http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2012/03/nate_mcmillan_fired_after_the_trail_blazers_once_p.html
McMillan's dismissal hits harder in the Pacific Northwest, obviously in Portland where he was the coach since 2005, and especially in Seattle, where he played for 12 years, coached for 4 1/2, and was affectionately known as Mr. Sonic. Throughout his career, McMillan has made a name for himself as both a player and a coach. With his firing as the head coach of Portland, I thought it would be good to look back at his coaching career. First when he was with Seattle, then Portland, and then what his future may hold.
Seattle SuperSonics
Immediately after retiring from basketball, McMillan went from sitting on the Seattle bench in sweats to sitting on the bench in a suit. From the time he was named as an assistant in 1998, he quickly worked his way up the ranks. When Coach Paul Westphal was fired in 2001, McMillan was chosen over both veteran assistants Dwane Casey and Bob Weiss to take his place. The team improved under McMillan's helm, and he was kept on for the next four years before leaving for Portland. In his time in Seattle, his record was as follows:
2000-01 38-29
2001-02 45-37
2002-03 40-42
2003-04 37-45
2004-05 52-30
When thinking about McMillan's legacy as a coach, there are notable things to factor, both good and bad.
- In the 2000-01 season, as a rookie coach he took a team that started 6-9 (.400) and got them to play 38-29 (.567) the rest of the way.
- The Sonics had not had a losing season in 15 years before the back-to-back losing teams led by McMillan in 2003 and 2004.
- In McMillan's last year with the team, John Hollinger had the Sonics 29th in his preseason power ranking (only ahead of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats), but the team instead won the Northwest Division.
- Seattle's Northwest Division crown led to McMillan being third in the 2005 Coach of the Year voting.
- McMillan wasn't exactly the most loved coach. He had some issues with Danny Fortson (but then again, I guess most coaches did), and when McMillan left, he didn't receive as much praise from Ray Allen as Bob Hill did.
- For a coach that preached defense, the Sonics finished in the top half in defense ZERO times in five years.
In my opinion, McMillan wasn't a phenomenal coach with Seattle, nor was he a bad one. In his first stint coaching, he did a solid job leading what were usually pretty young teams. He usually got the best out of all his teams, and one could see how much his presence was missed when the team flopped in the 2005-06 season. Still, I think his coaching career in Seattle does tend to be overrated.
From the Seattle fans, I think people tend to remember him too affectionately as a player, that they get themselves to believe that he was a great coach. It was just in the 2003-04 season, that I remember hearing rumors of Seattle possibly sacking McMillan. I also think the downfall of the team in 2005-06 is too much credited to McMillan's departure, and while that's partly true, there was also losing Antonio Daniels, Coach Bob Weiss' struggles at disciplining the team, and the deterioration of Danny Fortson's career, which had already begun when McMillan was at the helm. Also one thing I think is important is that he just couldn't get his teams to play defense.
Now, I do want to stress that I don't think he was bad coach with Seattle at all. He did lead them to a 212-183 (.537), which is really solid. He got his team to play as good, or even better, than they should have, and that makes him a good coach. I just don't think he did enough to be considered a great coach. There haven't been too many great coaches in team history, so McMillan probably ranks near the top. He's definitely not at the George Karl and Lenny Wilkens level, but way above the ranks of Weiss and PJ Carlesimo.
Portland Trail Blazers
Coming off a great season with Seattle, McMillan was taken by Portland and signed to a multi-year contract. He was viewed as a great pick-up and a step towards moving the team in a new direction. McMillan brought the team back to respectability, but so many injuries makes it a bit difficult to judge his career there.
2005-06 21-61
2006-07 32-50
2007-08 41-41
2008-09 54-28
2009-10 50-32
2010-11 48-34
2011-12 20-23
I'm not a big Trail Blazers fan, so I can't say too much about them, but here's what I see.
- In his first season, the team finished 21-61, which was the worst in the entire NBA, and tied for second worst in team history. Even if the team didn't have a lot of talent, I think an elite coach would have managed to avoid 30th out of 30. They had a good Zach Randolph, and a similar team to the year before, where they won 6 more games.
- His record in Portland is like a roller-coaster. His winning percentage increased every single year until 2009, and then decreased every single year until the present day.
- Between injuries to Oden and Roy, McMillan's teams always managed to be solid, making the playoffs in three straight year.
- McMillan changed the culture of Portland, from a team that was known as the "Jail Breakers" to one that was one the rise.
- Like Seattle, Portland was never an elite defensive team. Interesting enough, this year McMillan fielded his best defensive team, ranked 13th.
I think that the most important part of what McMillan did for Portland was change its reputation. The Trail Blazers were absolutely floundering. At least when they were best known as the "Jail Breakers" in the early 2000s, they were somewhat good, but when McMillan came, they weren't. I think that's the signal of a solid coach right there.
McMillan's part in the Portland revival is where I think the limit of his success is though. A lot of people will look at his record and say that considering all the injuries they had, they were pretty good. I remember in 2007, Portland and Seattle had the top two picks, and both were seen as teams looking to rebuild and were going to be teams on the rise. I remember as a Sonic fan being curious as to how it seemed Portland was so much further ahead in their development than Seattle, and then OKC, were. Well, now I'm not saying that. While Portland has been plagued by injuries for years, they've always had great talent, and usually a lot of depth. Portland was always the team that people every year would say if they were healthy, they could be a contender. Event his year, I thought Portland would be a dark horse and surprise everyone. If Portland is a team that was supposed to be one of the best each year without injuries, then with injuries, they weren't too far off than what they really were. I think a big part of this is that McMillan has never taken a Portland team to the second round of the playoffs. If you take a contender and plague them with injuries, then simply a playoff team is what I would expect, and that's what's happened with McMillan and the Blazers.
Overall, at least in my opinion, McMillan's teams didn't overachieve that much. They played just about how I felt they should have. Portland was never the great defensive team that McMillan wanted, he kept losing in the first round, and in the end, he lost his locker room.
Future
At just the age of 47, McMillan will still have a long career a head of him. Being young and bright, there will definitely be many suitors for him in the future. For the most part, his teams don't overachieve greatly, but they don't underachieve, and I think many teams will be attracted by his defensive mindset. McMillan also has been known as a good disciplinarian, and has a winning record for his career.
With the recent firing of Mike D'Antonio, I think McMillan would be a good fit in New York. Between Stoudemire, Anthony, and Lin, the team has the talent of a contender, and I think McMillan would bring that out of them. I also feel McMillan has the personality to deal with the Knicks locker room and personalities like Anthony in a way that D'Antonio couldn't. Also, New York has usually struggled defensively, but that's their strength this year, and I feel McMillan would be able to maintain that defensive mindset while also getting their offense together. I'm not saying I think McMillan should be the next Knicks coach, but I think he wouldn't be a bad fit at all. Then again, if they can get Phil Jackson...
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