Blazers say it’s time to skate Nate!

Former Portland Trail Blazers head coach 

Nate McMillan.

The Portland Trail Blazers made a smart move on Thursday by firing micro-managing head coach Nate McMillan in order to begin a massive rebuilding mode that will take place in earnest as soon as the 2011-12 regular season ends.

Unfortunately for the Blazers and McMillan the once-respected head coach was never able to quite get the job done after being hired in 2005 to restore the misguided franchise to its once former glory.

Of course, losing franchise kind of players like Brandon Roy and another potential one in Greg Oden, didn’t help McMillan’s cause. Then again, I always thought McMillan restricted the Blazers athleticism and opportunities to push the ball far too much on offense, so I guess it was only a matter of time before his players started a mutiny.

McMillan went 266-269 in over six seasons as coach of the Blazers and led them to the playoffs the previous three seasons. Still, Portland never made it out of the first round in each of those trios of trips to the postseason, a trend that greased the skids for his firing.