip
I’m of the mind that if you were to switch Nate and Doc Rivers (but keep their staffs in place) over the last two years, the Celtics would still have won the title and be one of the best teams in the league. Nate’s strengths seem to be maintaining player relationships and creating a solid locker room to maximize chemistry. That’s great, I love chemistry, but it only takes you so far against well-coached teams if that’s all you have. And, I hate to say it right now, that’s all we have.
The Pistons in 2004 had great chemistry and great coaching, and it won them a title over what was supposed to be the best team of the last decade. The Pistons minus Larry Brown simply had great chemistry (if anything hurt by Flip because he let them get so cocky) and bad coaching, and that led a team that should only have improved (Sheed for a full year, Prince’s emergence, McDyess’s resurgence) to slowly regress until they end up having to trade Chauncey for AI to blow it all up.
that's my feeling also
I support Nate for now and think he should get another year to work with Portland’s defense, but I’m not at all confident in his ability to fix it.
Boomshakalaka
The coach isnt the problem.
We are young. As we mature we will become a beter road team. We played the second night of a back-to-back on the road against a top veteran. Nobody expected it to be pretty. If we look this rough in Minnisota…then there might be cause for concern.
"Great Oden's raven!" - Ron Burgandy
by danevan on Feb 25, 2009 9:30 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
Being young doesn't make Nate immune to criticism
I’m not saying I want Skiles or anything (mainly due to the burnout factor) but take a look at that 06/07 bulls team. Hinrich was younger than Blake, TT and Deng were significantly younger than Aldridge and Roy are now, Duhon, Thabo and Gordon were younger or about the same age TO, Sergio and Frye. Wallace and Pryz are roughly equivalent. Are we really to believe a 37 year old PJ Brown was the difference?
That team won 49 games (about what we’re on pace for), but was one of the best defensive squads in the league, swept a Wade-led Heat team and won an away game against the eventual conference champs in the second round. We’re essentially 0-11 on the road against the other 8 of the top 9 WC playoff teams, and you’re saying that’s okay because we’re young? It’s not like our home record against these teams is stellar, either.
And yes, I do expect to put up a fight playing on the road on the second night of a back to back when you factor in that the other team is also coming off a back to back against a good team, and is missing their two best guys and they only have one and a half guys that you have to worry about defensively.
How did that team do against the West?
Because our teams is doing damn good against the East.
Karma
by Sabonis4Ever on Feb 25, 2009 10:23 PM PST up reply actions
A lot of their losses that year
were against bad teams, or marginal teams (0-2 against clips, 0-2 against sacto, 1-2 against Orlando, 0-2 against Minny). The only good teams they failed to at least split with were Utah and Houston. This included going 3-3 against SA and Cleveland, the two finals teams from that year, splitting with a 67 win Dallas team, going 3-1 over Detroit, the other ECF team, and, like I said, sweeping the defending champs in the playoffs.
I understand young teams having brain farts and dropping games like we had against the Clippers at home (the Blake debacle), and I understand us being a much better home team than a road team, but outside of that NO game I mentioned, and the Boston miracle without Roy, we’ve basically been uncompetitive against every other good WC team. People who say the west is weak this year are idiots. Maybe two of the top 3 teams are in the east, but 8 of the next 9 are in the west, and the fact is, we’re barely competing against those teams.
This isn’t just a knee jerk reaction to this game. I understood needing a miracle against OKC and losing to Dallas and OKC on the last road trip. I also understand losing to Houston and SA on a back to back as isolated incidents, but take them all together, combined with our road failings against them earlier in the year, and it gets disturbing. Being young is one thing, being down 15 at some point in like 10 straight road games is a completely different issue.
Sorry, link to that Chicago team's splits
Has all the info you could ever want about who they beat and who they lost to.
THe Bulls won 49 in a weak Eatern conference
while we are on pace to win 50 in a tough West. I dont really see your point. Like it or not, this team is improving and Nate is a part of that. Of course there are going to be bumps in the road. If we maintain our pace and finish at 50, Nate will be in the runnings for coach of the year.
"Great Oden's raven!" - Ron Burgandy
Agreed.
However, the problem is not so much with McMillan as with his players.
A coach screaming at the top of his lungs at a player to not shoot wild shots will surely undermine a young player’s confidence and make his hesitate at a wide open look.
The Blazers have the youngest playing rotation in the league, and the relative inexperience and youth of their team should be totally taken into consideration. Again, give the Blazers a year or two and there’s going to be 3 or 4 All Stars on the starting roster.
—Go Blazers!—
Thanks for reading my post! Remember to please check out my website at http://blazers.synthasite.com to help a 16 year old start his blogging career!
It's Nate
If Bayless was the starter, we’d be up by 10 at the end of the first quarter. He would be dunking on runs instead of passing to Frye. Nate needs to pull his head out of his you know what and start Bayless.
I da man!
Nah
Normally I get a hint of the prevailing winds on Blazers Edge and then piss into them, today I felt like gently riding them like a kite.
I da man!
Thanks Tom! I needed a good laugh! :)
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks and B-Rex ROARS!!
RRRRRRROOOOOOOWWWWWRRRRRRSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The last two games were against two of the best team defenses in the league
These are the kind of games where hoisting jumpers is par for the course, I do agree that there often hasn’t been that extra pass often when the other team is overplaying them, but using outlaw and frye’s shot selection as an example of nate’s coaching isn’t a fair analysis, especially on a night where they were shooting better than roy, rudy, blake, and aldridge.
Nate’s credo this season has been to protect the paint, the blazers just couldn’t execute that against a juiced up parker, many defenses can’t, especially when (the spurs!?!) start pushing the tempo. Nate’s plan was the beat the spurs in transition, instead, parker beat the blazers at their own game plan.
Don’t blame nate for poor execution.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
