tlongII
10-05-2009, 11:29 PM
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/trail_blazers_practice_quiet_m.html
After an intense training camp that featured daily scrimmaging and Sunday night’s Fan Fest, it was a rather quiet day at the practice facility on Monday.
The Blazers did not do any “live” work during the morning’s practice. Instead, coaches spent a large chunk of practice going over timeout situations — inbounding, reviewing clear path fouls, how and when to administer intentional fouls, etc. During the last 20 or 30 minutes of practice, the players sat in a line along the sideline of the far practice court as coach Nate McMillan and assistant coach Joe Prunty delivered a host of situational instructions.
After practice, McMillan confirmed what he has stated throughout training camp: Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge and Joel Przybilla will start tomorrow night’s exhibition opener against the Sacramento Kings.
McMillan plans to play between 10 and 12 guys during the game and he will be creative with his rotations as he experiments with different lineup combinations. The Blazers play a back to back against the Kings — they visit Sacramento on Wednesday — and McMillan said he likely will feature a different starting lineup in that game.
McMillan reiterated that these usually meaningless exhibition games will play a large factor in determining whom he plays, so he wants to tinker with the starting lineup and player rotations throughout the exhibition season. But there is a fine line in balancing how much his star players — particularly Roy and Aldridge — play. He wants the players to develop chemistry and he wants to see what units work best, but he also doesn’t want to run guys into the ground or risk injury during the preseason.
“I’ll do what I’ve been doing, I’ll listen to them,” he said, when asked how he plans to balance Roy and Aldridge’s minutes. “The main thing is they get themselves right for the regular season. And they want to get minutes and we want to monitor their minutes, but they also want to get a rhythm and get a comfort zone. After being off the entire summer, you want to get out there and get the feel for playing ... We’ll play it by ear like we’ve been doing, see how they feel after each game ...”
More than anything, the Blazers are ready to play against someone wearing a different colored jersey.
“We need that game,” McMillan said. “I think we’ve had a good camp. They’ve worked hard, but we need a game to see where we are.”
After an intense training camp that featured daily scrimmaging and Sunday night’s Fan Fest, it was a rather quiet day at the practice facility on Monday.
The Blazers did not do any “live” work during the morning’s practice. Instead, coaches spent a large chunk of practice going over timeout situations — inbounding, reviewing clear path fouls, how and when to administer intentional fouls, etc. During the last 20 or 30 minutes of practice, the players sat in a line along the sideline of the far practice court as coach Nate McMillan and assistant coach Joe Prunty delivered a host of situational instructions.
After practice, McMillan confirmed what he has stated throughout training camp: Steve Blake, Brandon Roy, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge and Joel Przybilla will start tomorrow night’s exhibition opener against the Sacramento Kings.
McMillan plans to play between 10 and 12 guys during the game and he will be creative with his rotations as he experiments with different lineup combinations. The Blazers play a back to back against the Kings — they visit Sacramento on Wednesday — and McMillan said he likely will feature a different starting lineup in that game.
McMillan reiterated that these usually meaningless exhibition games will play a large factor in determining whom he plays, so he wants to tinker with the starting lineup and player rotations throughout the exhibition season. But there is a fine line in balancing how much his star players — particularly Roy and Aldridge — play. He wants the players to develop chemistry and he wants to see what units work best, but he also doesn’t want to run guys into the ground or risk injury during the preseason.
“I’ll do what I’ve been doing, I’ll listen to them,” he said, when asked how he plans to balance Roy and Aldridge’s minutes. “The main thing is they get themselves right for the regular season. And they want to get minutes and we want to monitor their minutes, but they also want to get a rhythm and get a comfort zone. After being off the entire summer, you want to get out there and get the feel for playing ... We’ll play it by ear like we’ve been doing, see how they feel after each game ...”
More than anything, the Blazers are ready to play against someone wearing a different colored jersey.
“We need that game,” McMillan said. “I think we’ve had a good camp. They’ve worked hard, but we need a game to see where we are.”