POLL: Fire Nate McMillan or Trade Andre Miller

[Shem]

In light of the recent news of the shouting match between Andre Miller and Nate McMillan, I've seen so many take sides on who is right around Blazer websites, not just here.

Anyway, I'm curious to see if you had to make a choice, what would you do if you were in Kevin Pritchard's shoes?

[Zohan]

Not even close, Nate is so overrated its not even funny. The dude is riding on Brandon Roy's coat tails. He has no offense, just give the ball to Roy and have 4 players stand around and watch. One of the youngest athletic teams in the league and we have the slowest paced offense. Nate's defensive rep is also a joke. The only reason games are so low scoring is because we wait til 2 seconds left on the shot clock to shoot on every possession. Nate coached us to a loss in the playoffs against a worst team with home court advantage. Knowing the Rockets were undermanned and had dominant inside strength, and with all the Blazers depth and youth, what does Nate do? He plays half court ball, exactly what the Rockets wanted. Nate is a complete moron, but not as much as the fans that keep making excuses for him and not looking at the big picture. He will never lead us to a title.

[Norm2953]

The real answer is both.

[farzi]

The real answer is both.

[EGame]

Trade Bayless he caused this fiasco!

[whatchaknow]

The real answer is both.

[Village Idiot]

The real answer is both.

I fourth that motion.

I'm irked with Nate for his inability to use the summer to redoo the offence to accomodate Oden and Miller.

Miller really isn't a good fit with the rest of our team and Bayless has a bright future even though he'll have some bumps in the road on the way. The fact that he hasn't been able to/not been willing to work on his jumpshot is also a bad sign. He's also a bad fit personality wise with this team.

Pritchard and Larry Miller need to start being more active.

[candy for lunch]

Tom Penn finds a loophole in the CBA so Andre becomes player-coach.

[soobias]

Not even close, Nate is so overrated its not even funny. The dude is riding on Brandon Roy's coat tails. He has no offense, just give the ball to Roy and have 4 players stand around and watch. One of the youngest athletic teams in the league and we have the slowest paced offense. Nate's defensive rep is also a joke. The only reason games are so low scoring is because we wait til 2 seconds left on the shot clock to shoot on every possession. Nate coached us to a loss in the playoffs against a worst team with home court advantage. Knowing the Rockets were undermanned and had dominant inside strength, and with all the Blazers depth and youth, what does Nate do? He plays half court ball, exactly what the Rockets wanted. Nate is a complete moron, but not as much as the fans that keep making excuses for him and not looking at the big picture. He will never lead us to a title.

[fivefootsix]

I say trade Andre for Gortat - not because I want that, but because I can't stand to read another post about it. There - it's been posted in this thread at least once, so no one else needs to.

[kumquat]

Nate seems like a play hard coach. Thats fine if you're playing rec ball, but it's horrible to watch at such a professional level.. The guy is so inflexible, it was horrible trying to see him trying to integrate Oden into the offense. What it seems to be is he is coaching as if he was playing. No skill all affort. He just has no idea what to do.

[Fitz303]

Change the system and I think Andre would help this ENTIRE TEAM flourish. Fire Nate (or be flexible in your system moving forward), move Blake, and move on.

[Norm2953]

I don't know if changing the coach would ultimately change how Andre fits for
Andre needs to have the ball to be effective which is not going to happen when
your team has Roy who also needs the ball. It's the reason ultimately Bayless
or perhaps ever Mills will eventually supplant Blake and be Roy's back court
partner for both guys can make an open jumper when Roy draws a
double team.

[Wizenheimer]

I don't know if changing the coach would ultimately change how Andre fits for
Andre needs to have the ball to be effective which is not going to happen when
your team has Roy who also needs the ball. It's the reason ultimately Bayless
or perhaps ever Mills will eventually supplant Blake and be Roy's back court
partner for both guys can make an open jumper when Roy draws a
double team.

yep

I think people are just viewing this far too simplistically.

It's entirely possible that any coach would have had plenty of difficulty integrating Miller into this particular rotation, especially in the same season that Oden had to be integrated as well

[Downtown]

I read where during the longer stay that Memphis had in Portland Mike Conley stayed at Greg Oden's house and the two friends hung out together. I still think about the Miller for Conley trade that has been floated a few times in the trades and transactions forum. I just think the Grizzlies could use more of a veteran leading them at the point, although at only age 22 it's tough to trade someone like Conley who has been a big part of the Grizzlies rotation for a couple of years now.

[TBpup]

Nate seems like a play hard coach. Thats fine if you're playing rec ball, but it's horrible to watch at such a professional level.. The guy is so inflexible, it was horrible trying to see him trying to integrate Oden into the offense.

And while I commend Nate for his 'play hard, play the right way' attitude, it seems so often he has no real idea of how to actually coach, teach or implement the very things he is lamenting.

What I don't understand is how Nate gets such a pass from most of the local media. Yesterday Wheels was talking about the Miller situation and advocating that Portland didn't need a real PG, but rather someone like Blake who could stretch the defense....he compared Blake to Paxson/Kerr. While Blake may have some similarities, Chicago had Jordan and while we all love Brandon, he is no where near Jordan's level. Also, they had Pippen who facilitated a lot of the offense and helped with the ball handling...Portland has no other option like that and Nate shows no willingness or ability to move towards that.

So we are stuck with just Roy and when a lowly team like the Clippers can hold him to 6 points, what do you think teams in the playoffs will do? For Nate and Brandon not to see they need another facilitator for the good of the team is beyond me. Either that, either Nate won't coach it or Brandon won't allow it.

[cucad8]

So we are stuck with just Roy and when a lowly team like the Clippers can hold him to 6 points, what do you think teams in the playoffs will do? [/color]

Well, to be fair, the Clippers did that with half of our team out. I know it didn't lead to wins, but we saw what happened last year in the playoffs with Roy, against two of the better wing defenders in the league. They didn't come anywhere near shutting him down, so this part of your post I disagree with.

As for the rest, the part about Wheels is dumb. Like you said, they had Jordan, but to add further difference, they had Pippen, who played PG for them. Jordan didn't have to play SG AND PG. He ran a lot of the offense, but so did Pippen. If Batum becomes that, great. But he's not anywhere near that right now. You NEED another player on the floor who can attack defenses. Blake can't. Webster's not that good at it. So you have Roy and spot up shooters. That doesn't work. Because then defenses know what to expect out of everyone on the floor.

[TBpup]

If Batum becomes that, great.

I would love that.

[zzaj]

There is no doubt in my mind that a lineup of:

Miller
Roy
Batum
Aldridge
Oden

can be coached successfully. The issue is Nate's inability to coach the game at even a slightly higher pace. We don't really know that Roy can't play in a system like that. But at this point Nate is coaching to his star's comfort level rather than doing what a coach should do and improve and get more out of his star for the betterment of the team.

If only these two are the options--Nate goes. He is no longer a good fit. The days of babysitting first and second year players and teaching the game "the right way" are over.

[TBpup]

The issue is Nate's inability to coach the game at even a slightly higher pace.

Exactly. I'm not asking to turn the Blazers into the Phoenix Suns but I am asking not to be in the bottom three in fast break baskets year after year when we have some of the youngest legs in the league.

Think Rudy, LaMarcus, Travis, Andre', Bayless, Batum, Dante or Webster wouldn't benefit from that? Hmm..that is a large majority of the team.