tlongII
10-27-2008, 11:32 PM
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/10/lakersblazers_preview_we_are_t.html
With animated hands, and a look-you-in-the-eye stare, Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan stood before his team on the eve of Tuesday night's NBA season opener and delivered perhaps his most important speech of his four-year tenure in Portland.
McMillan lay awake the night before, knowing one of the most anticipated Blazers seasons in years was about to start. And just for a little more theater and flair, the season tipoff was against the Blazers' most heated rival of all - the Los Angeles Lakers.
"They are the present," McMillan said of the defending Western Conference champions. "And we are the future."
As opening night approached, McMillan felt the same nerves as he always has during his 12 year playing career and now nine year coaching career. But Sunday night, in his bed, he realized something about his feelings, and he wanted to share them with his team.
So at the end of Monday's final preseason practice, the team gathered around their stoic coach.
To McMillan's left, the franchise's future stood, almost touching shoulders: All-Star Brandon Roy, promising big man LaMarcus Aldridge and heralded rookie Greg Oden. Directly in front of the coach stood 19-year-old Nicolas Batum, who will start at small forward in his first NBA game. To Batum's left, Rudy Fernandez fidgeted, no doubt wondering about his first NBA game after an accomplished career overseas.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/10/large_BatumJazz.jpg
In the back of the gathering, veterans Joel Przybilla, Travis Outlaw and Channing Frye stood like statues, listening to their no-nonsense coach who rarely, if ever, speaks in hyperbole.
When McMillan started talking, the team mostly appeared to be staring off into space. But after his first words, many heads dropped.
"Are you nervous?" the coach asked.
Not a word in response.
It wasn't until McMillan spoke again that heads raised and bodies shifted.
"I am," McMillan said.
It was, McMillan hoped, an ice-breaker to release the tension of tonight's season opener. Because tonight is no ordinary season opener. It's the Lakers, on national television, and at the Staples Center, a building where the Blazers have lost 12 of the last 14 games to the Lakers.
But his real message was to follow. Yeah, he admitted, he was nervous. But in all his years, he told them it was the least nervous he has felt entering a season.
And that's when he delivered his hammer. The moment he hopes the team takes with it into this season.
Making sure he looked them in the eye, and using his hands in an outward motion to emphasize his point, McMillan told them why his nerves were so tame this year.
"I believe in you," McMillan recounted afterward. "I told them I feel we are ready. That I feel I have a group. If I was going in there by myself, or if I was going in there without enough, then I would be nervous. But I'm going in there with you. And I believe in you."
Throughout his speech McMillan would broadly point to groups of players, and say how reassuring it was for him to look at the players before him and know he was going into battle with them.
"I'm looking at you," he told his players. "And when I think about what I got and who I'm going in there with, I'm not as nervous."
He will talk to them again before tonight's nationally televised game, but before they boarded their 3 p.m. flight, he wanted to plant one more seed.
"Look, I know they are good. The Lakers are good," McMillan said. "And San Antonio is going to be good. But," he said pausing for effect, "we've got a shot."
It's a challenging start to one of the most eagerly awaited seasons in years. Of the first 24 games, 16 are on the road, and the first five games are against Western Conference playoff teams from last season. And tonight's opener is against the best team in the West last season -the Lakers, who figure to only be better now that young center Andrew Bynum has returned from knee surgery.
"They are good; real good," McMillan said. "And they are good because of Bynum. They were good without him - they went to the Finals without him - and now you add him."
It will be the first in a string of marquee matchups for Oden, the Blazers' own imposing young center. Oden, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, will be playing his first NBA game after sitting out last season recovering from right knee surgery. After Bynum, Oden will face, in order, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, and Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal. After a game at Utah, Houston's Yao Ming comes to town. A couple games later, it's Dwight Howard and Orlando.
"I mean, come on NBA," McMillan said incredulously. "Right off the bat? The NBA cannot be patient. I mean you go Bynum, Tim, Shaq, Yao ... they couldn't wait."
Oden, who for the first time this season will not have his playing time restricted, said he has watched a lot of film on Bynum and is excited to finally play a counting game.
"It's going to be a battle all night," Oden said.
The Blazers starting lineup will be Steve Blake at point guard - the first opening night start in his six-year career; Roy at shooting guard; Batum at small forward; Aldridge at power forward and Oden at center.
Batum, the rookie from France, is the surprise of the group, his defense pushing him into the forefront in the final two weeks of the preseason as a replacement for Martell Webster, who broke his foot in the first exhibition game.
Tonight will be a special moment for Batum, who said he feels he is constantly being watched by his late father, Henry, who died of a heart attack on a basketball court when Batum was three. It is said that Henry's dream was for little Nicolas to make the NBA one day.
"I'm very, very excited," Batum said. "Although it is 16 years after, I think he is very proud of me. I don't remember much about my father - maybe two or three things - but I feel like he watches me every day."
McMillan said part of the reason he chose Batum as a starter was because he wanted to keep his second unit intact. That group - Sergio Rodriguez, Fernandez, Outlaw, Frye and Przybilla - is expected to play an open, fast-break oriented style, which will be in direct contrast to the starters, who are expected to rely on the deliberate pace of Roy and the inside post play of Oden and Aldridge.
Roy, the only All-Star on the Blazers roster, will start out guarding Kobe Bryant, the NBA's reigning Most Valuable Player. And Aldridge will go head-to-head with Pau Gasol, whom he averaged 19.8 points and 10 rebounds against last season.
"There's Bynum and Gasol, who aren't going anywhere, going against Greg and LaMarcus, who aren't going anywhere," McMillan said. "And it's Kobe and Brandon, two All-Stars. Basically, like I told them, it's the present against the future. We are not favored, so we should understand we are going to have to play our butts off. But we should believe in ourselves. There's no reason not to believe in ourselves."
Added Roy:
"I think we are as ready as we are going to get. It's time to get out there and to finally see what we can really do. No more practicing. Let's do it."
Notes: All-time, the Blazers are 22-16 in season openers. The Blazers are 1-2 in season openers under McMillan, winning the 2006 season opener at Seattle ... McMillan said he hopes to get 14-to-15 minutes out of Batum tonight ... McMillan on the Blazers' challenging early schedule: "We're going to be better because of it. I don't know how we come out of it, but we are going to be better because we go through those teams." ... Oden reportedly played against Bynum in a 6th grade AAU game, but he said he has no recollection of the game. "You expect me to remember the sixth grade? I mean we could have, I don't know. The sixth grade, that's a while ago, even for me," the 20-year-old said.
With animated hands, and a look-you-in-the-eye stare, Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan stood before his team on the eve of Tuesday night's NBA season opener and delivered perhaps his most important speech of his four-year tenure in Portland.
McMillan lay awake the night before, knowing one of the most anticipated Blazers seasons in years was about to start. And just for a little more theater and flair, the season tipoff was against the Blazers' most heated rival of all - the Los Angeles Lakers.
"They are the present," McMillan said of the defending Western Conference champions. "And we are the future."
As opening night approached, McMillan felt the same nerves as he always has during his 12 year playing career and now nine year coaching career. But Sunday night, in his bed, he realized something about his feelings, and he wanted to share them with his team.
So at the end of Monday's final preseason practice, the team gathered around their stoic coach.
To McMillan's left, the franchise's future stood, almost touching shoulders: All-Star Brandon Roy, promising big man LaMarcus Aldridge and heralded rookie Greg Oden. Directly in front of the coach stood 19-year-old Nicolas Batum, who will start at small forward in his first NBA game. To Batum's left, Rudy Fernandez fidgeted, no doubt wondering about his first NBA game after an accomplished career overseas.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/10/large_BatumJazz.jpg
In the back of the gathering, veterans Joel Przybilla, Travis Outlaw and Channing Frye stood like statues, listening to their no-nonsense coach who rarely, if ever, speaks in hyperbole.
When McMillan started talking, the team mostly appeared to be staring off into space. But after his first words, many heads dropped.
"Are you nervous?" the coach asked.
Not a word in response.
It wasn't until McMillan spoke again that heads raised and bodies shifted.
"I am," McMillan said.
It was, McMillan hoped, an ice-breaker to release the tension of tonight's season opener. Because tonight is no ordinary season opener. It's the Lakers, on national television, and at the Staples Center, a building where the Blazers have lost 12 of the last 14 games to the Lakers.
But his real message was to follow. Yeah, he admitted, he was nervous. But in all his years, he told them it was the least nervous he has felt entering a season.
And that's when he delivered his hammer. The moment he hopes the team takes with it into this season.
Making sure he looked them in the eye, and using his hands in an outward motion to emphasize his point, McMillan told them why his nerves were so tame this year.
"I believe in you," McMillan recounted afterward. "I told them I feel we are ready. That I feel I have a group. If I was going in there by myself, or if I was going in there without enough, then I would be nervous. But I'm going in there with you. And I believe in you."
Throughout his speech McMillan would broadly point to groups of players, and say how reassuring it was for him to look at the players before him and know he was going into battle with them.
"I'm looking at you," he told his players. "And when I think about what I got and who I'm going in there with, I'm not as nervous."
He will talk to them again before tonight's nationally televised game, but before they boarded their 3 p.m. flight, he wanted to plant one more seed.
"Look, I know they are good. The Lakers are good," McMillan said. "And San Antonio is going to be good. But," he said pausing for effect, "we've got a shot."
It's a challenging start to one of the most eagerly awaited seasons in years. Of the first 24 games, 16 are on the road, and the first five games are against Western Conference playoff teams from last season. And tonight's opener is against the best team in the West last season -the Lakers, who figure to only be better now that young center Andrew Bynum has returned from knee surgery.
"They are good; real good," McMillan said. "And they are good because of Bynum. They were good without him - they went to the Finals without him - and now you add him."
It will be the first in a string of marquee matchups for Oden, the Blazers' own imposing young center. Oden, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, will be playing his first NBA game after sitting out last season recovering from right knee surgery. After Bynum, Oden will face, in order, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, and Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal. After a game at Utah, Houston's Yao Ming comes to town. A couple games later, it's Dwight Howard and Orlando.
"I mean, come on NBA," McMillan said incredulously. "Right off the bat? The NBA cannot be patient. I mean you go Bynum, Tim, Shaq, Yao ... they couldn't wait."
Oden, who for the first time this season will not have his playing time restricted, said he has watched a lot of film on Bynum and is excited to finally play a counting game.
"It's going to be a battle all night," Oden said.
The Blazers starting lineup will be Steve Blake at point guard - the first opening night start in his six-year career; Roy at shooting guard; Batum at small forward; Aldridge at power forward and Oden at center.
Batum, the rookie from France, is the surprise of the group, his defense pushing him into the forefront in the final two weeks of the preseason as a replacement for Martell Webster, who broke his foot in the first exhibition game.
Tonight will be a special moment for Batum, who said he feels he is constantly being watched by his late father, Henry, who died of a heart attack on a basketball court when Batum was three. It is said that Henry's dream was for little Nicolas to make the NBA one day.
"I'm very, very excited," Batum said. "Although it is 16 years after, I think he is very proud of me. I don't remember much about my father - maybe two or three things - but I feel like he watches me every day."
McMillan said part of the reason he chose Batum as a starter was because he wanted to keep his second unit intact. That group - Sergio Rodriguez, Fernandez, Outlaw, Frye and Przybilla - is expected to play an open, fast-break oriented style, which will be in direct contrast to the starters, who are expected to rely on the deliberate pace of Roy and the inside post play of Oden and Aldridge.
Roy, the only All-Star on the Blazers roster, will start out guarding Kobe Bryant, the NBA's reigning Most Valuable Player. And Aldridge will go head-to-head with Pau Gasol, whom he averaged 19.8 points and 10 rebounds against last season.
"There's Bynum and Gasol, who aren't going anywhere, going against Greg and LaMarcus, who aren't going anywhere," McMillan said. "And it's Kobe and Brandon, two All-Stars. Basically, like I told them, it's the present against the future. We are not favored, so we should understand we are going to have to play our butts off. But we should believe in ourselves. There's no reason not to believe in ourselves."
Added Roy:
"I think we are as ready as we are going to get. It's time to get out there and to finally see what we can really do. No more practicing. Let's do it."
Notes: All-time, the Blazers are 22-16 in season openers. The Blazers are 1-2 in season openers under McMillan, winning the 2006 season opener at Seattle ... McMillan said he hopes to get 14-to-15 minutes out of Batum tonight ... McMillan on the Blazers' challenging early schedule: "We're going to be better because of it. I don't know how we come out of it, but we are going to be better because we go through those teams." ... Oden reportedly played against Bynum in a 6th grade AAU game, but he said he has no recollection of the game. "You expect me to remember the sixth grade? I mean we could have, I don't know. The sixth grade, that's a while ago, even for me," the 20-year-old said.