Monday Practice Report
by Ben Golliver on Mar 30, 2009 12:54 PM PDT
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PrintAs the year winds down, it's getting to be that time when end-of-the-season speculation heats up. Brian Hendrickson already had a piece about Brandon Roy's chances at the All-NBA teams, which should (hopefully) be a shoo-in.
The most interesting race to me this season is Coach of the Year. Love him, hate him, or mock him (or all of the above), Nate McMillan's resume will be tempting to national voters. The team's year over year improvement, their success with a young roster, the appeal of the turnaround story, Nate's ties with Team USA, his flawless reputation, and his ability to guide the development of his young stars all combine to put him, one would guess, at the top of the list of potential COY candidates.
Other names I've heard floated: Mike Brown, Stan Van Gundy, Rick Adelman, and Gregg Popovich. With so many injuries this season, it will be interesting to see whether voters give credit to coaches that kept their team together in spite of missing key players for long stretches. Utah, Houston, and San Antonio, in particular, have weathered major injuries much better than might have been expected.
One could argue that Portland has too. Looking back: how devastating could that stretch without Blake have been? Martell? Greg? The list goes on.
If I had a vote, I would give it to Jerry Sloan. But I don't. So I put the question to Nate.
Here's what Coach McMillan had to say.
Have you given any consideration to who might be Coach of the Year this year?
No, I really haven't thought about that. I'm sure there's a list if I take time to think about it but no. I think a lot of guys have done a nice job. I haven't really took time out to think about who I would vote for.
Your name has been mentioned.
Well, again, I think a lot of guys have done some good things. Our team has improved and gotten better.
There could be a vote or two [for me] there.
All of us [coaches] work hard and should get some award.
What are your criteria for judging Coach of the Year?
I think it's the same as the players on an all star team. What your team has done, where your team has come from. I've seen teams that had losing records but their team played hard. They were young teams at that time that I would have considered that guy. Pretty much what your team, the expectations of your team and what your team has achieved.
Was Utah your preseason pick to win the division?
I think with them being there last year, and Denver, you had to look at those 2 teams as the teams to beat in the divison. Utah winning it, you had to consider them the top team. Denver, the team that was right there, you had to consider them as the 2 teams.
A week or two back, Suns Coach Alvin Gentry said he has gameplanned for Utah the same way since 1992. Do you find yourself in the same situation?
Pretty much. They haven't changed much. They've tweaked some things. They're going to play in the half court. They're going to set screens and move. And try to beat you in the paint. Defensively, they're not going to give up layups. Their gameplan has been the same, it's been successful, it hasn't been a lot of change.
Does Jerry Sloan creep on to your short list of Coach of the Year candidates?
I think you have to consider him.
Pretty much every year, right?
Well, yeah. And I think this year because they've had a number of injuries and they can have a huge effect upon your team and being in a race. They've managed to be right here in the race and I think they've had 4 or 5 of their key guys out for close to 100 games combined. That's a ton of games for a team to have to miss some key guys.
It's interesting to see how closely his statements about personal achievements and recognition mirror Brandon's statements on the same subject. Neither man is particularly anxious to discuss those topics.
I just stole so much memorabilia from Blazers practice! Anyone know how ebay and paypal work???? Kidding. But check these pictures out. The Blazers had an autographathon today at practice.
Must. Control. Urges.
Michael Ruffin, this means you.
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)
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Signing
If I could get paid what they do I sign things everyday. Just to say thank you for supporting me and my family. Of course I am sure many of these items will end up in some $$$$$$$$$$$$$ persons house so they can brag…the ones that go to kids especially Dornbecker are great!
Go Blazers
Love the pics
"The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot." - Bill Russell
rudy!
saw him yesterday at broadway fred meyer.. he drives white beamer..:)
Was it a mob scene?
Someone my husband works with waited in line for almost an hour to get Rudy’s autograph. Me, I forgot about the whole thing and shopped on Saturday.
Great investment in these recessionary times.
That gear will be worth a lot after this team wins its fourth or fifth consecutive championship.
maybe I missed this
but where did the shoe fascination come from Ben?
Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.
I've always spelled it "shoo-in"
but it’s obvious why Ben spells it “shoe-in”. – Elgin
Blazers win BDL 2 on 2 tournament!
Skeets: i’ll close it down now … congrats. you bastards
That wasn't on purpose?
It was great! I also like how you had to tell us that you were joking about e-bay.
What's even funnier is that Ben and Imelda
actually look like mother and son, if you go by Ben’s avatar.
Thanks for making me snort
coffee on my monitor, MiledAnimal.
by antediluvian on Mar 30, 2009 2:53 PM PDT up reply actions
Glad they have another night off!
"its tough to play with one eye, unless you're a pirate." Delonte West
"una canasta a Pau en la cara" Rudy
by Honka Playboy on Mar 30, 2009 1:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I'd snort if that happened
Blazers win!
by The X-man on Mar 30, 2009 3:58 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Close, but no cigar
Blazers win!
by The X-man on Mar 30, 2009 11:11 PM PDT up reply actions 4 recs
I like
how you didn’t call that bottom picture something like “Basketballs_on_table” but rather “rudygreg.”
haha love that the shoe pic is called heaven.jpg
From the back of Travis Outlaw's Franz card: Travis leads the team in monstrous thunder dunks, wins awards for post game interviews, and often gets extra points for degree of difficulty.
From the back of Greg Oden's Franz card: Nickname: Jaws. Has an insatiable desire to tear rims apart while cruising the open court, and was once interested in using head-gear for his profession.
I have one of those basketballs!
No, not from the current season or anything. I have one of those pre-signed basketballs from, I think, the 1987 team. Clyde, Jerome, etc.
I don’t know how hard they are to find… I should take pictures of it. Long story on how I got it. (it was one of the education things the Blazers used to be heavily involved in)
I'd be jealous...
but I actually love this team more, so I’ll appease myself in the hopes that I may somehow magically come across a ball now. there’s still hope! Still… a little jealous.
It’d go great next to my fire basketball signed by all the girls. For some reason a few of them gave me some dirty looks. Guess I wasn’t allowed to be a fan or something.
The goal is not to be better, the goal is to be the best.
I don't see jersey numbers
Apparently NBA players are just like normal people who don’t read instructions.
is it 90 minutes yet?
come on man… NEEED BLAZER NEWS!!!
The goal is not to be better, the goal is to be the best.
WAT?
we’re mainlining heroin now?
OH! HE JAMS WITH TWO HANDS! You gotta be kidding me!
Now don't get too excited Bayless, We'll let MB do that -
No get excited! TELL EM WHERE YOU'RE FROM!
Heh
Does Nate ever turn off his political speak? Of course he has thought about coach of the year. The plane flights are too long not to let your mind wander to stuff like that.
It’d be soooo refreshing if just one time Nate said something like, “Yeah I’ve thought about the COY race. I’m probably one of the top 5 people in the running, but I don’t think I’ll get it because coach X has done this and this. Hopefully I can finish 2nd or 3rd and if we can improve against next year I can take it down then.”
It's also possible
he just doesn’t care.
In the same situation, I doubt I would. yeah, it’s nice, but I’d want the ring. For me it’s always about the end goal. I’ll take kudos if that’ achieved, but i couldn’t care less if I didn’t achieve it and frankly I’d feel dirty taking a reward that didn’t mean anything (and it wouldn’t if i didn’t get the ring).
People care about different things. Maybe it is political yabber, but it may also be that he just doesn’t care because he wants more.
The goal is not to be better, the goal is to be the best.
Not caring and not thinking about it are different though
Even if he doesn’t care if he wins or not, I cannot believe that him being in the running hasn’t crossed his mind even for 5 minutes. If you’d like I could go with this one though.
“The thought crossed my mind, but I really don’t care about those sorts of awards. I have a chance at winning, but if we don’t do well in the playoffs what does it matter?”
But it's that professionalism
that everyone really loves. Part of being Nate McMillan is always keeping an even keel, whether it’s about “Big Games (there are none)” or Praising players.
He does all his coaching with thought and, it seems, from the background.
I love it.
OH! HE JAMS WITH TWO HANDS! You gotta be kidding me!
Now don't get too excited Bayless, We'll let MB do that -
No get excited! TELL EM WHERE YOU'RE FROM!
As much as I loathe the J*zz, it's probably Jerry Sloan's turn.
He’s never won COY, so winning it this year would be sort of the NBA version of the Lifetime Achievement Oscar.
Hit it. Yes he did. Ohhhh yeah.
by Badalona Baddie on Mar 30, 2009 2:55 PM PDT reply actions
yeah
the year he really deserved it, someone else beat him out. this year… meh. yeah, he’s done a lot, but frankly, he’s too sourpuss and predictable for me. His teams are always the same. I’d do it as a make up because he should have won in previous years, but deserving now? I’d give it to other coaches now on a current year merit basis.
The goal is not to be better, the goal is to be the best.
I still think SVG will win it over Sloan
In general though, COY regularly goes to coaches who get vastly overrated due to an improved team’s record (that may or may not have been due to the coach’s presence). The last three are Byron Scott in NO, the fired Sam Mitchell in Toronto, and the fired Avery Johnson in Dallas.
So under that principle, it may go to coach Mike “Give the ball to Lebron” James. SVG is odds-on for me though, with Sloan a dark horse but deserving.
I still can’t believe folks like Sloan and John Daly never won COY. It renders the award completely meaningless. I mean, Mike Schuler won it, and he was gone a year and a half later, replaced by a coach (Adelman, of course) who brought the team together and took them to two NBA Finals, and HASN’T won a COY award.
How many times has a player won Rookie of the Year or MVP, then dumped by their team within 2 years or so? Less often than COY winners.
Love the instruction sheet....
but even with it, I could only read Ruffin’s signature……I also recognized LA’s because he put his #12 next to it. The others…..not so much.
Has to be a girl.
I’ve never known a guy with good penmanship.
by Timmay! on Mar 30, 2009 4:38 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
They're not very good now are they.
I can even tell by someone’s periods what gender they are.
by Zaig on Mar 31, 2009 10:21 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
We need to get ahold of Rudy
I can get him links to all the ACB games streaming for his computer…
All ya need to do is give me some season tickets .
You pulled the trigger Kevin. Now you & Mr. Allen must do everything possible to help him succeed. A mentor like Ewing or Olajuwon would be a good start. A franchise PG ? Mike Conley? Lets get it done !
Positive Vibes For Oden
Btw, anyone know about playoff tickets yet?
When they will go on sale, etc? I know that obviously we don’t know the schedule but I think they’d at least announce the price sale….
Proud member of Duck nation!
They told me I get dibs cuz I got season tickets
And I haven’t been contacted yet, so proly a little while…
Mike Brown will win Coach of the Year
After all, his team has the record, and he has to make the difficult end-of-game decision whether to call an isolation for LeBron or a high-screen for Lebron.
ya seriously
nate has done more for that teams success(his tutelage of the buick Lebron during the olympics) then mike “people think im really smart because i wear glasses” brown has
"Howard, he know me" Rudy
by phillyduck23 on Mar 30, 2009 6:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Coach of the Year
is a bit of a meaningless award because it often goes to the coach with a good team, as others have pointed out above.
I would nominate Sloan for always having a competitive team, McMillan for integrating four rookies on a playoff team (hopefully no jinx) and I might even throw in D’Antoni for winning with a collection of unwanted contracts. SVG has Howard and a pretty good team and Mike James has LeBron.
My criterion is that the coach has to get more wins out of the team than expected. People expected the Lakers and Cavs to be good so those coaches are out of it. I don’t think Orlando has done too much better than expected so maybe it’s Nate’s year.
My criterion is that the coach has to get more wins out of the team than expected.
If expectations include “due to injuries”, Jerry Sloan has to lead all nominees. Adelman would get consideration as well.
Yeah,
Sloan should certainly be in the running and it’s almost a travesty that he hasn’t won it yet. His teams may be borderline dirty, but they play hard and he gets the most out of their talent for sure.
I forgot about Houston. Hmmm…I think with Yao and Artest on board, they aren’t exactly defying expectations. Sure McGrady is hurt, but when is he not? Even when he’s “healthy,” he isn’t that great.
SVG is coach of the year
Of the four “elite” teams this season, one came kinda sorta out of the blue, survived a season-ending injury to its starting PG, employed a conveyor belt of shooting guards, and entered the top two in defensive efficiency despite having only one player with a rep as a good (much less elite) defensive player.
If SVG doesn’t win, it will be because the voters think he was already recognized sufficiently when he won the 1984 Best Supporting Actor in the Adult Film Association Awards for “All the Way In” (don’t get your hopes up, it’s wikipedia) in his former persona as Ron Jeremy. Personally, I think it’s high time he’s recognized again. He has deserved it both times around.
Nate’s done a nice job this year. But he shouldn’t quite be in the conversation. Would’ve been a disappointment for the Blazers not to make the playoffs this year. Nate’s done what was expected. That doesn’t win you COY awards.
Don’t shoot the messenger. Just my take.
Q: Is Greg favoring his knee?
Frye: He favors dunking on your head, that's what he favors.
The problem is that there are no clearly defined criteria,
which leads to decision-making by whatever criterion is popular that season and results in deserving coaches losing the award to less-deserving coaches. I humbly submit the following guidelines, in order of priority:
- Team record. The team must finish as a top-four seed in their conference. It makes sense that the team of a great coach should have a great record, and this criterion would just codify what many voters think anyway.
- Body of work. The coach must have at least five consecutive seasons with the team leading into the current voting year. Again, many voters already think this way, and this criterion would minimize the one- or two-year wonders like Avery Johnson and others who win COY one year and are gone the next. Also, no extra points for longer tenure. Coaches like Sloan who consistently coach winning teams but never win COY should be eligible for a lifetime achievement award if the league wants to go that route, but the COY award should not be used that way. Success in prior playoff series should count, too, since it is impossible not to consider that as part of a coach’s Body of Work.
- Improvement over previous seasons. Notice I wrote seasons, plural. This reinforces the Body of Work criterion. If the coach is really a great coach, his team should be getting better each year, and that should be reflected in wins. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as Nate’s record with the team since he became the Blazers coach. If the team had already been a .500 team when he started then obviously he wouldn’t be likely to have added 30 wins in three seasons, but the trend and record should be steadily upward under the winning coach’s guidance.
- Injuries don’t factor into the decision. This one is controversial, but it is mitigated also by the Body of Work criterion. Every team deals with injuries each season, some more than others. The problem with taking injuries into account is that it forces voters to create an alternative universe in their mind in which they must guess how many wins a team would have had if one or more key players had not been injured, then repeat the process for all other teams whose coaches are up for COY and compare them all. Accept instead that the winning coach must be a bit lucky and take comfort in the knowledge that the current season represents just part of his Body of Work score.
No coach elevates a team by himself. The COY award should signify not that the winning coach is clearly superior to his peers (which is rarely the case anyway if what Dave Berri had to say is correct) in the current season. It should be a recognition in the current season that he is the coach who has had the right opportunities, some luck in having the right players and management team and not too many player health issues, and has made the most of those opportunities over the past few seasons better than any of his peers.
by MiledAnimal on Mar 31, 2009 11:08 AM PDT up reply actions
Different Coaching Skills
Though it’s harder to quantify, I believe part of what makes a great coach is being able to sustain success. Teams that improve by 15+ games from the previous season are easy to spot and point to. Teams that continually are good don’t have quite the same appeal when it comes to COY. I believe it takes different coaching skills to help a team improve versus a coach who needs to steer the ship and sustain a high level of success. Coaches who can do the latter, unfortunately, tend to be guys like Sloan and Phil Jackson. Though, how much THEY have to do with their teams constantly being contenders is another matter of debate.
SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.
The award is coach of the year
so the coach should be judged for his performance for that season alone. Sure it might lead to one-year wonders, but if a player can have a career year than why can’t a coach? If Ryan Hollins blocks every one of Kobe’s shots during a first round playoff series leading to a Mavs’ upset then shouldn’t he be eligible for MVP of that round regardless of his prior stats?
I think you do need to factor in injuries, not as a what-if exercise, but in judging the personnel the coach had to work with. If Mike Brown led a LeBron James-less Cavs squad to the title, wouldn’t you be impressed?
Anyhow, there aren’t any real guidelines so it doesn’t really matter what we think.
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