Subscribe Feed (RSS)This story is interesting in the wake of the Trail Blazers’ ridiculous defensive performance last night at Houston. I’ll have more tomorrow on this topic but it’s crazy to assume that Portland’s inability to defend (not just for this season but for most of last season) has everything to do with a lack of effort. One player hinted at the problems and he was backup center Joel Przybilla:
”Same (stuff) as last year,” center Joel Przybilla said, his cheeks red from agitation.
And here:
“It’s not one guy, as a team we weren’t on the same page,” Przybilla said. “We have to get it together as a team.”
These guys do not seem to have a team-defense system that allows them to consistently rotate and find defensive help, the way the good NBA teams do it. We saw the same thing last season. But people are constantly fooled by one-game shooting percentages. Just because a team doesn’t make shots against you, doesn’t mean you are playing great defense. It’s one indicator, but hey — some nights opponents just don’t make open shots.
That’s what happened in the opening game of the season when the Rockets couldn’t buy a basket against Portland. But they were getting good shots.
It’s NOT too early in the season to make a point about this. It’s a problem that has dogged this team forever, as Przybilla indicated. And effort alone is not going to cure it.
Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Houston Rockets, Joel Przybilla, Portland Trail Blazers, team defense
Time for a coaching change.
We still don’t have a quick PG to D up the Aaron Brooks and Tony Parkers of the world, they shredded us last year and they will do the same this year. Blake and Miller are average defenders period. Nate should give Bayless a try and if he can’t D them up, trade for a quick PG who can play some Defense
The decision to sign Andre Miller was a bad one. I’ve said it many times that KP is not nearly as ‘brilliant’ as some thinks he is and the team is now feeling the effects of some of his decisions (ie not trading outlaw, allowing RLEC to expire with nothing in return, picking Oden over Durant, acquiring Andre Miller, the Hedo disaster, etc).
This team needs to make some changes to get it’s mojo back or 2009/2010 might be a very long year.
so three games into the season your ‘prophecy’ is: “things need to improve. If they don’t, it’ll be a long year.”
Way to really go out on a limb and back up your anit-management assertions. Is this another one of your prophecies that we should be paying attention to since you’ll likely refer to it later?
In other words, it’s ok at this point to have concerns about “defensive-minded” coach, Nate McMillan.
I have always loved Nate, and think he’s a great head man for this team. But he needs some big-time specialists on his staff. We need a defensive guru coach.
Again, I love Nate but there is nothing wrong with admitting that his teams- especially this one- have ALWAYS sucked on D. Yes, he was a hard-working defensive individual in his career. Yes, he has a history of inspiring individuals on the Olympic team to take their D to another level. But team defensive, like that of the recent Celtic teams, is a whole different animal than individual effort.
This season will end the same as last year- with a premature playoff exit- if we don’t get someone else in here to consult on team defense asap.
Oh, 1 more thing: the Blazers have refused to trade defensive boneheads like Travis Outlaw and have seen his stock plummet since they first passed up a chance during the winning streak of 07-08. As long as he’s on your team and you continue to hand him major minutes, you should quit acting surprised or frustrated that your weakside defensive rotations are falling apart, Nate.
Nate needs to get the pink slip. His work is done here. We need someone to take the team to another level.
This makes me think of McMillan’s ridiculous post-game conferences over the years where he uses the word “scrap” and other variations of that word to show that if the team just played harder the defensive would automatically get better. In his mind, that’s all it takes. Just shows you how simple-minded his defensive “philosophies” are. He just doesn’t have it, folks. When he doesn’t know how to fix a problem, he tells the boys to just “get out there and scrap”. He’s not the guy. Dwight, please, write the post that we are all waiting for–the “McMillan isn’t the right guy” post.
While I agree that Nate may not be the right guy, our personnel is not loaded with defensive stalwarts, either. What other coaches are out there that would take this team with this roster to 60 wins and/or a championship? I’m scratching my head on that one.
Phil’s in LA, Popovich is in SA, and Carlisle is in DAL; Doc Rivers and Stan Van Gundy aren’t the greatest coaches in the world, but they have superior talent. Same with the guy in Cleveland.
Adelman’s not leaving Houston, do you take a flier on Jeff Van Gundy? Larry Brown may quit another job soon, Byron Scott may be fired soon. The coaching talent is just not that deep in the NBA, so when we say Nat’s not the guy, we need to have some better ideas.
Jeff Van Gundy isn’t a bad choice and he said that he wanted to return to coaching.
“defensive stalwarts”, as you call them, are great for 1-on-1 stops or weakside recovery blocks at the rim. But they don’t make a good defensive TEAM.
Team defensive is taught, and when taught well, it works regardless of the defensive reputations of the individuals.
It’s not about more effort and more scrap. This can make for nice highlights and nice games here and there- but a good
defensive team is coached to defend as a team. Nate isn’t the guy for that kind of coaching.
Personally, Id like to see Nate get (and TRUST) a defensive guru and hand the defensive coaching reins completely over go him.
Look at our offensive rebounding numbers, and you’ll see that this group has plenty of heart and hustle and scrap. What they DONT gave is a collective clue about defense.
A defensive guru is fine. I was just reading a lot of “Nate is not the guy” comments, and while I may agree, I was challenged with finding a better head coach candidate available.
And TEAM defenses are usually built around a pretty darn good individual defender. Who would ours be?
If you want to see and want to know the difference between a very good coach and a very over rated coach. All you have to do is watch the way the Rockets play as a team and as individuals. Then watch the way the Blazers don’t play as a team and only play as individuals. Watch the way the Rockets are coached to adjust from game to game, half to half, quarter to quarter and play to play. Then watch the way the Blazers keep making the same mistakes over and over from game to game, half to half and quarter to quarter, year to year. Adelman can coach. He does coach the team, the individuals, schemes, team concepts and he is capable of making on the fly adjustments as needed. He doesn’t just tell his team to play hard, fight and be scrappy. He designs and team schemes to maximize the scrappy players he has.
Nate does not play. He can’t ‘coach’ Blake to keep a quick guard in front of him.
Trade for a quick quard who can play D or give Bayless a shot.
FIRE NATE NOW! The players are sick of his act, and the guy can’t even teach his team how to defend the pick and roll, which is pretty simple! Hire Jeff VanGundy, or maybe hire Terry Porter.
im right on with all you guys. i cant believe what is happening. i lost big on this game in vegas….to houston!
1. Outlaw is an extremely poor defender and might have the lowest iq in the league. He rode the short bus to school.
2. Blake is a joke. He was a scrub 5 years and is now. He’s like a guy you bring in for 5 minutes in emergency situations and hope you don’t blow the whole lead. Why blazer fans like him im lost.
3. Lma is so soft. God. Give a guy who will never be an allstar that money. Aldridge will never be an allstar.
4. miller is ok. but just ok. he was always just ok. but he is so much better than blake….i would not play blake another minute.
5. i didn’t think this last year….i would play rudy as the only…only guard off the bench. we cant guard the quick points anyways….at least he brings an offensive advantage.
play the best players. make it our advantage.
6. oden. if i wasnt a blazer fan with hope,,,,,,,i would berate this baby huey uncoordinated,,,no hands,,,,,soft……..retarded…ugly…..weak minded…feable minded tall guy who can’t play ball
7. roy….a leader makes his teamates better…Ive never seen a player in the nba say….im the leader…this is my team….at 25. it seems wrong….not right….did magic go around saying im the leader this is my team….ive never seen this before….. teams might have been a players team…but they don’t go bragging bout it
8. mcmillan was a scrub with the sonics… a scrub….a tool for clyde and terry…he never won anything….
9. ive never said an nba oach was doing poorly….but……this guy cannot coach at nba elite level
I would fire mcmillan asap.
fire mcmillan
fire mcmillan
Prediction:
blazers win the nw division and take the 3 seed.
yeah right
after the blazers lost to houston last year…..all i could talk about is how horrible blake and outlaw were. the whole summer i berated them……and alot of oden bashing also
nothing has changed
1. Blake is an ok backup point guard on a .500 team
2. Outlaw is incredibly stupid
3. Oden would dominate in high school
4. I sat next to Coach Caleb and Outlaw 2 years ago on a flight to vegas. This caleb guy then was outlaws handler. Now he is a coach. He was an uneducated little nobody who seemed like a thug who played alot of video games. He was a handler? Now a coach?
5. If mcmillan has these scraps on his staff…how bright can he be?
6. Granted….most athletes are less than average iq. but shouldn’t the coaches be smart and surround the players with smart people.
Did pritchard graduate from college?
there are some other people in close association with the blazers who are complete knuckeheads….
im not surprised the team stinks now
Isn’t it ironic that we have had crappy defense ever since Nate McMillan has been here? I find it ridiculous that we’re talking about the same crap that killed us last year. The most disgusting part, we look worse this year than ever before. If Nate can’t teach these guys defense in 3-4 years, then wtf is he doing here as the coach of this team? We need an actual coach. Bring back Rick Adelman!!!!!
Dwight, I have a question. Since you have watched so much NBA ball – how many teams have you seen that use Nate’s defensive scheme of having the guards push the offensive player to the baseline and forcing a big to come and help? Thanks.
Oh Dwight….. You pick a couple quotes from Joel who is talking about the team not all being in sync on defense, and somehow turn that around to say they have no system…. Please get off your high horse and take a look at reality. The team has a system which has been thoroughly documented. Just because the personel do not always follow it, either due to physical limitations, mental limitations, or lack of effort, does not mean they don’t have one. Your constant whining about this makes you sound like you have no idea what you are talking about.