Portland Trail Blazers fire Nate McMillan; Trade Gerald Wallace, Marcus Camby and waive off Greg Oden – NBA Trade
After seven losses in the last 10 games, including a 121-79 thrashing at the hands of the New York Knicks, which has literally put the Portland Trail Blazers out of the playoffs race, the franchise has gone for a frantic overhaul.
In the hours leading up to the culmination of the March 15 trade deadline, the Trail Blazers have not only finished their six and a half years association with head Coach Nate McMillan, they have traded their small forward Gerald
Wallace along with veteran centre Marcus Camby and have finally waived off Greg Oden, the number one pick in the 2007 draft.
The Trail Blazers reached the playoffs three times in a row coming into the season and got the ball rolling with a 7-2 start, but after that they somehow managed to lose on a consistent basis. Since January 24, haven’t won back
to back game. In LaMarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace, they had a dynamic forward duo and also possessed more than decent options at the guard position with Wesley Mathews, Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford.
With such resources at hand, the Trail Blazers were expected to be contenders however, as things stand, they are currently 20-23 and stand at the 12th spot in the Western Conference. The patience finally wore thin on
Thursday night.
Nate came to the franchise, when it desperately needed somebody to take the bulls by horn and six years later, he is leaving with a 266-269 record, more importantly after restoring the dignity and the pride of the once notorious
Jail Blazers. Assistant coach Caleb Kanales will now take the reins of the franchise on an interim basis.
Aldridge, who has been left as the only player around which the Trail Blazers can rebuild, was shocked at the development and tweeted in the support of McMillan;
"Hard to see coach Nate go," Aldridge tweeted. "He was my coach since day one and I've grown a lot under his coaching."
While the sacking of McMillan was expected, the departure of Wallace was totally a surprise. The 6 ft 7 forward had been averaging 13.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 steal so far this season and was seen as the perfect foil to Aldridge.
He will now be the part of the New Jersey Nets, who have given up center Mehmet Okur, small forward Shawne Williams and a protected 2012 first-round pick – expected to be among the top three.
In addition to that, the Trail Blazers have also roped in centre Hasheem Thabeet, promising guard Jonny Flynn and a 2012 second-round draft pick by sending their veteran big Camby to the Houston Rockets. Last but not the least,
Portland have finally let go of Oden, the seven footer, who could never get going because of his injuries. After years of patience, Oden was expected to make a comeback midway through this season, but in early January his knee injuries surfaced again. The
sending off may be the final nail in the coffin as far as Oden’s career is concerned.
The Portland Trail Blazers have made some difficult decisions, no doubt, but it seems that they are ready to be patient and rebuild, effectively from the scratch again.
In an evening news conference, Larry Miller, the president of basketball operations said the decision was challenging but "unavoidable."
"The moves that we made...today really set us up for this summer with the draft and with free agency, to really be able to move in the direction that we want to move in and make this team better,”
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