I got a chance to watch most of the game yesterday as the U.S. basketball team held off Brazil 70-68 at the FIBA world championships.
And I have to say I was shocked at the lack of organization and the overall way our team played. Can’t players learn a simple motion offense? Why is it that even at this level, with all the talent out there, we can’t see a free-flowing offense where all the players touch the ball, with screens being set and the ball and bodies being moved?
But no, it was like they’ve made Nate McMillan the team’s offensive coordinator. There was all kinds of standing around and watching someone play one-on-one.
And please, spare me the talk about the team not being together for more than a few weeks — and how long all the other teams have been playing together. Really, high school teams install offensive systems in a couple of weeks and play them competently — certainly some of the best players in the world ought to be able to do it.
Besides, most of these players have used some sort of flex or passing game offense someplace during their career, in high school or college, and know what they’re supposed to do. Pass and move — it’s not brain surgery.
It’s just seems to me that somehow players have triumphed over coaches in the NBA — it’s like the coaches have given up — and the result is they just don’t want to work hard on offense and don’t want to give of themselves for the benefit of others. Everyone wants the ball in his hands and when he doesn’t have it, he stands and watches.
After watching Ricky Rubio yesterday, it looks to me as if Kahn, the Minnesota general manager and the man who drafted Rubio, is handling the whole situation exactly right. What’s the hurry in getting Rubio over here?
The kid is being spared all the losing in Minnesota — and trust me, even if he had come over here last season there would have been plenty of losing — and is improving in Spain.
Improving a lot, if yesterday’s Spain-USA game is any indication. Rubio looks more and more like a star, even looking like a bit of a defender, too. I’m still not so sure he isn’t going to turn out to be the best player taken in that draft — a clever, creative pass-first point guard with charisma who can defend? There is huge value in that.
All along, the only concern with Rubio — still just 19 years old! — continuing to play in Spain was whether he’d improve over there. And now that it appears he is getting better, there’s no hurry that he come here. Let him stay another year while the Timberwolves rebuild their front line.
And you know what, if the kid decides at some point he doesn’t want to play in Minnesota, his trade value is going to be higher than it was at the time he was drafted.
I know it’s difficult, but you must be patient, Minnesota fans. Help is definitely on the way.
I thought I’d written about him for the last time this summer but he just won’t go away.Yes, he says he won’t report to the team. He’s daring them to suspend him.
This time he’s really overplayed his hand. The Blazers will probably be happy to do that. It’s much easier to be selective about trading him if this goes into the season and the team’s got him on the suspended list and isn’t paying him.
Rudy, my boy, that will not be a problem.
What is a problem, though, is that it’s entirely possible the Trail Blazers are once again going to overestimate the value of one of their players and end up not getting full value for him. For me, a middle first-round pick would have been fine at this point. Somewhere around 15 to 20 would have worked. I think they could have had that.
The problem is, Rudy’s value continues to diminish. Do not forget that his European options make it difficult for another team to take him on knowing that after just one season he might just bail and head back to Spain. I’m not sure you can expect another team to give up a whole lot knowing that he might just be a rental player for one season.
In the meantime, Rudy’s become quite the whiner. And that’s just no fun at all.
Gotta be alert for the cameos, but you can catch him about a minute and a half in and then again at the end. Not much mystery about the message of this video. Not safe for work, either.
OK, my e-mail buddy Greg nudged me over the weekend with the Rasheed Wallace retirement story. Not much, he said, is being made of the fact that a pretty good player says he’s retiring. And, oh, by the way, he is telling people he may decide to make his post-NBA home in Portland.
It got me thinking. Let’s say Wallace decides to settle with his family here. How will he be received? Let’s say he becomes a regular at the Rose Garden for home games — will fans boo him? Will they cheer him? How do Trail Blazer fans perceive him right now? Do they hate him? Hey, will this guy join Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter and Dale Schlueter as a Blazer ambassador some day? Doubt it.
For me, I’m guessing Wallace will become a fan favorite, if he wants to be. Portland fans want to love their ex-players — all of them. The big question, of course, is will Wallace want it?
As we get ready for the world championships, Rudy is still making it clear he wants no part of returning to Portland (tried to hit the translated link but it won’t let me, sorry. But it’s pretty easy to get one one the web somewhere). He says he’s frustrated and either wants to come back to Europe or be dealt to another team that plays the style of game that will take advantage of his skills. Mostly stuff we’ve all heard before.
But I thought this part was a little more pointed than some previous stuff:
P. Do you think that all were to blame McMillan? Have you made self-criticism?
R. Of course all the fault is not theirs. The coach holds the reins of the team and has to think about what is best for the group. That does it. It also has a philosophy of play and sometimes I did not fall. It is true that I have in front of Roy, who is a superstar and accumulated many minutes on the track. But I do not understand is that I have promised many things they are not carried out. I do not need someone telling me to go all day I’m very good or he sees me playing very well so that the end does not give you the role you expect. Those things hurt you mentally. Affect you because you said one thing and does the opposite. You start thinking about what you have done wrong, what is it that did not like … Accumulate all that and you just eat a headache to the point of not seeing you able to help the team and prefer to be on the bench.
I have to tell you, he’s going about this all wrong. It doesn’t have to be public. But at the same time, he does need to go someplace where he will play — and play his game. Otherwise, given how much money he’s losing by playing over here, he’s wasting time and money playing in the NBA.
Dragging this dispute into training camp would not be beneficial to anyone. In fact, it would be a big mistake for the Blazers that will only be a camp distraction — and it won’t become any easier to trade him later.
We have 20 minutes with him that we recorded yesterday afternoon — discussion about the Rose Quarter and Memorial Coliseum. It will start this morning at 7:35. You can find it on 95.5 fm this morning in the Portland area and 955thegame.com on the very computer you’re using right now.
Also, OSU football coach Mike Riley will join us at 8:30.
Of course it’s ridiculous that James Dolan of Madison Square Garden wants to hire Isiah Thomas to consult with his Knicks. The guy is the prime reason the Knicks are in the tank right now.
But, and I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this right now, I cannot imagine that consulting contract is even legal. The NBA has rules about hiring people who coach college teams — anybody who has contact with underclassmen can’t work for an NBA team. And I’m shocked the NCAA and Florida International haven’t weighed in, too.
I mean, seriously — the NCAA wants one of its coaches taking a check from an NBA team? And a college that’s paying him to coach its team wants him to be on the payroll of an NBA team?
The whole thing is just about the nuttiest story I’ve heard in a long time. Crazy. And it just can’t stick, can it?
Ben is the guy who makes Blazersedge.com a whole lot more than a fan site. The guy’s a legit reporter without a lot of access the mainstream media has. Today he’s got info on Scott Zachry’s new job, the search for a replacement for Rebecca Haarlow and two assistant general manager names:
And, in case you missed it yesterday, Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Hawks Director of Pro Personnel Steve Rosenberry could be one of Rich Cho’s Assistant GMs.
Update (3:01PM): Another name to watch for Cho’s Assistant GM positions is Bill Branch. Branch has a long history in the NBA as an assistant coach, director of scouting and, now, as Director of Pro Personnel in Oklahoma City. He worked with Cho in both Seattle and Oklahoma City.
Ben will be on the MSP this morning at 8. It’s a big day on the show. Deadspin.com editor Drew Magary joins us at 7 and DJ Steve Porter, the genius who puts together those great Press Hop videos (you can find one below), will be with us at 8:35.
The show is on 95.5 FM in the Portland area and 955thegame.com always.
LeBron and his marketing firm have access, through his camps, to high school players. He’s giving them free shoes. He’s meeting them. Is he recruiting them for his marketing company?
You may remember me from my 25 years at The Oregonian and Oregon Journal. Or my stint at the Portland Tribune or appearances on local talk radio. Well, times change and so have I. Right now, I'm still watching the world float by, but only when I have the time.
They call me "The Godfather" now, especially in the mornings, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the "Morning Sports Page" with Chad Doing and Antonio Harvey, on Portland's No. 1 sports station, 95.5 The Game.
And I answer to that, too, in my other job, as combination host/panelist on Comcast Sportsnet's "Talkin Ball" show. You'll find us talkin' ball after every Trail Blazer game shown on CSN this season, as well as assorted other days during the off-season.
A lot of people ask me where I get those great ties I wear on television. Well, they come from Estes, a uniquely Portland store that provides personal service I've never found anywhere else. It's located at 16th and Northwest Glisan and I'd advise you to check it out.
Coaches, NBA | Dwight Jaynes | August 31, 2010 | 
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Dwight Jaynes, FIBA world championship, Nate McMillan, Team USA
