Portland's McMillan injured , will miss 5 games, requires surgery [Archive]

mogrovejo

12-04-2009, 08:28 PM

Quick interview after practice today (Monday) on 'Wheels at Work'...tried to get every word but there might be something missing here or there.

BW: 29 and 27 point deficits in the last two games. Is that because of the amount of games they have played?

JQ: Actually, right now it is probably the most important meeting of the season. Nate, Brandon, LaMarcus and Greg are in his office right now. They are talking about how all three need to coexist and not let egos get in the way. It's not so much how Andre fits in or what the starting lineup is going to be, it's about incorporating Greg Oden into the lineup. This meeting probably should have happened a week or so ago.

Nate did meet with Brandon on Sunday and Nate had Brandon gather the other guys for this meeting today.

KV: My head is spinning....we hear about Brandon not being able to fit Miller in and now Greg. How is it someone as versatile and skilled as Brandon having such trouble?

JQ: This is where Brandon needs to mature. He feels he is already sacrificing for the team. Brandon has some takes that as the Big 3 is on the court, Brandon feels like there are times he is going stretches without touching the ball and that is giving the other team a break. My (Quick's) point is what Greg said....it is about all five players on the floor, not the Big 3.

In simple terms, Brandon needs to get better at moving without the ball. Brandon wants a pecking order established and the three don't seem to know what that is.

BW: Greg is shooting the highest percentage but has not once led this team in shots. As the team gets better pieces, it doesn't seem to be making things easier.Unless Brandon buys into what is going on, can we say this is not going to work?

JQ: It’s not all about shots, it’s about flow. LaMarcus also feels he’s not getting the same types of shots.

Let’s be clear, there are a number of issues going on right now. Egos are clearly entering the picture along with personal agendas. All the things we thought wouldn’t happen with this team have started to creep in. We may be in for a long, rocky ride. It’s about attention, awards and stats. I think the world of Brandon and I think he has the best interests of the team at heart, but I’ve seen some ego that I didn’t think was there regarding status and role.

I don’t think he will be a cancer or a malcontent but he clearly wants more say in how the team and the offense is run. He made it clear he was going to let all that be known in the meeting.

He is being selfish in a way but also there are parts where he is not. I don’t know, it is a weird time and Nate is trying to figure out what is going on as well.

KV: It sounds like Nate is giving into Brandon’s agenda.

JQ: That is the job of the coach to establish what their roles are. No one seems to know where they are ranked on this team. Andre Miller certainly doesn’t know and we are 10 minutes into this interview and haven’t even mentioned Andre.

He and Nate talked briefly on Sunday. Nate is trying to figure Andre out, his play, his body language etc. Him playing only 6 minutes in the last game was simply because Nate thought he was injured. Miller says he was not hurt. There is a clear divide between the coaches and the players in terms of what Andre thinks. He seems to be siding with the players and not the coaching staff in terms of how he is relating to the team.

BW: So you think what is going on will take a while to figure out?

JQ: That is part of the intrigue of what is going on. The starting unit we are seeing now hasn’t had much practice time. It will be interesting to see how these three players come out of this meeting. Greg has definitely formed an alliance with Andre and they seem to like playing with each other. How that translates will be interesting. That is why this is a ways from being resolved. It is apparent that Greg works better with Andre and for this team to be successful late in games, it seems Andre will need to be on the court.

Things are not smooth right now. This is where Nate will earn his money and it may not work out. My gut feeling is, they are all people of good character and the players will get over their personal agendas. If they are willing to sacrifice, things will work out well and Brandon will still be the leader of this team.Hum.. interesting... I wonder if this private meeting got too... heated.