tlongII
09-29-2009, 09:27 AM
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/09/behind_the_blazers_locker_room_18.html
http://media.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/photo/blz-mediajpg-632c808227178082_large.jpg
Trail Blazer Travis Outlaw watches during Monday's media day as Brandon Roy films clips that will be part of the in-game entertainment this season in the Rose Garden.
Done with media day, the Trail Blazers on Monday checked into a Tualatin hotel and readied themselves for what has always been a direct and moving opening day speech by coach Nate McMillan.
As always, under McMillan, the team boards at a local hotel for training camp, which consists of two-a-day practices from Tuesday through Friday at the team's Tualatin facility. In his first season, when he held camp out at Linfield College in McMinnville, McMillan paired players as roommates.
"I think coach learned that didn't work," said team star Brandon Roy, who at the time was as senior at the University of Washington. Roy heard the horror stories second hand the next season.
If McMillan miscalculated in his first attempt at building team chemistry, it might be the only misstep in his training camp endeavors.
Much like his boss, general manager Kevin Pritchard, McMillan is big on themes, or messages. It has become his habit to establish a tone for the season during his speech to the team.
In that first training camp, in fall 2005, he stood in front of the team and boldly kicked out Zach Randolph and Darius Miles. Made them get up out of their seats and weave through their teammates right out of the room. The two had missed the team bus for the 45 minute drive. Then upon arriving by cab at the team hotel and learning that they had roommates, Miles and Randolph checked out of their rooms.
The message was as clear as McMillan's language in telling the two players to get out: The new Blazers coach would take no disrespect from his players.
The next season, the message was "Nothing Given; Everything is Earned." McMillan spent much of the first season playing Sebastian Telfair because he was a lottery pick; playing Randolph and Miles because they had just signed big-money contracts. In the second season, none of that would matter. That's when an unsung, last-minute training camp addition named Ime Udoka not only made the roster, but became a starter. Because he earned it.
Last fall, coming off a 41-41 year, McMillan set the tone by telling his team that he was sick of all the talk about the team, it was time to show. He didn't just tell them that, he almost hissed it. "I don't want to hear anymore," McMillan would say. "I want to see it." What he ended up seeing was 54 wins.
On Monday evening, with the deepest and most talented roster since the 1999-2000 team that lost to the Lakers in that fateful Game7, McMillan prepared to deliver his next message:
If anything is going to be achieved by these Blazers, the coach said, the players have to put the team before the individual.
"People talk about how deep we are," McMillan said earlier in the day. "But the thing is, chemistry is important. Sacrificing is important."
But what if nobody gets that? What if Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake are more concerned with padding their statistics for their summer contract negotiations? What if Andre Miller wants to prove he was worth this summer's $7million free agent contract? What if LaMarcus Aldridge goes into the season without an extension and wants to prove that he is worth a maximum contract?
McMillan might as well have been asked why a basketball was pumped and not stuffed. He stammered, unsure of how to answer such questions.
"It's just ... it's just ... I mean ... it's just not an option," McMillan said finally. "Teams win. Not one guy. So it's not an option for us, not on this team. And if you don't get that, you are not a part of us. You have to get that."
Some of the players at media day were surly (Miller) and some were defensive (Jerryd Bayless) -- but for the first day at least, it appeared everyone was willing to buy in.
"It's part of it," Martell Webster said. "To be a great team, you have to sacrifice some individual things. If you want to get there, you have to understand that. The good team, you don't see it. Because once it gets out there ... it kind of spreads like a disease and affects the whole team."
A frosty Miller on media day
By now, most Blazers fans know this team isn't filled with malcontents, loud mouths or cancers. But there are some guys with an edge.
Bayless can be feisty about not playing, which usually makes his steely stare even more piercing. But his ire never comes across in a distracting or malicious manner.
And Miller on Monday didn't exactly come across as a contented player - and that was well before he was bombarded in 72 different ways about McMillan naming Steve Blake as the starting point guard on Day 1 of camp. Turns out, Miller wasn't just frosty with the media, but Blazers employees as well.
He was none too happy about having to take a physical for the second time since his July signing, and rather irritated about some of the stops players have to make during their media-day tour. He had done much of these promotional spots in July, he figured. So a day that started for most players at 2 p.m. started at 10 a.m. for Miller and extended well past 3 p.m.
Still, for how transparent his displeasure was Monday _ which on this team makes him stick out - Miller said all the right things. He said Blake being the starter meant nothing on Day 1 of camp. And really, he said, all he wants to do is play.
I’m dismissing Monday as Miller having a bad day. As an accomplished veteran, he should be afforded some respect in regards to some of the tasks for which he had to wait around. And I can understand what appears to be a lukewarm (at best) opinion of the media. A lot of guys just don’t like dealing with reporters/bloggers/etc.
But he is in for a long October if he is already edgy about questions regarding the point guard situation.
This is not merely one of the biggest storylines of the preseason, it’s one of the biggest factors of the entire season.
Does Miller’s presence, and need to have the ball, take away from Brandon Roy’s strengths? Who is better suited for which lineup? And who finishes the games?
These are all major questions, and ones that need time to be answered.
But Roy was a surprisingly adamant supporter of Blake on Monday, in a manner that wasn’t meant any disrespect toward Miller.
Roy said that during pickup games this summer there were times when he and Miller both waited for the inbound to be made to them, until Roy finally realized Miller is the point guard and needs to take the ball. And he said if he and Miller were to be paired right now, they would not look good.
And Miller said he and Roy, understandably, have no chemistry whatsoever.
Which makes one understand why McMillan is appointing Blake atop the point guard depth chart for this morning’s 10 a.m. practice.
“We are going to have to work on it,’’ Roy said of the cohesion between he and Miller. “If we played tomorrow it would look like it wouldn't work, but I think that's the good thing about preseason, we have a full month.’’
Then he became direct, hitting the side of his hand into his palm.
“And we still have Blake,’’ Roy said. “Right now, I am extremely comfortable playing with Steve Blake. I know what he wants, I know he knows where to get me (the ball), and I think that's why coach says he is going to start Blake, until we can build a chemistry. But I always go back to this: I am comfortable playing with Steve Blake.’’
Roy to lead the police force
There are other potential playing-time landmines. Rudy Fernandez expects more minutes. Nicolas Batum brazenly said he expects to start.
But I really don’t see player discontent becoming a problem for one reason: Outside of Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, there is no player who carries enough power and weight in that locker room to cause waves. This is a team, and any uprising would be squashed.
Roy, for one, says he will take the lead in establishing an example to follow.
“I always think of Boston's team, when they had Pierce, Ray and Garnett,’’ Roy said. “If one of those guys didn't buy in, that championship run wouldn't have worked. It’s something that I have to first set the tone, showing I'm just trying to win. We all have to have that goal. You can't set a number for how many points you want to score, you can’t set a number for minutes. You have to do whatever it takes to win. And I think if the guys see that I've bought into that, they will.’’
And for anybody who doubts Roy can police this locker room, think back to his rookie season. That’s when the team’s big dog, Zach Randolph, came into the halftime locker room in Los Angeles barking about how the guards were allowing Lakers guard Smush Parker to have a field day. Roy, who was in the bathroom section of the locker room, bee-lined back to the dressing area and quickly put an end to Randolph’s rant. There would be no singling out of players, Roy said. If there is to be criticism, it is to be of the team as a whole.
Randolph backed down, and he lingered afterward to pull Roy aside and apologize before the team took the floor for the second half.
I still say from that day on, Roy became the leader of this team.
So when I asked him what he would do if someone on the team starting causing a ruckus about their playing time, or shots or role, he was rather matter of fact.
“I would tell them that wins will make up for some of the numbers,’’ Roy said. “ Some of the things I've accomplished in the NBA are not strictly because of numbers, but wins. If we win, everybody will understand that. Coach Nate tells a good story about the year they went to the championship. They had seven guys going into free agent years and they bought in. I think that's something I have to tell the guys: You gotta buy in. You gotta buy in on the court, off the court, you don't want to cause a fuss, because those things can hurt you when you go into the offseason.’’
Changing an outlook on Outlaw
Before Monday, if someone asked me which player I could see having a problem with their playing time and role, I would have said Travis Outlaw.
There was something about his tweet earlier this summer, when he wrote “Workin’ out so hard so I’ll be gettin’ paid like out of this world…” that made me shake my head and wonder.
But I no longer have any questions. I think Travis will be fine.
Nobody made a better entrance on Monday than Outlaw. He pulled up outside the Courtside Club entrance in a green golf cart, from where he peered through the glass of the Courtside Lounge to look at the 50 or so media huddled around Bayless.
I peeled off from the horde and went out to see him, and we took a ride in the golf cart around the Rose Garden, small-talking about our summers and the team.
On our way back to the media gathering we began to talk about all the talent and his role.
“Nate has his plate full,’’ Outlaw said.
I asked if he was worried about his time and role being cut.
“I can only control what I can do,’’ Outlaw said. “If the situation isn’t good, I’ll just pray about it and hope God pulls me through like he always does.’’
I was a little surprised. Last summer, when I visited him in Mississippi, he was intent on graduating from his reserve role and becoming a starter. He talked of increased minutes and the desire for more shots.
This is the last year in his contract, and after his earlier tweet, I expected him to be statistically motivated. But when I asked him if he felt he needed to have a big year to get a good contract, he surprised me with his answer.
“I feel like everybody wants somebody off a winning team, that’s the way I look at it,’’ Outlaw said.
He talked about putting his work in this summer, an area that has been lacking in his previous six seasons. I asked where he felt he improved.
“I would have to say and I hate to use the word, because I don’t believe in it, but basketball IQ. But just my whole aspect of looking at the game. I used to look at it as scoring mentality. But now it’s like I look at it as, what's my advantage? I mean, I know I can get my shot off against anyone, but now it’s kind of like, we know you can get your shot off, but can you get in the lane, create for others, or can you score when the team needs it?’’
Criticisms about his basketball IQ have followed him since he arrived in Portland out of high school. And, truthfully, there were times when his inability to remember plays, or defensive principles were his biggest obstacles in getting onto the court.
And people have long assumed that Outlaw wasn’t very smart, perhaps because of his country drawl, perhaps because of his anxiety around large groups of media, or because he never attended college. He would admit that books and school were never his forte, but at the same time, Outlaw is one of the wisest guys on the team. He has an incredible ability to assess a situation and break it down to the simplest and most logical of terms.
I asked him how he knew one of the knocks on him was about his basketball IQ.
“I read the blog, and I saw some of it,’’ he said almost sheepishly. “I wanted to write back on it, but I said some things don’t deserve a response. Everybody has their opinion, and me sitting and arguing about it ain’t gonna solve it.’’
It’s one of the reasons why Outlaw contends that he is one of the most hated Blazers and likely to be traded. He says he is “fine” with Portland (“heck, been here six years, it’s like a second home”) but at the same time he claims he has never been embraced.
“I really do think that,’’ Outlaw said. “I’ve gotten some hate mail.’’
Turns out, it wasn’t necessarily hate mail, but rather an extensive attempt by a fan to coach Outlaw.
“They sent it as fan mail – a stack of papers telling me how I should do this, and do that,’’ Outlaw said. “But you know what? It shows how much people watch your game. There must be some flair about my game to make people want to watch it and critique it.’’
He says he worked mostly on his ball handling, particularly his left hand.
“And my passing,’’ Outlaw said. “It’s still not where it needs to be, but I worked on my passing. If I see the open guy off the dribble, I can pinpoint it right there.’’
Odds and ends
One of the best things I heard on Monday was Greg Oden declaring that he “loves” Joel Przybilla but that he wants to start at center. I think everyone wants to see Oden adopt that kind of go-for-it attitude … Every person I’ve ran into who has met Juwan Howard for the first time can’t contain how impressed they are with him. He is a wise man who is very comfortable with himself. I still say he will be quoted more than he plays this season, though … Steve Blake on how a player remains competitive, yet accepts a role: “A lot of it has to do with where you are at in life. If you come at it from the mindset that all you think about is getting more money, or getting more fame, then you are more going to lean toward, I want to start, I want this, I want that. But someone like myself, I’ve come to a point now where I have a family, and I’ve been in the league 6 years,’’ Blake said. “It’s not about the money, it’s about winning. I’ve spent 6 years without a championship and I don’t want to spend another 6 years not winning one. So if it makes the team better for me to come off the bench, then I will do it. But, do I want to start? I think everyone wants to start. But if you accept your role, for what coach thinks would be best, that is what will be best for the team. Things work themselves out.’’
http://media.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/photo/blz-mediajpg-632c808227178082_large.jpg
Trail Blazer Travis Outlaw watches during Monday's media day as Brandon Roy films clips that will be part of the in-game entertainment this season in the Rose Garden.
Done with media day, the Trail Blazers on Monday checked into a Tualatin hotel and readied themselves for what has always been a direct and moving opening day speech by coach Nate McMillan.
As always, under McMillan, the team boards at a local hotel for training camp, which consists of two-a-day practices from Tuesday through Friday at the team's Tualatin facility. In his first season, when he held camp out at Linfield College in McMinnville, McMillan paired players as roommates.
"I think coach learned that didn't work," said team star Brandon Roy, who at the time was as senior at the University of Washington. Roy heard the horror stories second hand the next season.
If McMillan miscalculated in his first attempt at building team chemistry, it might be the only misstep in his training camp endeavors.
Much like his boss, general manager Kevin Pritchard, McMillan is big on themes, or messages. It has become his habit to establish a tone for the season during his speech to the team.
In that first training camp, in fall 2005, he stood in front of the team and boldly kicked out Zach Randolph and Darius Miles. Made them get up out of their seats and weave through their teammates right out of the room. The two had missed the team bus for the 45 minute drive. Then upon arriving by cab at the team hotel and learning that they had roommates, Miles and Randolph checked out of their rooms.
The message was as clear as McMillan's language in telling the two players to get out: The new Blazers coach would take no disrespect from his players.
The next season, the message was "Nothing Given; Everything is Earned." McMillan spent much of the first season playing Sebastian Telfair because he was a lottery pick; playing Randolph and Miles because they had just signed big-money contracts. In the second season, none of that would matter. That's when an unsung, last-minute training camp addition named Ime Udoka not only made the roster, but became a starter. Because he earned it.
Last fall, coming off a 41-41 year, McMillan set the tone by telling his team that he was sick of all the talk about the team, it was time to show. He didn't just tell them that, he almost hissed it. "I don't want to hear anymore," McMillan would say. "I want to see it." What he ended up seeing was 54 wins.
On Monday evening, with the deepest and most talented roster since the 1999-2000 team that lost to the Lakers in that fateful Game7, McMillan prepared to deliver his next message:
If anything is going to be achieved by these Blazers, the coach said, the players have to put the team before the individual.
"People talk about how deep we are," McMillan said earlier in the day. "But the thing is, chemistry is important. Sacrificing is important."
But what if nobody gets that? What if Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake are more concerned with padding their statistics for their summer contract negotiations? What if Andre Miller wants to prove he was worth this summer's $7million free agent contract? What if LaMarcus Aldridge goes into the season without an extension and wants to prove that he is worth a maximum contract?
McMillan might as well have been asked why a basketball was pumped and not stuffed. He stammered, unsure of how to answer such questions.
"It's just ... it's just ... I mean ... it's just not an option," McMillan said finally. "Teams win. Not one guy. So it's not an option for us, not on this team. And if you don't get that, you are not a part of us. You have to get that."
Some of the players at media day were surly (Miller) and some were defensive (Jerryd Bayless) -- but for the first day at least, it appeared everyone was willing to buy in.
"It's part of it," Martell Webster said. "To be a great team, you have to sacrifice some individual things. If you want to get there, you have to understand that. The good team, you don't see it. Because once it gets out there ... it kind of spreads like a disease and affects the whole team."
A frosty Miller on media day
By now, most Blazers fans know this team isn't filled with malcontents, loud mouths or cancers. But there are some guys with an edge.
Bayless can be feisty about not playing, which usually makes his steely stare even more piercing. But his ire never comes across in a distracting or malicious manner.
And Miller on Monday didn't exactly come across as a contented player - and that was well before he was bombarded in 72 different ways about McMillan naming Steve Blake as the starting point guard on Day 1 of camp. Turns out, Miller wasn't just frosty with the media, but Blazers employees as well.
He was none too happy about having to take a physical for the second time since his July signing, and rather irritated about some of the stops players have to make during their media-day tour. He had done much of these promotional spots in July, he figured. So a day that started for most players at 2 p.m. started at 10 a.m. for Miller and extended well past 3 p.m.
Still, for how transparent his displeasure was Monday _ which on this team makes him stick out - Miller said all the right things. He said Blake being the starter meant nothing on Day 1 of camp. And really, he said, all he wants to do is play.
I’m dismissing Monday as Miller having a bad day. As an accomplished veteran, he should be afforded some respect in regards to some of the tasks for which he had to wait around. And I can understand what appears to be a lukewarm (at best) opinion of the media. A lot of guys just don’t like dealing with reporters/bloggers/etc.
But he is in for a long October if he is already edgy about questions regarding the point guard situation.
This is not merely one of the biggest storylines of the preseason, it’s one of the biggest factors of the entire season.
Does Miller’s presence, and need to have the ball, take away from Brandon Roy’s strengths? Who is better suited for which lineup? And who finishes the games?
These are all major questions, and ones that need time to be answered.
But Roy was a surprisingly adamant supporter of Blake on Monday, in a manner that wasn’t meant any disrespect toward Miller.
Roy said that during pickup games this summer there were times when he and Miller both waited for the inbound to be made to them, until Roy finally realized Miller is the point guard and needs to take the ball. And he said if he and Miller were to be paired right now, they would not look good.
And Miller said he and Roy, understandably, have no chemistry whatsoever.
Which makes one understand why McMillan is appointing Blake atop the point guard depth chart for this morning’s 10 a.m. practice.
“We are going to have to work on it,’’ Roy said of the cohesion between he and Miller. “If we played tomorrow it would look like it wouldn't work, but I think that's the good thing about preseason, we have a full month.’’
Then he became direct, hitting the side of his hand into his palm.
“And we still have Blake,’’ Roy said. “Right now, I am extremely comfortable playing with Steve Blake. I know what he wants, I know he knows where to get me (the ball), and I think that's why coach says he is going to start Blake, until we can build a chemistry. But I always go back to this: I am comfortable playing with Steve Blake.’’
Roy to lead the police force
There are other potential playing-time landmines. Rudy Fernandez expects more minutes. Nicolas Batum brazenly said he expects to start.
But I really don’t see player discontent becoming a problem for one reason: Outside of Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, there is no player who carries enough power and weight in that locker room to cause waves. This is a team, and any uprising would be squashed.
Roy, for one, says he will take the lead in establishing an example to follow.
“I always think of Boston's team, when they had Pierce, Ray and Garnett,’’ Roy said. “If one of those guys didn't buy in, that championship run wouldn't have worked. It’s something that I have to first set the tone, showing I'm just trying to win. We all have to have that goal. You can't set a number for how many points you want to score, you can’t set a number for minutes. You have to do whatever it takes to win. And I think if the guys see that I've bought into that, they will.’’
And for anybody who doubts Roy can police this locker room, think back to his rookie season. That’s when the team’s big dog, Zach Randolph, came into the halftime locker room in Los Angeles barking about how the guards were allowing Lakers guard Smush Parker to have a field day. Roy, who was in the bathroom section of the locker room, bee-lined back to the dressing area and quickly put an end to Randolph’s rant. There would be no singling out of players, Roy said. If there is to be criticism, it is to be of the team as a whole.
Randolph backed down, and he lingered afterward to pull Roy aside and apologize before the team took the floor for the second half.
I still say from that day on, Roy became the leader of this team.
So when I asked him what he would do if someone on the team starting causing a ruckus about their playing time, or shots or role, he was rather matter of fact.
“I would tell them that wins will make up for some of the numbers,’’ Roy said. “ Some of the things I've accomplished in the NBA are not strictly because of numbers, but wins. If we win, everybody will understand that. Coach Nate tells a good story about the year they went to the championship. They had seven guys going into free agent years and they bought in. I think that's something I have to tell the guys: You gotta buy in. You gotta buy in on the court, off the court, you don't want to cause a fuss, because those things can hurt you when you go into the offseason.’’
Changing an outlook on Outlaw
Before Monday, if someone asked me which player I could see having a problem with their playing time and role, I would have said Travis Outlaw.
There was something about his tweet earlier this summer, when he wrote “Workin’ out so hard so I’ll be gettin’ paid like out of this world…” that made me shake my head and wonder.
But I no longer have any questions. I think Travis will be fine.
Nobody made a better entrance on Monday than Outlaw. He pulled up outside the Courtside Club entrance in a green golf cart, from where he peered through the glass of the Courtside Lounge to look at the 50 or so media huddled around Bayless.
I peeled off from the horde and went out to see him, and we took a ride in the golf cart around the Rose Garden, small-talking about our summers and the team.
On our way back to the media gathering we began to talk about all the talent and his role.
“Nate has his plate full,’’ Outlaw said.
I asked if he was worried about his time and role being cut.
“I can only control what I can do,’’ Outlaw said. “If the situation isn’t good, I’ll just pray about it and hope God pulls me through like he always does.’’
I was a little surprised. Last summer, when I visited him in Mississippi, he was intent on graduating from his reserve role and becoming a starter. He talked of increased minutes and the desire for more shots.
This is the last year in his contract, and after his earlier tweet, I expected him to be statistically motivated. But when I asked him if he felt he needed to have a big year to get a good contract, he surprised me with his answer.
“I feel like everybody wants somebody off a winning team, that’s the way I look at it,’’ Outlaw said.
He talked about putting his work in this summer, an area that has been lacking in his previous six seasons. I asked where he felt he improved.
“I would have to say and I hate to use the word, because I don’t believe in it, but basketball IQ. But just my whole aspect of looking at the game. I used to look at it as scoring mentality. But now it’s like I look at it as, what's my advantage? I mean, I know I can get my shot off against anyone, but now it’s kind of like, we know you can get your shot off, but can you get in the lane, create for others, or can you score when the team needs it?’’
Criticisms about his basketball IQ have followed him since he arrived in Portland out of high school. And, truthfully, there were times when his inability to remember plays, or defensive principles were his biggest obstacles in getting onto the court.
And people have long assumed that Outlaw wasn’t very smart, perhaps because of his country drawl, perhaps because of his anxiety around large groups of media, or because he never attended college. He would admit that books and school were never his forte, but at the same time, Outlaw is one of the wisest guys on the team. He has an incredible ability to assess a situation and break it down to the simplest and most logical of terms.
I asked him how he knew one of the knocks on him was about his basketball IQ.
“I read the blog, and I saw some of it,’’ he said almost sheepishly. “I wanted to write back on it, but I said some things don’t deserve a response. Everybody has their opinion, and me sitting and arguing about it ain’t gonna solve it.’’
It’s one of the reasons why Outlaw contends that he is one of the most hated Blazers and likely to be traded. He says he is “fine” with Portland (“heck, been here six years, it’s like a second home”) but at the same time he claims he has never been embraced.
“I really do think that,’’ Outlaw said. “I’ve gotten some hate mail.’’
Turns out, it wasn’t necessarily hate mail, but rather an extensive attempt by a fan to coach Outlaw.
“They sent it as fan mail – a stack of papers telling me how I should do this, and do that,’’ Outlaw said. “But you know what? It shows how much people watch your game. There must be some flair about my game to make people want to watch it and critique it.’’
He says he worked mostly on his ball handling, particularly his left hand.
“And my passing,’’ Outlaw said. “It’s still not where it needs to be, but I worked on my passing. If I see the open guy off the dribble, I can pinpoint it right there.’’
Odds and ends
One of the best things I heard on Monday was Greg Oden declaring that he “loves” Joel Przybilla but that he wants to start at center. I think everyone wants to see Oden adopt that kind of go-for-it attitude … Every person I’ve ran into who has met Juwan Howard for the first time can’t contain how impressed they are with him. He is a wise man who is very comfortable with himself. I still say he will be quoted more than he plays this season, though … Steve Blake on how a player remains competitive, yet accepts a role: “A lot of it has to do with where you are at in life. If you come at it from the mindset that all you think about is getting more money, or getting more fame, then you are more going to lean toward, I want to start, I want this, I want that. But someone like myself, I’ve come to a point now where I have a family, and I’ve been in the league 6 years,’’ Blake said. “It’s not about the money, it’s about winning. I’ve spent 6 years without a championship and I don’t want to spend another 6 years not winning one. So if it makes the team better for me to come off the bench, then I will do it. But, do I want to start? I think everyone wants to start. But if you accept your role, for what coach thinks would be best, that is what will be best for the team. Things work themselves out.’’