NBA Rumors: Blazers' Nate McMillan Must Act Boldly to Save Job and Season

Nate McMillan is watching his Blazers team erode from the inside out and slump out of playoff position. The Blazers have been playing horribly. They are just 3-7 in their last ten, and are now a game under .500 at 18-19. 

McMillan is losing this team, and some players are so far lost that there is no salvaging them. John Canzano of the Oregonian sheds some light on the fractured nature of this talented team. 

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Said one veteran: "You could spend a day in this locker room and you'd figure it out. Some guys really care. Others just want the season to be over." 

...And all of this is being undermined by a snickering, pouting, hollowed-out corner of the locker room that wants nothing more than to play out the final 29 games of this shortened season, collect a paycheck, and then, go on a vacation. 

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Canzano, who is around the team enough to know, singled out the following players as ones that are playing hard and caring: Nic Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Elliot Williams, Wesley Matthews, Joel Przybilla, Gerald Wallace and Jamal Crawford. 

That is a solid core, and enough to make a run at the playoffs if the Blazers can move some of the disgruntled players, or McMillan is able to find someway to reach them. 

It's not that he hasn't been trying. Canzano sheds some light on Nate's tireless search to get his team playing hard. 

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Before Saturday's game, McMillan talked about the variety of ways in which he's trying to motivate his players. He's used video. He's yelled at them. He's practiced them, and given them extended rest. "Every day," he said, "you've got to think about what you need to do to get them ready and motivated." 

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As exhaustive as his search to find an answer has been, that list is lacking one thing: he has not taken these guys to task and chewed them out. 

Canzano asked him why. McMillan: 

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If I lose it, I lose the whole thing. 

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Well, it is time for McMillan to stop worrying about losing the whole thing because it is already falling through his grasp, and he this slump, if not reversed, will likely cost him his job. Canzano spoke about that as well. 

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Owner Paul Allen doesn't have a general manager. He's made summer sport of firing the guy in that seat. And I can't see Allen and his entourage sitting around, going, "We just didn't give Nate enough talent." Nope. That's not how the game works. McMillan is busting his chops, trying everything he can, but he's apparently being undermined, and in the end, if the Blazers miss the playoffs, he's toast. 

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It is pretty clear, McMillan has nothing to lose here. The players that are not trying are nothing but a cancer to this team. McMillan has to light into them, and if they don't respond, find a permanent spot for them on the bench. 

He has to let it be known that anything less than 100 percent effort is not going to be tolerated. That is the only fair thing to do for his players, and the only thing, barring a trade of the malcontent, that could get this season turned around.