I'm a big Portland fan, and I'm not entirely sure whether this was the right move or not. I'm glad I got to be at Cheeks' last game in Portland, though. I'm not sure if the Blazers' incredibly disappointing season is a player issue or a coaching issue, however. I've seen a lot of plays that I knew for a fact Cheeks didn't call - I can't see him saying "OK, here's the plan: Damon, you take it down the court, dribble around languidly for 20 seconds, and then take an ill-advised shot while being double teamed!" But some of the issues I've seen in Portland's play are definitely coach-related. For example, I've seen it happen time and time again in Blazers games where the ball is force-fed to Zach Randolph when he's up against the toughest defender on the team (like Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan, for example), even if he sets the weakest pick in the WORLD, doesn't cut away from the ball after the pick, and hasn't lost his defender at all. I suppose it's not for me to say whether that's a coaching decision or a player decision, but it's happened so many times this season that I have to believe that it's a play they run with some frequency. The Blazers are so, so close to being a great team - they have been close in almost every game they've lost, even to playoff-caliber teams, they're almost always within striking distance with 5 minutes to play - but they can never, ever pull it out when they need to win. Hopefully a new coach will change that, but it won't change Zach's selfish attitude, Portland's meddling media creating distractions, or the fact that they basically have two lineups that can't be mixed and matched without creating bizarre defensive matchups and losing any chemistry or momentum they had going for them. Also, they should spend any extra money they have on hiring a full-time free throw coach. Jesus, 60% of the games they've lost this year would have been wins if they hadn't missed 10 free throws throughout the game. Can Mo Cheeks be blamed for that?
The inmates are running the asylum
I'm a big Portland fan, and I'm not entirely sure whether this was the right move or not. I'm glad I got to be at Cheeks' last game in Portland, though. I'm not sure if the Blazers' incredibly disappointing season is a player issue or a coaching issue, however. I've seen a lot of plays that I knew for a fact Cheeks didn't call - I can't see him saying "OK, here's the plan: Damon, you take it down the court, dribble around languidly for 20 seconds, and then take an ill-advised shot while being double teamed!" But some of the issues I've seen in Portland's play are definitely coach-related. For example, I've seen it happen time and time again in Blazers games where the ball is force-fed to Zach Randolph when he's up against the toughest defender on the team (like Kevin Garnett or Tim Duncan, for example), even if he sets the weakest pick in the WORLD, doesn't cut away from the ball after the pick, and hasn't lost his defender at all. I suppose it's not for me to say whether that's a coaching decision or a player decision, but it's happened so many times this season that I have to believe that it's a play they run with some frequency. The Blazers are so, so close to being a great team - they have been close in almost every game they've lost, even to playoff-caliber teams, they're almost always within striking distance with 5 minutes to play - but they can never, ever pull it out when they need to win. Hopefully a new coach will change that, but it won't change Zach's selfish attitude, Portland's meddling media creating distractions, or the fact that they basically have two lineups that can't be mixed and matched without creating bizarre defensive matchups and losing any chemistry or momentum they had going for them. Also, they should spend any extra money they have on hiring a full-time free throw coach. Jesus, 60% of the games they've lost this year would have been wins if they hadn't missed 10 free throws throughout the game. Can Mo Cheeks be blamed for that?