Coach Nate McMillan: Blazers To Stick With Same Starting Lineup Vs. Wizards
by Ben Golliver on Feb 13, 2012 12:59 PM PST
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PrintPortland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said after practice on Monday that he will not change his starting lineup for Tuesday night's game against the Washington Wizards.
McMillan said following Saturday's double overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks that he would consider re-evaluating his starting lineup, potentially by replacing starting point guard Raymond Felton with reserve guard Jamal Crawford.
On Monday, McMillan said of starting point guard Raymond Felton: "I think he's the best guy at that position."
"Every time I substitute it's a different group out there," McMillan continued, saying that his attention is on Portland's late-game lineups given their struggles closing out game. "What we have to do is see some consistency from each other in order to really make a change. There are a lot of guys that are struggling, but I haven't seen a lot of consistency from us. We have to just try to work through this. Part of what we've seen is not so much the start but the finish. That's a big part of winning games. Our record right now is 1-9 in games decided by 5 [points or less]."
Crawford met with McMillan in his office after practice.
Blazers center Marcus Camby, who suffered a bruised right ankle during the Mavericks game, sat out Monday's practice for "extra rest" and said he will be "good to go" on Tuesday.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter
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considering he is the only
point nate is probably correct.
Jeremy Lin is Jerryd Bayless
Will have a good 2 weeks or so until teams get a scouting report on him, then will regress and show why he wasn’t drafted (or in Bayless’ case why he slipped from supposed top 3 pick to number 13).
But sports center
had a 10 minute special on his 4 games…..he has to be the next CP3!!!
To be fair
Bayless has never had a stretch like Lin’s.
by The Penguin on Feb 13, 2012 1:44 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
you still trade Felton for Lin at this point if you could
but you can’t
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
Bayless was the energizer bunny though! I remember.
LIn had the advantage of having fresh legs in this weird compressed season. So am thinking some of his numbers are a result of this…and he’s played against teams who are probably TIRED.
LA was on a BtoB that included OT the night before. The other teams he saw were the Wizards, Minnesota and Jazz, New Jersey..
So, while I think he’s good ..his numbers may regress somewhat. I did hear a fan who followed him @ Harvard, say that Lin did very well in Harvard. Had a 30 pt game against some elite college whose name I can’t recall…NCAA elite vs. Ivy League elite!!!
This same fan said he thinks that the only reason Lin was passed on in the draft is that he came from Harvard and is Asian…whatever that is supposed to mean!! He said that he hated to say anything like that about race but he felt it was probably true. The guy was also Asian American.
This is ridiculous
People are focusing on the wrong spot. We’re stuck at PG until we can get someone in here with some sort of consistency, that’s just how it is. But HOW THE HELL does Wesley still have his starting job? 4pts a game from your starting SG is UNACCEPTABLE! This is becoming ridiculous. And instead of even talking about it, Nate changes the subject. What does Wesley have hanging over Nate that Nate is SCARED to even mention how crappy Wes has been? It is CLEAR Nic is the better player, and much more deserving of the minutes instead of Wes. But what does Nate do? Nothing, like he always does. Just like in playoff series, he waits until it is too late to make changes. We had 2 days off, PLENTY OF TIME to substitute a new player into the starting lineup. But he’s an idiot and won’t, he’ll continue to keep with the mediocrity forever because that is Nate McMillan; mediocre. Don’t believe me? Look up the definition of mediocre, than look at Nate’s coaching record.
by Blazer_Duck on Feb 13, 2012 1:10 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
This is what i was gong to say....
but with less name-calling and capitalization. Seriously, look at the Pacers. They have Paul George, who is pretty much the exact same size as Batum starting at shooting guard. Why? Because they have two very good small forwards, one of which is capable of defending and scoring at the 2. Sound familiar? I’ve never been a fan of Matthews, either. He can’t dribble, create, pass, run a fast break, and is not a lock-down defender. I was upset when we signed him to that ridiculous contract and have yet to feel otherwise. When he’s not on fire from three he is totally useless.
by hollywood robinson on Feb 13, 2012 1:18 PM PST up reply actions
Get Some Perspective.
The roster has no depth. Horrible shooting. A center rotation featuring two dinosaurs. Wesley Matthews has proven to be a better player than his short season would suggest. The team has much bigger issues including the joke of a front office than the coach.
Don’t cry about coaching record when that is clearly indicative of your talent level in this league. Players win games.
by Sabzi on Feb 13, 2012 1:19 PM PST up reply actions 6 recs
Players win games.
Hit the nail right on the head.
"Luke is our go-to Chalupa man," Matthews said. "Designated."
So what
you want Wes coming of the bench at the 2 and Jamal at the 1? Makes Jamal our only scoring option in the 2nd unit…..I don’t like that.
by AR-15 on Feb 13, 2012 1:43 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
ummm....so it's better to have just LMA as the ONLY outside scoring option to start games...
May as well make sure that he has no back up threats. Because it is pretty easy to make baskets while double teamed.
I think that’s smart.
And it’s good that Batum is sitting on the bench because he isn’t really all that good from 3pt range. It’s better to have him come in when Crawford is in. Because Crawford isn’t really known for shooting. He’s more of a passer right?
by Natsthecat on Feb 13, 2012 2:48 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
It doesnt matter where jamal plays right now hes our 2nd best offensive player so hes gonna get his touches regardless
What matters is that we start to make quick decisions about getting the players who are playing well more minutes and decreasing the minutes of the guys who are not .
Nate imo is trying his best to give Felton and Wes the benefit of the doubt but he is getting killed for his loyalty right now .
by Willie Beamon on Feb 13, 2012 3:32 PM PST up reply actions
Nic should be starting, Wes should not.
Statistically, Nic has actually been our 2nd best player minute. It’s absolutely crazy that he’s riding the bench when you have a player like Wes starting who has been mostly useless all season. I can’t imaging another coach or team in the league that would be starting Wes over Batum.
Dre ain't got no love for these pros
by Coastie07 on Feb 13, 2012 8:40 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
+1
If its not done makes no sense to be giving 100% off the bench. It’s obvious that bench players want a starting job and that’s what drives them to better performance.
by Victor Hugo on Feb 14, 2012 1:24 AM PST via Android app up reply actions
ARRRR!
Im feelin very Piratish today. If Nate doesnt make some changes soon, well we ARRRR! forced to make him WALK THE PLANK!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! NATE change the stARRRR!ting lineup or ARRRRR! you just plain dumb!!!!
by cavejunctionblazer on Feb 13, 2012 1:10 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Quick actually agrees with you
He said this morning on Chad Doing’s show that if things don’t turn around that Nate might be around for long.
"Luke is our go-to Chalupa man," Matthews said. "Designated."
well then let's see MORE OF THAT!!!!
Whatever it takes. And bring his assistant coaches along with him…Oseipka and Bernie, that is. Caleb and that other guy Green seem to know what they are doing.
Also get a REAL shooting coach. Dickau is NOT.
Every year, it seems, the Nate Deathwatch starts up at some point.
One of these years, they’ll be right; that’s how things go in the NBA.
But this year, given that the Blazers are fielding the worst backcourt we’ve seen in town since Telfair/Jack/Blake (pick one) and Monia/Webster/Smith/Dixon (pick one), I’m not sure I blame the coach for the current state of affairs. If Nate were fifteen years younger, he could lace up the sneakers himself and outplay any of his current PGs, but at his age he can’t even hoop it up in practice without getting hurt…
Si equum mortuum flagellēs, non celerium currat.
by EngineerScotty on Feb 13, 2012 2:37 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I agree
I’d guess if Nate were going to get ousted it would be shortly after this season ends and before the roster gets an overhaul.
Ahh, the old status quo.
It’s early enough in the season to tinker, and Nate is still crippled with fear.
The PER numbers show that there is not one starting PG in this league that plays worse than Felton, so how can remaining with him as the starter be the right answer. At least let Crawford or Smith try and fail before rolling with continued failure. I have never seen a player given carte blanche to drive a team into the ground like this.
Add this to the fact that Batum is our 2nd or 3rd best player and coming off the bench, and it’s getting pretty hard to support this kind of dysfunction.
by The Penguin on Feb 13, 2012 1:29 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I wish I didn't have season tickets at this point...love going to the games but can't stand to
watch Felton after seeing Miller for 2 yrs…
It is nice to see Batum do well and LMA do well. And even Camby and Wallace. I even like Crawford. But Nate is not making very good decisions this year.
He did not choose 2 good asst. coaches…or at least coaches that wouldn’t just do whatever he wants. It’s like Nate x3.
Caleb is too young to have much input I think. Also think he appears to be smart.
I think Nate may have had A LARGE AMOUNT OF INPUT into the Felton/Andre trade.
My condolences...
I went to a game a couple of weeks ago and have tickets to one of those brew and Blazer things that I’m not really looking forward to. Season tickets are so much money to sink into a listing, if not sinking, ship.
ARRRRRRR!
Wha?
What we have to do is see some consistency from each other in order to really make a change.
Hasn’t our back court been pretty consistently awful?
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
by HailOden! on Feb 13, 2012 1:38 PM PST reply actions 5 recs
Is there a worse one in the league?
Seriously. I don’t think there is.
My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.
by OCBlazerFan1 on Feb 13, 2012 2:05 PM PST up reply actions
There are two reasons to bench a player who is not performing:
1) Because there’s someone on the bench who is better.
2) For disciplinary reasons, including failure to respond to coaching, maintain conditioning, etc.
At best, #1 is a wash: Neither E-Will, Nolan, nor Armon Johnson has demonstrated ability (put down that Jeremy Lin comparison RIGHT NOW!) to play extended minutes. At minimum, neither has demonstrated they are better than Felton. Jamal can play point in a pinch, but in that role he becomes a poor man’s Baron Davis, if that. (Juan Dixon comes to mind as another apt analogy).
Which leaves #2. Does Felton need a benching to teach him a lesson? Should Nate inactivate him, hire a real drill sergeant retired from the Marines, and send Raymond to NBA fat camp? Keep in mind, that if you discipline a player for #2, it’s likely to have an adverse impact on wins and losses. I’d support Nate if he decided that Felton needs this sort of tough love, but I can also understand why Nate is hesitant to go there.
Si equum mortuum flagellēs, non celerium currat.
by EngineerScotty on Feb 13, 2012 2:05 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
Well said
Nate doesn’t really have the luxury of reacting emotionally to the current situation and going all goofy. As fans, we get to froth at the mouth and scream insults to Nate’s intelligence.
I’m betting Nate is hoping at least one of his guards will step up or Chad and friends will find a way to shore up the back court a little by the trade deadline.
You can’t treat veteran players like kids unless you want some major backlash.
by poorwebguy on Feb 13, 2012 2:51 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Armon has a PER of 20.82 this year.
maybe it’s because he only took and made one shot, but it’s got to be better than felton, right?
I’m mainly just kidding, but playing our rookies for a few minutes of the bench really can’t do that much damage compared to what our guards normally do.
"Wide, girthy. Just like a Rhino. Sometimes my horns are visible."
by YoniRap on Feb 13, 2012 8:32 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
pulling my hair out, grinding my teeth, scratching my eyeballs, pounding my fist, stabbing myself in the leg, etc.
Wow 6 games in 7 nights
B2B2B and B2B road games at G.S. and L*kers. I guess will know where we stand before the Allstar Break.
*grammar
mwahahahahaha
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
by sammymohawk on Feb 13, 2012 2:26 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs
You leave my grandma out of this!
She’s dead anyway. (And has been for 20+ years).
Si equum mortuum flagellēs, non celerium currat.
by EngineerScotty on Feb 13, 2012 2:32 PM PST up reply actions
yeah, that was out of bounds on my part
and then to evil laugh about it? Even worse
"If I had a dime for every basket I made today, you'd still suck!" - from the book 'John Dies @ the End'
More of the same
Tries to appease us by saying I will take a look at changes and then what do you know more of the same.
Nate ‘The pussy Cat’ McMillan
by DonttrashCrash on Feb 13, 2012 2:39 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Unless youre going to not play Felton AT ALL then there is no need to make a switch because you still need at least 20-25 good minutes from him
So both Felton and Wes should still start but they shouldnt be given 9 minutes at the start of each half to show something . If they dont look to have it immediately go to someone else which is usually what happens when the coach doesnt have confidence in you anymore . You simply dont get the benefit of the doubt which is what Nate has been given felton and Wes for a long time now
Mike Rice said on Court Side that Felton is OK to start
But not OK to finish, Opponents leave him open for a reason, they want him to shoot so they can get the rebound. So my idea is use
1. Jamal
2. Nic
3. Gerald
4. LaMarcus
5. either Camby or Kurt. Kurt can make that midrange shot all night so they will have to keep a man on him, Batum and Jamal will demand at least some attention so that leaves LaMarcus and Gerald more room to operate.
hg
Hrm
I would have thought that the Wizards would have been a perfect time to mix up the lineup some, though perhaps whatever plans that Nate had with shuffling the lineup might have changed after his meeting with Jamaal.
Maybe what the Blazers really need is some quality time with a good shooting coach. Admittedly mid-season would be not the right time to work on fundamentals (that’s clearly off-season stuff), it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to get that thought rolling around in their heads.
R U Kidding Me!
Wow! Only thing I can say is haven’t gotten out of the first round of playoffs in 12 years. Probably won’t get out of the first round for another 12 years if they are afraid to make changes or bench players who consistently play poorly. At this point I kind of hope they lose if they won’t make changes. Maybe we’ll get good draft picks and a different coach. At this point any change sounds good to me. Please keep LA!
by tspured on Feb 13, 2012 2:48 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I'm shocked.
I was so sure that Aldridge would start at center, Wallace and Batum at the forwards, Matthews and Crawford in the back court.
Oh, that’s right. I’m not in that parallel universe where CoachMac actually makes changes when he says he’s thinking about making a change.
Matthews has his limitations (handles, especially), but he’s worth the contract. Read Dave’s post about passing issues and remember he’s the only starter counted on to make 3’s.
irritating to say the least
but I haven’t seen a lot of consistency from us.
I have. We’re consistently bad.
PHILLY!
by CleBlazer on Feb 13, 2012 3:42 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
This is what worries me about Nate.
Part of what we’ve seen is not so much the start but the finish. That’s a big part of winning games. Our record right now is 1-9 in games decided by 5 [points or less].
The Blazers rank #1 in the NBA in 4th Quarter Points Per Game (25.5), #2 in 4th Quarter Margin (2.2), and #1 in 2nd Half Margin (5.5).
The reason the Blazers are losing close games is because they start slow and have to come from behind late, not because they’re poor at finishing games. Whenever the team starts strong, they usually win by a decent margin. Sometimes I wonder if Nate is actually paying attention or not.
With that said, unfortunately Nate is right about Felton being the best PG the Blazers have. The biggest problem the Blazers have is management. We started the season with one true PG on the roster. Who didn’t see a problem coming through injury, fatigue, poor play, etc.? Blazer management apparently.
by Hollinger's Computer on Feb 13, 2012 4:01 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
These guys are the ones we have to live and die with.
The only question I really see is whether to start Batum over Matthews or Wallace. You can make an argument in both cases.
haters on nate
quit your not the coach and you couldn’t do better. So stop acting and saying that Nate is so bad cause it’s really starting to put a bad and whiny rep on blazer fans. I sure hope that no big time beat writers read this crap. Nate knows who should be playing and who his best players are and he is sticking with it.
If Nate is such a great talent evaluator,
how did he not laugh at the Andre for Felton trade (tossing in Faried for a guard who cant’ play even in the current emergency) ?
check out stats when they
were playing denver like a week ago the two had pretty much the exact same stats so im sick of hearing about that trade we got younger and i like felton so i dont care about andre. SO it’s time for true blazers fans to step up and back their team. Aldridge is he said today that he thinks the team is better then last years and will get even better. Stop hating on Nate he is doing his best and its better then a lot of teams so enough is enough.
and faried
has done NOTHING this year so get over that too
Being a "true" fan does not mean blindly being positive about whatever their team does.
Fans can be critical and it would help if Nate was more critical of his choices too. If no one’s ever critical, then nothing changes. The talent on the team might not be a title contender, but it could be a lot better than it has shown and Nate has been too stubborn to make any adjustments. Batum, per minute our 2nd best player, should not be riding the bench. That is a perfect example of how stubborn Nate is, just like how he handle the Blake/Miller fiasco.
Dre ain't got no love for these pros
"quit your not the coach and you couldn’t do better."
Can folks stop with the appeal to/argument from authority stuff?
Whether he starts or not give Nic more time.
His PER is better than Wallace’, but he’s only getting about 25 minutes a night. He needs more minutes!
Crawford
“Crawford met with McMillan in his office after practice.”
I hope he is going to talk to him about his chucking. You simply can not have a shooting guard take 23 shots when he is hitting around 28% of them. And several of those attempts were complete non-sequitors. No flow of offense, Jamal just decides to chuck it up there.
That is on Nate.
"The only 'Advanced Metric' that matters is what you see with your eyes." -Timbo, Nov., 2009.
Get your facts right. Crawford is shooting 39% which is only 2% below his career average.
Crawford’s assist rate is 18% above his career average and 37% above last year. So Crawford is doing what Crawford does, except with more assists than usual. The front office signed Crawford, not Nate. Direct you displeasure at the FO if you don’t like Crawford. He is doing what was expected from him.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Feb 13, 2012 9:02 PM PST up reply actions
If I was comparing Jamal to Raymond as closure time, I would take Jamal in a land slide
Jamal is good at creating for himself and dishing off to LaMarcus or passing out to Batum if he is open. But of course he calls his own number most of the time. But he is streaky and he will get coverage and that leaves less for LMA to worry about. The opponents sag off Raymond like they did Dre because they know he can’t shoot.
hg
Pipe down, "BlazerFan"
I was referring to his 6 of 23 shooting against Dallas.
"The only 'Advanced Metric' that matters is what you see with your eyes." -Timbo, Nov., 2009.
So you are complaining about one bad game by Crawford and blaming that on Nate???
You don’t understand Crawford. He’s a streak shooter. He may miss the first 10 shots and then hit the next 5. Nate isn’t going to stop him shooting in the middle of a game, because that’s who Crawford is. As I said, if you don’t like it then complain about the guys that hired Crawford.
"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." - Matty Walker in Body Heat (1981)
by BlazerFanSince1970 on Feb 14, 2012 5:19 PM PST up reply actions
Don't tell me what to complain about.
Or who to direct it at.
I appreciate what Crawford does. But I don’t think he qualifies as a guy to take 23 shots when he’s hitting one out of four of them. There’s a very select group of shooting guards that have earned the right to shoot themselves out of a slump, and I don’t think Jamal is one of them. So yes, it is on the coach to get his guards to be disciplined about running the offense and making effort on defense when they’re not shooting the ball well.
"The only 'Advanced Metric' that matters is what you see with your eyes." -Timbo, Nov., 2009.
Im going to say this again because people have a tendency to ignore the facts
Crawford going into the Dallas game was shooting 45% from two and 44% from three in his last ten games or so he had been shooting great
In laymans terms that means since he arrived to camp late and we played so many games in a short amount of time that the first half of Jan. he struggled but the second half of jan until now hes been shooting and playing very well.
The issue is jamal is being forced to handle the ball more and that is screwing with his percentages because not only does he have to score he has to look to setup guys who simply are not making shots .
We scored 26 points in the 4th qt when we came back and jamal and La accounted for 23 of those points and jamal assisted on the other 3pts .
he was 1-7 from three and some of those were GREAT looks but other than that I cant find fault with a sg trying to get into the lane and closer to the baskets he took the majority of his shots from within 17ft and hes a great shooter from within that distance .
When Nic had it going who was feeding him ?
When LA had it going who as feeding him ?
Crawford gives up the rock and has bene trying his best to help LA the question you should be asking is
when is Wes going to get it going ? Crash ? Felton ?
Ive never seen a team go this long with 3 starters who cant seem to play a complete game . Even ancient Marcus has gone off for some 20 rebound games but these 3 seem to play well for 3-5 minutes spurts every other game
Crawford is the least of our problems
by Willie Beamon on Feb 14, 2012 11:50 AM PST up reply actions
Yes, the Blazers have been loosing
but not by much. Lots of these games could have gone the other way. Remember Oklahoma?
Some of the BE comments that are negative have useful input and intelligence. Most seem to come from a caveman mentality. Some Blazer fans are just acting stupid and I hope they are joking.
The fans here are awesome when the team is doing well. If not, the glazed look and zombie like mentality comes over and it’s all about “fire Nate”.
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