Sports Column

Rodriguez doesn’t fit McMillan game plan

On Sports

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Nov 13, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (6 Reader comments)

Rodriguez

You read about Sergio Rodriguez’s unhappiness over his role with the Trail Blazers, and you’ve probably read or heard that the issue has been settled and the point guard is doing quite well, thank you.

For the short term, that may be true. The third-year NBA player’s discontent can be temporarily assuaged by being the backup and getting a little time in both halves behind starter Steve Blake, as rookie Jerryd Bayless rides the pine.

In the long run, though, Rodriguez must go.

Let me back up – it’s either Rodriguez or Nate McMillan who must find another team. And it’s not going to be the coach.

McMillan is a half-court offense guy. His teams don’t run. After finishing last in the NBA in fastbreak points in each of the last two seasons, Portland is 26th this season, averaging a pedestrian 7.1 points per game. McMillan’s offense consists mostly of pick-and-rolls and isolations, with Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge posting up or going one-on-one, and Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez spotting up on the perimeter.

Rodriguez is a point guard made for a transition game. McMillan likes his players scrappy. Blake is scrappy. Bayless, I think, will prove to be very scrappy. Rodriguez works hard and does his best to be scrappy, but he is more flashy and creative.

In short, Rodriguez is not McMillan’s kind of player. That’s not an indictment of the coach, merely a fact.

Anyone who watched Rodriguez play as a rookie during the 2006-07 season understands his potential. He led the NBA in assist/turnover ratio much of the year and was sensational in a 23-point, 10-assist performance against Denver that had Allen Iverson singing his praises.

Last season, playing behind Blake and Jarrett Jack, Rodriguez backtracked. Often playing four or five minutes in the first half and sitting after intermission, his iffy outshot shot got worse. He grew tentative on the court. For the first time in his life, he told me, basketball wasn’t fun.

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