Mahoney: Nate McMillan Has A New Element

Rob Mahoney of the New York Times' Off The Dribble blog takes a look at Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan's lineup flexibility...
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McMillan has been given a fascinating group of players with which to formulate lineups, and adding Wallace only diversifies his options. A player who can swing between positions in order to pair up at the forward spots with Aldridge for balance, Batum for intrigue, or Matthews for mayhem? Wallace’s presence may not create an entirely stable rotation in Portland, but he opens up a startling number of possibilities.

The blessing in this for fans of creative rotation-making is McMillan’s recent two-year contract extension. Security is practically a prerequisite for experimentation, and inking McMillan for the next two seasons should rid all of his tinkering of the smell of desperation. This isn’t a coach on his last legs digging for that job-saving lineup, but one who has been empowered by his front office to make crucial decisions that are anything but straightforward.
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ed: bumped to front page

about 1 year ago lanepete 21 comments 5 recs |

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That was a fun read.

"The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason." - G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1909

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by T Darkstar on Mar 16, 2011 1:49 PM PDT reply actions

yup!

Rip City Baby...People have no idea what is coming.

Follow my twitter www.twitter.com/PDXBlazersFTW, @PDXBlazersFTW. Lots of random Blazer Posts from links I find around the blogosphere.

by lanepete on Mar 16, 2011 1:54 PM PDT up reply actions

"Matthews for mayhem"

Lol!

"Jumper-free throw-free throw-alley oop-jumper-post move-oh please stop hurting us LaMarcus!" -Dave 2/14/11

by Kroes32 on Mar 16, 2011 2:53 PM PDT reply actions

Thx ben for the edit. much prettier

Rip City Baby...People have no idea what is coming.

Follow my twitter www.twitter.com/PDXBlazersFTW, @PDXBlazersFTW. Lots of random Blazer Posts from links I find around the blogosphere.

by lanepete on Mar 16, 2011 3:25 PM PDT reply actions

Word.

by rip_city_swagger on Mar 16, 2011 3:32 PM PDT reply actions

Nice. Thanks.

Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!

by blazerfrog on Mar 16, 2011 4:51 PM PDT reply actions

Crashium

#20

IIbdII

by clinchmobb on Mar 16, 2011 5:12 PM PDT reply actions

Mahoney's totally right.

I can’t even imagine in another 10 games what we’re going to look like with the addition of Wallace as he gels with the team. Off the bleeping hook.
I like the reference to ’McMillan’s Laboratory’. I see Coach Nate gleefully rubbing his hands together and laughing to himself at the oncoming realizations of new lineups that are gonna decimate the competition. =) Go Blazers.

'Mar-cus Cam-by' (clap-clap, clap clap clap). - Rose Garden

'That was the only game I could go to this season, and it freakin' ruled.' - P.Roy
\m/

by patrickroy on Mar 16, 2011 6:48 PM PDT reply actions

Nate got his "mad scientist" license renewed

so I expect more unorthodox lineups on a regular basis

The good news is that appears the players have no egos (Miller cheering during the 4th quarter, etc) and are all about winning. This frees up the coach to play whoever he thinks are his best 5 to win, on any given night. Sure, the rotations should always have some initial continuity, but the nightly matchups will dictate adjustments and who’s “hot” (or not) as well as which unit is getting it done will determine the assignments down the stretch of the game. If an individual wants to play more, then they need to “earn” it—that’s always been Nate’s way and now he’s got a good group of guys who are buying into this concept

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Mar 16, 2011 7:17 PM PDT reply actions

I am delighted with adaptive, innovative, unpredictable Nate,

which is what I have long wanted in a coach. I hadn’t thought about the possible advantage of the coach contract extension freeing up Nate to experiment. I can appreciate the value of giving a coach a chance to experiment, even if some mistakes are made, just as I appreciate the value of allowing players the same lattitude. Of course winning, particularly in the playoffs will be the ultimate test. Now is the time to “try some things”. Preferably well reasoned, effective things.
Nate showing emotion is a refreshing manifestation. I think players, like Andre, can tell the difference between an effective substitution, even for himself, and a foul up. They all want to win. Do what works. And, the bench is carrying some real talent lately. Not a shameful place to be.

by Berkeley on Mar 16, 2011 11:17 PM PDT up reply actions

Nate is becoming the Rudy of coaches: Unpredictable.

Exactly the opposite of what he used to be. He had to go through the National team experience, through two first playoff round exits,through fighting with Andre and Rudy before Andre took the reigns at PG and Rudy played at Durant´s production level in many international games, through getting new veteran assistant coaches, and through his old game plan killed by injuries and trades.

Hope he gets confident and surprises the whole league.

by amlmart1 on Mar 17, 2011 3:50 AM PDT up reply actions

Don Nelson is retired

someone had to pick up the mantle ;^)

Nate is just playing small lineups by degrees

As with Nellie, I don’t expect playoff success to come from this philosophy. But it does create regular season wins (and inconsistency) Oden needs to get healthy and stay that way, then “order” will be restored

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Mar 17, 2011 9:41 AM PDT up reply actions

You

use the players you have. With Camby gimpy, Pryz gone, and Oden out, it’s a little hard to play a normal rotation. The only big on the entire team is Aldridge. The next guy is what? 6’8". So, small ball it is. It’s not so much that Nate wants that lineup, it’s the only option he has.

by Eben Calder on Mar 17, 2011 3:20 PM PDT up reply actions

Take a close look at Portland's transactions for the past 2 years

they’ve consistently chosen skinny/smaller options in the draft and when targeting FAs (Matthews is the lone exception; Blair would have been a better option than Pendergraph, etc)

that adds up to small ball, and it’s not an encouraging sign once the games slow down in May. (Assuming Nate can ever lead them past round 1) If Nate has requested more size in his front court, he’s been keeping quiet about it

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Mar 17, 2011 6:53 PM PDT up reply actions

Oden

We entered the planning for the draft with Pendergraph, Cunningham, Oden, Pryzbilla, Camby and Aldridge. We seemed to believe that Oden and/or Pryz would be playing by late fall. Then, Pendergraph and Oden dropped off the map, and we started the season with Camby, Cunningham and Aldridge, and Camby no longer can play a consistent 30 mpg or better. And, Pryz never effectively made it back. I happen to believe the Blazers looked at those players and thought they had enough bodies to make it through.

Ironically, they then drafted Babbitt, Jordan and Williams, and they have been of no help at all.

I’m a believer that until the Blazers resolve Oden, they aren’t going anywhere in the Post Season. I liked the Wallace transaction because it gives the Blazers one starter to deal downstream of the Matthews/Batum/Wallace group which, combined with expiring contracts such as Camby and picks, might begin to make them a player for a Lucas type PF to pair with Aldridge in the pivot. But, the front office seems to be sitting in a holding pattern because of Oden. For 4 years now it’s been “if”, “maybe”, and “potential”. We have an elite center right now in Aldridge, if we want to play him there. But we keep bouncing around the hard decision of whether we want to or don’t, and in doing that, we don’t resolve our front line going forward.

by Eben Calder on Mar 18, 2011 6:26 AM PDT up reply actions

I happen to believe the Blazers looked at those players and thought they had enough bodies to make it through.

In hindsight I agree, but from Nov-Dec onwards they still chose to add Marks and Chris Johnson who are skinny and not bangers

It’s a roster problem that needs to be resolved. They acquired Wallace to be a banger and he repeats his reluctance to play PF. That’s a disappointment

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Mar 18, 2011 9:38 AM PDT up reply actions

I agree that the Blazers

need a classic power forward in the 6’9 to 6’10 mold that weighs in at 240 or so. But that’s not Wallace, who at 6’7 and 220 stated the obvious, which is if you stick him in to bang with bigger and heavier players every night, it will take a toll on him.

Playing Wallace at the spot, at least to me, seems a short term fix based on the best available player perspective of the trade they executed. He can slide into that position in some scenerios, but playing him their night after night is no substitute for the Blazers indecision about Oden, which I believe still cloggs up their thinking. After all, if you have a center, then Aldridge can play all day at
PF and slide to the center occassionally. If you don’t, then he will play there all day. As a result, they don’t know if they need to get serious about getting a first team PF, or a backup. So, they picked up Wallace who is certainly a 1st team SF, who can give them some backup minutes at PF.

by Eben Calder on Mar 19, 2011 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions

Nate McMillan doesn't know how to coach centers, which isn't shocking in the least ...

bit. Looking at McMillan’s history, he’s never played for — which is going all the way back to his time at North Carolina State — nor coached a big man who produced big numbers offensively.

Well, unless you want to count an over-the-hill Patrick Ewing. That’s stretching it, though.

That, of course, is why Greg Oden was handled poorly the time in which he was healthy. When Oden was out on the court, he should’ve been a high-usage, ultra-efficient back-to-the-basket pivotman, while the less inherently gifted LaMarcus Aldridge took a back seat.

"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."

by AK1984 on Mar 21, 2011 3:29 AM PDT up reply actions

This isn't anything new, as Nate McMillan enjoyed employing smallball with the Seattle SuperSonics.

McMillan still is who he is, which is a surprisingly underrated offensive coach — although he needs the right collection of players to make the high-low zone offense work efficiently for him — and an annoyingly overrated defensive coach.

"They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."

by AK1984 on Mar 21, 2011 3:23 AM PDT up reply actions