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March 21, 2012_______________________________
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W -ßortlanh (Obstruer______________________
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House Cleaning Opens New Era
Blazers hire interim coach;
bid farewell to McMillan
(AP)— Nate McMillan came to
Portland in 2005 with a mission to
rebuild the Trail Blazers into a
Western Conference contender
and rep air the once-proud
franchise’s tattered image with
its adoring fan base.
The dignity and respect have
largely been restored, but the
division titles and playoff suc­
cesses have proven more diffi­
cult to come by. And with the
losses getting uglier each time
they hit the court, the Blazers
b rass fe lt it w as tim e fo r
McMillan to go and to start the
process all over again.
McMillan was fired on Thurs­
day as part of a massive overhaul
by team owner Paul Allen and
President Larry Miller that also
included the release of former
No. 1 overall draft pick Greg
Oden and came one day after a
42-point drubbing in New York.
McMillan’s firing means three-
quarters of the nucleus that was
supposed to lead the Blazers back
to g reatn ess is gone. W ith
McMillan drawing up the plays
for All-Star guard Brandon Roy
and forward LaMarcus Aldridge,
and with Oden getting acclimated
to the league as a prized rookie,
the Blazers won 54 games in 2008-
09 and looked to be a team on the
rise.
But Roy was forced to retire in
December because of recurring
knee problems and Oden saw yet
another season go down the drain
w hen he had his third
microfracture knee surgery in
February. The Blazers waived him
on Thursday to make room for
several players arriving via trades.
Assistant coach Kaleb Canales
was made interim head coach,
leaving Aldridge as the only fran­
chise face left from that promis­
ing core.
The Blazers also traded vet­
eran center Marcus Camby to
the Rockets for center Hasheem
Thabeet and point guard Jonny
Flynn and versatile forw ard
Gerald Wallace to the Nets for
center Mehmet Okur and for­
ward Shawne Williams.
McMillan went 266-269 in
over six seasons as coach of the
Blazers and led them to the play­
offs the previous three seasons.
But the Blazers failed to make it
out of the first round in each of
those trips to the postseason,
and the warning signs started to
pop up pretty early that this
season was going to be rough.
General manager Rich Cho
was abruptly fired in late May,
just weeks before the NBA draft.
Once the lockout was lifted in
December, Roy, the heart and
soul of the team, retired after
the Blazers used the amnesty
clause on his contract, Aldridge
was slowed in camp by a heart
condition and O den was on
the operating table again in Feb­
ruary.
The chemistry in the locker
Kaleb Canales calls for a sub in his first game as interim head coach for the Trail Blazers
against the Chicago Bulls, Friday in Chicago. The Blazers won, 100-89.
<
The Blazers
waive Greg
Oden, a former
#1 draft pick
whose NBA
career has
been cut short
by injuries.
Former Blazers Coach Nate
McMillan came to Portland
in 2005.
room, and on the court, seemed
to disintegrate as well. Aldridge
made the All-Star team after
quickly recovering from his
heart ailment, but point guard
Raymond Felton has bounced
in and out of the starting lineup,
shooting guard Jamal Crawford
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has openly complained about
the way he has been utilized and
the com petitiveness has van­
ished.
McMillan leaves with the third-
most victories in Blazers history,
behind Jack Ramsay and Rick
Adelman. He is just the second
coach in NBA history to improve
a team by at least nine wins or
more in three straight seasons
and helped instill a new culture of
accountability for a team that was
plagued by m alcontents like
Darius Miles and Zach Randolph
before he arrived.
The 34-year-old Canales has
been with the Blazers since 2004,
starting as a video intern and
being promoted to video coordi­
nator before being named assis­
tant coach in 2008.
Miller said the search for a
permanent coach and general
manager would begin after the
season.
“(Canales) has great connec­
tion with our player, he has great
enthusiasm for the game, and we
just thought that to give someone
like Caleb the opportunity to fin­
ish out the season for us was the
right thing to do.”
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