FanShot

Canzano: Nate McMillan Interview Talks Miller, Roy, Oden

144

On Wednesday afternoon, Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan joined John Canzano on 95.5FM's The Bald Faced Truth to discuss the team's summer plans. Here's a partial transcript. Andre Miller and the point guard position "We've certainly got to get help there. If we could re-sign Andre [Miller] and get a legit guard, a guard with potential to be a starting guard. That's something that we have to address. [GM] Rich [Cho], we're in Chicago right now. We're going to meet and talk about that as far as making decisions to pick up the extension. It would be hard to go into the summer without a point guard, basically gambling on having to pick somebody up in free agency. Andre has done a really good job for us." Brandon Roy's health and future "We kind of saw when Brandon came back [that] is what we're going to see. When you have surgeries that Brandon's had, you have to limit his minutes. That worked out for us. Controlling the amount of minutes he played, put him in a position where he can still do some of the things he has done for this organization. Even putting him in that role, I thought that is what we're going to see from him. Being able to do the things Brandon did two years ago, I don't know if he can get back to being that player. He can still be productive, he can be productive in a different role." His message to center Greg Oden "What I told him is that Jay Jensen needs to be his best friend... your trainer, that guy has to become your best friend. Portland, I think personally, is the place to be. To get your mind right, to get focused on the next season. I went through a situation when I played basketball and was coming off an injury, I picked up weight, some different things happened. One thing I did -- it's almost like a boxer -- when they get ready for a bout they go somewhere and lock in with their trainers, they stay focused and block out distractions. We've talked to Greg about doing that... Distractions, all of that, you have to eliminate that. Mentally and physically get yourself ready for that upcoming season. In his situation where he's been out for a couple of years now, that should be the focus and that's pretty much what he's doing." How close is Oden to returning to the court? "He is basically following the orders of the doctors. That is what he has to do. Right now they are not allowing him to do anything on the floor, that won't be for awhile. It will probably be towards the end of the summer before he is allowed to run again. It's important to listen to the doctors and trainers and follow their instructions... Get your weight down, work on the diet, because you can't do as much on the floor... Once he gets to the floor, I think he's going to be OK. "This game is difficult for the big guys, if you look throughout the league, you look at Yao [Ming], you look at [Andrew] Bynum, the only big guy that has been healthy for seasons has been Dwight Howard... This game is a lot faster than it used to be and they have fallen during the course of the season. "He's doing what he needs to do to get back on the floor, we cross our fingers and we pray that when he gets out there he will be able to make it through the season." On Monday, McMillan raised a bunch of other questions about the Blazers roster. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter