31/03/2009
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Spain - What people in Spain think about Sergio and Nate

From blog.oregonlive.com
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Journalist friend Quique Peinado from Marca - Spain's largest newspaper - checked in last week to inform that the newspaper's website ran a poll asking readers to vote whether Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan doesn't play Sergio Rodriguez because he has something personal against him.

The results ... 80 percent voted 'Yes'.

"Nate is not the most popular guy in Spain,'' Peinado writes.

I asked Sergio about the poll. He laughed loudly.

"Ah yes, that is the largest paper,'' Sergio said proudly. "The poll ... I don't feel that way.
Everybody ... everybody has feelings. I don't think he has anything against me.''

I told Nate about the poll results in Spain. He didn't blink.

"That's OK. That's fine,'' McMillan said. "He is playing good basketball for us. I believe in what he can do out on that floor. The last two games (Philadelphia, Phoenix) he has been good. And I think he can be even better. So he is still learning. And as I told him, that second unit is a big part of what we try to do every night. We need those guys to play and play well and it starts with him.''

Rodriguez has been very diplomatic handling his latest yo-yo in and out of the rotation. Truth be told, he probably deserved to lose his backup role on that road swing. And truth be told, he probably deserved to get it back after Jerryd Bayless did nothing with the opportunity.

In the meantime, McMillan hopes his two-game benching of Rodriguez ignited a spark in the third-year guard.

"That's what I was hoping would be the case ... that he'd get fired up and want to prove he should be out there,'' McMillan said. "I felt all along that he should be there, from the start. But we needed some freshness on that road trip, so I went with Bayless to just give us something different.''

Rodriguez admitted that he lost some of his confidence, even before McMillan benched him, but said he quickly got over it and started preparing for his comeback, which was two games later Cleveland.

"By the time Cleveland game came, I was ready,'' Rodriguez said. "There are a lot of games. There are times when I have more feeling, or less feeling. But every time I have lost confidence in my three years ... I just try to make that time as short as possible. Now, I feel like I'm more strong mentally.''

I still question whether the two - Nate and Sergio - have a long term future together. It just seems every season Rodriguez falls out of favor with McMillan for one reason or another. I must say, it seems like other guards during that same time have been given a longer leash.

I asked Sergio if he thought he and McMillan saw the game the same way.

"I understand his idea of basketball, how he sees the game,'' Rodriguez said. "But everyone in the locker room has their own vision of the game. I see it different from anyone. But the thing is, we have to adjust to him. I'm just trying to stay positive, because the most important thing is we are winning.''