Nate Mcmillan is a great coach, he is an assistant coach for Team USA and was a serious contender for COY award last year.  He has managed pick this franchise up from the boot straps and has got the team to a serious level of competition. After each time out the team is able to get the game back under control for which the coach deserves the credit for. People are really under value the performance that he is able to get out of the players on a daily basis.

There seems to be several common critisicms of Nate going around on BE.

1. stagnant offense: Portland has a had a great offensive efficiency the past 2 years. The team was 7th last season and 2nd the year before. With the slow pace that Nate wants to play at this forces teams to play the style that Portland wants to play at, thus giving Portland the advantage as we are more comfortable with this style of play. The slow paced games will always give our team a good chance to win each game as we will never get blown out. A slow pace also makes any lead much larger then what the score board shows.

My only complaint however is how the game was managed towards the end of games when we had a slight lead. I cringed every time the team went into an iso offense to throw up a contested jumper at the end of the clock instead of running plays that would continue to give the team the best shot possible.

2. holding back players: While there is a significant amount of Blazer fans over valueing the players, which is awesome for the fan base and the  support of the team. The coaches are watching the game with different lenses on. What coaches are looking for is what the players can give NOW. Each game matters, each play matters in the larger overall picture of the season. This means that Nate always has to go to the teams strengths during the game, you never want to work on your weaknesses in competition.  Who cares if a player has future potential, the team needs the best person playing for the required task each time.

As far as holding back players in his offensive scheme. No way should a coach break out of his game plan to give a trial run of what that player can do outside of what the team has practiced with. The slow paced play is focused around consistent play which means players need to stick into their offensive role on the team. If a player isn't able to consistently perform then there is legitimate reason for the coach to hold back the player as there is no room for a wild card in the slow pace style of basketball that Nate wants to run. Team needs or performance will always trump potential performance of players. This is why Rudy, Bayless, Trout and Marty have all struggled with Nate at times. They all have great upsides but there is just too much inconsistency for the team's needs.

3. The grass isn't always greener on the other side folks.