Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 10:15 am  |  20 responses

Chemistry Issues in Portland?

It hasn’t been a smooth ride in Portland, as the Blazers struggle in their transition from a busy summer into the regular season: “After an even-worse-than-it-sounds 108-97 loss to the Utah Jazz before 19,696 at the Rose Garden, a fuming McMillan criticized his team’s effort, execution and will. ‘Not good,’ he said, summing up his team’s lackluster performance. ‘I think some of us think that we can flip a switch and that all of sudden, it’s going to happen when the (season opener) comes. We got to get to work.’ At the heart of the Blazers’ struggles is on-court chemistry — there is none. The lack of on-court chemistry was again an issue as the Blazers fell 108-97 at the Rose Garden. The molding of new talent (namely free-agent pickups Andre Miller and Juwan Howard and the return of Martell Webster) with last season’s key players has not gone smoothly. McMillan has mixed and matched different lineup combinations throughout the exhibition season and the results have produced little flow and little cohesion. This was evident from the start Tuesday night as the Blazers dug themselves an early hole by committing a bundle of turnovers (seven in the first quarter), looking completely lost on offense and playing atrocious defense.”

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  • memyselfand9 Posted: Oct.21 at 10:24 am
    is portland the team that will never happen?

  • fireman10101 Posted: Oct.21 at 10:28 am
    so much potential man.. so much potential.

  • Bryan Crawford Posted: Oct.21 at 10:45 am
    They never should’ve brought in Andre Miller. Giving the ball to Bayless should’ve been the plan all along.

  • Z Posted: Oct.21 at 10:45 am
    you dont win in the nba w/out a steady rotation and a well-established pecking order. benching andre miller for steve freaking blake won’t help either.

  • Allenp Posted: Oct.21 at 11:08 am
    Pressure busts pipes.

  • Joey E. Posted: Oct.21 at 11:09 am
    i never liked this team. i just think they’ve been so overhyped.

  • JDH21 Posted: Oct.21 at 11:10 am
    It will be very interesting to see there rotation. Blake, Miller & Bayless at the point. Roy at the SG. Then Outlaw, Webster, Fernandez at SF. Aldridge at PF. Then Oden & Pryzbilla at center. Nate is going to have several people collecting splinters on the end of his bench this year.

  • niQ Posted: Oct.21 at 11:38 am
    I think the chemistry was could’ve work, but was broken the moment the idiot coach said Andre Miller wasn’t guaranteed a starting spot.

  • ClydeSays Posted: Oct.21 at 1:21 pm
    McMillan seems like the kind of disciplinarian coach that’s better suited to college hoops.

  • sab Posted: Oct.21 at 1:32 pm
    sad news…

  • SHAN Posted: Oct.21 at 2:20 pm
    whoever said they need to give the ball to Bayless and let him run the show, is much worse off than the blazers are…Jerryd has no idea how to run a team. At all…

  • dma Posted: Oct.21 at 3:48 pm
    nate.. smh.. he’s such a control freak. just start miller, roy, batum, aldridge and oden. rudy, martell, outlaw and pryz off bench. blake in spot minutes. that’s all you need.

  • J-RO Posted: Oct.21 at 4:00 pm
    i think these Blazers are gonna be like the past years Suns….so much potential but will never win like that…..

  • Sparker Posted: Oct.21 at 4:03 pm
    nate did ok in seattle too… until the players stopped wanting to listen. scott skiles, avery johnson… guys who are hard to please don’t seem to more than a few seasons with an nba roster

  • Jonathan Posted: Oct.21 at 5:38 pm
    Come on now we all know that behind the scenes that this team is back to the Jail Blazers days where probably every player on the team is smoking weed. Wont be surprised if a couple players this year get arrested on drugs, speeding, DUI’s, or gun charges. Something about Portland where players come as trouble free and good people but once they get there something always goes wrong.

  • Anony Mous Posted: Oct.21 at 5:41 pm
    …Maybe Aldridge will move. Misleading title FIENDS!

  • Chris C Posted: Oct.21 at 7:48 pm
    people are blowing this out of proportion..settle down the guys jusrt need some time to gel and they will be fine

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Oct.21 at 11:39 pm
    Either Outlaw, Webster, or Fernandez has to be traded for this team to compete. Three guys who can play but sharing the same limited minutes. Travis Outlaw is not going to sit behind Rudy and Webster, who’s just gotten back from injury, wants to play. And so on.

  • M Cho Posted: Oct.21 at 11:43 pm
    This Blazers team reminds me of the Bulls under Scott Skiles the year they brought in Ben Wallace.

  • Anony Mous Posted: Oct.21 at 11:47 pm
    agreed. maybe ship outlaw and fernandez for like josh howard or someone like that. maybe a luol deng even

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