Nate McMillan on Brandon Roy: ‘He’s Going to Play His Role’

Nate says that he understands Roy’s frustration, but doesn’t plan on making any changes to his rotation to appease him. From The Oregonian: “The Blazers watched film of Tuesday’s game and did not practice Wednesday, but McMillan met with reporters at the team’s practice facility. He said that he had not read the story but had spoken to Roy about it. ‘I said to Brandon, there’s nobody in this state, including Brandon, that (wants) Brandon on the floor as much as I do,’ McMillan said … McMillan said the change has been a major transition for him, too. ‘It’s a challenge every time I call Brandon’s name off the bench,’ McMillan said. ‘That’s our All-Star. We’re going through a season where we are trying to figure out what he can do and how he can help the team and get him through this year. But I know what he has done for this organization. And to call Brandon Roy’s name as a backup is different. As I said, I’m trying to put this team in position – and Brandon knows that, and I’ve talked to the team about that – to win games,’ McMillan said. ‘So the rotation’s going to be different.’ Asked about how much Roy will play Thursday, McMillan said: ‘He’s going to play his role, which is coming off the bench. And we’ll see. There wasn’t any minutes promised or anything like that. All of our guys want to play minutes.’ Finally, when asked if the issue could be a distraction, McMillan calmly but firmly nudged the questioning to Game 3, saying, ‘No, because we’re moving to the game tomorrow.'”