Nov
16
I thought I wanted to work for this team....
By Blazer_Dawg Posted in: NateMcMillan
I have spent the last 3 years of my life persuing a degree in sports management with the hopes of one day working in the Blazers front office. After watching tonight's game, I don't think I want anything to do with this team. The fact that the management group can let one person negatively effect a whole team is not something I want to be a part of. It's about time people started saying the truth instead of being so politically correct about everything in this town.
Nate McMillan is not a good coach people. He isn't. There is nothing in the world that justifies his high pay or the way Blazer fans basically beg him to stay. He has a sub .500 record as a head coach, he gets set in his ways and won't change (see Miller and Blake), and he's never won anything significant at the NBA level.
Yes he's been here for our resurgence, and yes our record has improved the past few years, but that was inevitable. I could coach this team to more victories than we had before if I had Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden. Do you honestly believe the Blazers would sit back and deal with another 6 years of crap basketball? No, that's why Paul Allen spends so much money on this team. That's why KP was brought in, so that we would do the right things in the front office and bring talent here. Mission accomplished, we have one of the greatest collections of talent in the whole NBA. Yet we haven't even been able to have more than one comfortable game this season. Our schedule has been so soft the Blazers should damn near be undefeated, instead we're struggling against the Hawks and Nuggets at home, lose to Houston who sucks, and can barely beat the Bobcats. That goes back to poor coaching.
Overall Nate has been helpful in bringing fans back, and that I acknowledge. But he hasn't done one thing that justifies keeping his spot on this team as the head coach. He was brought in to coach a young inexperienced team that he could "teach." Well we don't need that kind of coach anymore (especially when what you say you've been teaching the most, defense, is so inept). We have a team with guys who know the league now, and we need a coach who can relate to guys like that. Not a coach who does whatever Brandon Roy wants him to do.
Honestly McMillan has screwed up a lot of stuff . He has messed with Andre Miller so much he doesn't fit in and just seems uncomfortable when he's on the floor. His over-reliance on Blake has become the most pathetic and disgusting thing to watch it's almost become vomit-worthy ( let's keep him in the whole 1st quarter and in crunch when he's just bricking everything, it's ok it's Steve, Blake for 3, brick). Seriously, you have one of the best shooting guards in the whole NBA in Brandon Roy, so what does Nate do? He moves Brandon to the small forward position so he can keep Blake in there. That's not what is best for this team in the long run, and McMillan and everyone knows in their heart that's true. But Nate continues to ride the broken horse. He plays Bayless as many minutes as Rudy (even though Rudy has been the only good defender so far this year, not to mention the guy was named euro-basket 1st team), he refuses to give the ball to LaMarcus late in games because he's too busy calling isolation plays for Roy, and he continues to play Blake so many minutes is laughable.
The time for medicore should be over Portland. This city was supposed to be ready for their team to take the next step. But for some reason this franchise and it's fans want to hold onto those mediocre memories. So if mediocre is what Portland and it's fans want, well you've got it. Have fun getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs every year. But if this franchise truly wants to take a step in the direction of Championship Contender, it's going to take a new coach and a new system. Until then Portland, enjoy mediocrity!