McMillan says Blazers roster is 'deepest since I joined the organization,'
talks up Webster and Odent
Friday, September 18 | 6:28 p.m.
Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan discussed Friday during an
interview his view on the strength of the Blazers' roster depth, the return
of small forward Martell Webster and the continued improvement of center Greg
Oden. ...
McMillan sounded relaxed and confident during the interview, and said he'd
enjoyed taking his first extended summer vacation in several years.
On the Blazers' roster depth:
First, I'll say this is the deepest roster since I joined the Blazers
organization. We like the direction we're going. The depth on this team,
where we have two or three players at pretty much each position; the talent
level. We like what we've built here and how we've built it. Not only was
talent important, but character was just as important. Not only was winning
important, but how we win games is important. Draft night is very important,
but how we draft and who we draft is very important. Free agents — we had
money to sign a lot of free agents, but who we signed was very important. So
it's not just based on talent, it's based on your character. And that's
something that we basically said from four years ago, when I first came here,
and the group that we have believes in that. And we don't want to just win
for right now, we want to continue to improve, continue to get better,
continue to win and we want to win in a professional manner.
On the return of Webster and the improvement of Oden:
I think we're all in a great position, and what we want to do is take
advantage of that. Being hungry is what we need to continue to see. We had a
taste of it last year by getting into the playoffs. And we know who's coming
back and our guys were told some things that they needed to work on, and we
want to improve and get better. Martell is hungry, he's anxious. He's facing
pretty much what Greg Oden was facing a year ago, being out for an entire
year and sitting around. And he wants to play and we're looking forward to
him being back on the floor and seeing how we can take advantage of what he
brings to the floor. Greg, again, understood this summer that he needed to
really work on his game and improve and get better and work on some areas
with his game. He has done that. Regardless of what happens this season, he
has put in the time working on his game. We expect him to have a good year.
We're looking forward to Martell returning, and Greg having a year under his
belt and coming out and showing what he's capable of doing.
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