Sug

When I heard the team wanted to run I thought it was interesting. I also thought...why? The model should always be San Antonio, not The Suns. The model should be based on teams that have won, not teams that got close. Detroit, San Antonio, The Lakers, and even the 90's Bulls were all amazing half-court teams. They also played great man to man defense and generally had a defensive anchor at center.

I know fans love to see the fast break, but I want a parade. Nate should lock this team down to a half-court, use the shot clock type offense. Again San Antonio should be the model, grind it out, make it ugly, and execute.

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2007-2008 We will win 41
Poster:I got a bad feeling you will leave the blazers for some place like miami or LA someday. I hope you dont cause you would be passing on a bunch of titles in the next ten years just to live in a city thats warmer.

Oden:No way. I love this town. We're gonna bring back the glory years. These boys are my boys. This is my team and my town.

e_blazer1

From the sounds of Quick's article in today's Oregonian, it sounds like you're going to get your wish. In order to run, you need to rebound and the Blazers don't seem to have the horses to do that.

http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/or...890.xml&coll=7

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Blazermania is BACK!!!

MARIS61

Mis-representation of the facts on Nate/Quick's part.

Nate benched our best rebounder/shot-blocker and replaced him with Frye.

Start Joel and give him his 6 fouls a game, give half of Jack's minutes to Sergio, give Travis and Martell ALL of Frye's minutes, and this team will kick ***.

Until Nate stops trying to justify getting Frye, trying to placate Jarrett's tender ego, teams will walk all over us.

It appears to me that Nate is deliberately trying to sabotage KP's attempts to force a running game on him.

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I know what I know. - Paul Simon
I'm ALWAYS right and I NEVER lie. - George C. Tirebiter
Life is tough, it's tougher when you're stupid. - John Wayne
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. - Frank Zappa
You are responsible for your children until they are a credit to society. - Jovan Banjanin

Nate4Prez

Facts are facts. There is no mis-representation of how the Blazers played with the team they had on court. You cant say with Sergio, Travis, and Martell all on the court this would be be better, cause we haven't seen it. Not that is not a possibility they could be a much better running team, but we haven't seen it therefore cant state it as a fact.

I love Nate as a coach and I'm glad he is rethinking things and hopefully (with the chance of losing some games) he does mess with the line-up and try some new strategies. I dont think the Suns are a model franchise. I live in Tempe, AZ and all I hear is how great the Suns are; but the Suns havent won anything, and neither did the 2000-01 Blazers that were so much fun to watch. I too would take a Champsionship over a few lop-sided victories. I cant say how many times I have stoped watching a Suns game cause they were up by 25 entering the fourth quarter, its not fun, its boring; cause unlike the Blazers the Suns wont blow a 25 point lead. And at the end of the season theres no trophy for having the largest winning margain.

Go Blazers!

Ed O

#1: A McMillan team NOT running? Shock! Who would EVER EVER have predicted that the team would abandon it as soon as the team lost a few games?

#2: We play Jack at the backup 2. We play Frye at the 5. We play Outlaw at the 4 and Webster at the 3. We are undersized/physically weak at those positions for significant minutes every game. Rebounding is naturally a problem... were the Blazers expecting something different?

Ed O.

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"In the end, it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what that means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win -- if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth, and nice guys with no talent finish last."

-- Sandy Koufax

Public Defender

The Blazers are a poor rebounding team, not a great shot-blocking team, and not that great at getting steals. In sum, they're not a very good defensive team. In order to run, you need to be a better than average defensive team. The Suns get away with what they do because they're the fastest team around, and very few teams are able to fast-break on made baskets the way Phoenix can. The Blazers absolutely don't have the talent to do that - but, with a little better defense, they could fast-break more off of turnovers, blocked shots and quick outlets from rebounds. I didn't see all of the Washington game, but the big problem in the Philly game was that the Blazers weren't getting any stops - that eliminated Portland's fast break, and allowed the Sixers to set up their press. I don't know what exactly Nate is planning, but I'd encourage him to put the best defensive team he can on the floor for the majority of the game. In other words, keep Jack with the second unit, but consider playing Przybilla with the starters again.

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Next year...

2k

When the team won four in a row they were running. I’m not saying they should turn the team into Golden State Warriors but the fact remains when they blitz the Grizzlies they were getting out in transition, they outran the Mavs too.

I’m really too burnt to articulate much from that observation other than to say the captains on this team to recognize running opportunities and adapt.

fawzi83

I like the Phoenix Suns model over the spurs because it's much more exciting to watch them play at a fast tempo and putting up big numbers like teams used to in the 90's. That was when basketball was the most watched sport and I think the decline in ratings have had a lot to do with the speed of the game. Just because Phoenix hasn't won a championship doesnt mean they werent capable of doing so, they just ran into some bad luck in the playoffs but they are very capable of winning and how good would it be to watch the blazers playing exciting games every game and putting on a show.

barfo

I like Nate as a coach a whole lot better when he doesn't talk to the press. Everytime I hear what he's thinking I lose a little more respect for him.

barfo

PorterIn2004

Maybe someone has already made this point and I somehow missed it looking through, but both Pritchard and McMillan have been saying that the goal for this team, this year, was to run more -- like the Spurs, not the Suns. The Suns have been near the fastest (and probably most successful) of the fast teams while the Blazers have been among the slowest (and least successful) of the slow teams. The Spurs are opportunists, running when they have an advantage, and slowing it down when they don't -- exactly what "HQ" has said they're after (though Pritchard has arguably indicated he's hoping for faster yet down the road).

Public Defender

I was kind of soft-pedaling my way toward this point, as well. I think you're making an important point here: the Blazers are looking to be a running team the way the Spurs and the Avery Johnson Mavericks are running teams - they run when they get a steal, or a rebound or shot-block that lends itself to a quick outlet pass. They're not looking to run off of made baskets. It could be that Pritchard thinks the Blazers could eventually be a "run all the time" kind of team, but I don't see much evidence that teams win playoff games that way. The Suns, Warriors, etc. have not gotten to the NBA Finals with the run-and-gun style they play, and until they do, I'm confident in my position that being "opportunistic" as PI04 put it, is the smarter approach, and really no less exciting (how frustrating is it to watch blown, forced fastbreaks, when the numbers aren't there? that's not entertaining to me, it's irritating!).

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Next year...

MARIS61

KP means it.

Nate, hmmm...

__________________
I know what I know. - Paul Simon
I'm ALWAYS right and I NEVER lie. - George C. Tirebiter
Life is tough, it's tougher when you're stupid. - John Wayne
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. - Frank Zappa
You are responsible for your children until they are a credit to society. - Jovan Banjanin

MARIS61

Like when they get a rebound or a block.

That's probably why Popovich doesn't have his best rebounder/shot-blocker on the bench most of the time.

You create your own opportunities in life.

__________________
I know what I know. - Paul Simon
I'm ALWAYS right and I NEVER lie. - George C. Tirebiter
Life is tough, it's tougher when you're stupid. - John Wayne
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. - Frank Zappa
You are responsible for your children until they are a credit to society. - Jovan Banjanin

mediocre man

I'm all for him going against KP. Just means he'll get fired sooner. This team should run period. If we aren't rebounding well enough then stop playing zone for Christ's sake. Maybe mix in a little half court trap now and then as well.

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