When Raymond Felton arrived in Portland in late June, his former head coach in Denver, George Karl, was quick to suggest the Blazers had acquired a younger version of Andre Miller.
But now after putting up some career low numbers and frustrated by spotty playing time, the only similarity between Miller and Felton thus far is the mid-season riff Felton is experiencing with head coach Nate McMillan.
That became more apparent after Portland’s 74-71 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at the Rose Garden on Thursday night.
“I know I’m struggling, but it’s hard to perform the way you know how when you know they don’t have confidence in you,” Felton told CSNNW.com.
“Never in my days playing basketball, have I felt like a coach wasn’t confident in my abilities. It’s hard to play knowing that.”
On a night where Felton was 0-7 from the field with 5 turnovers in 24 minutes of play, he admitted he felt he was under the microscope with every single play and each mistake was magnified (McMillan is the “they” in this case by the way). And to some extent Felton is spot on with that assessment, particularly in the wake of Felton’s suspect production and turnover happy tendencies this season.
It’s not like McMillan hasn’t given Felton the chance to prove himself. In fact, McMillan has probably extended Felton’s starting duties too far with Portland’s fan base clamoring daily for the sixth-year pro to be yanked out of the starting line-up 30 games deep into the season. Besides, this isn’t the first time a head coach – at least in the NBA – hasn’t been overtly confident in Felton’s abilities at one point of a season or another.
Did Felton somehow forget he played for Larry Brown in Charlotte?
During Felton’s days with the Bobcats, Brown kept Felton on a short leash for “not playing the right way”, an age-old Brown motto to describe turnover heavy and overly emotional players on his team, especially point guards. And when the Bobcats were swept out of their first-postseason in 2010 against the Orlando Magic, Felton drew Brown’s ire after getting worked by Orlando’s Jameer Nelson in four-straight games. Felton averaged 11. 8 points per game in the series. Nelson went for 23.7 points per game. It’s no wonder when the New York Knicks signed Felton to a free-agent contract later that summer, Brown joked that Felton was going from hell to heaven with the chance to play for Mike D’Antoni.
And that’s exactly what Felton did. He put up all-star numbers and excelled with the Knicks under D’Antoni. The Rip City faithful may not remember, but when New York made their lone trip to Portland that season, Felton dished out 14 assists, didn’t turn the ball over once, and tied a Knicks franchise record for most assists without a turnover. That’s the Felton Portland thought they were trading Miller for. That’s the Felton who played consistently and with confidence.
That’s the Felton that was shipped off to Denver in the Carmelo Anthony blockbuster — which brings us back to George Karl and the draft-day trade for Miller last June. While Karl professed how Felton knows how to figure out how to win games and his a coachable player, you have to wonder if everything from growing frustrated with his play, swirling trade rumors (Felton owns an expiring contract), and not clicking with McMillan has reached a point where Felton might be feeling his days in Portland are numbered.
Because while McMillan has an open-door policy and welcomes players to come to him to vent, it’s on Felton to take that step forward to discuss such frustrations or his perceived lack of confidence issues.
Felton can’t put shooting 36% from the field and turning the ball over 87 times this season in 30 games on a head coach, coaching staff or front office. The fact is, Felton is playing more minutes per game this season (32.8 mpg) than he did in Denver last season (31.6 mpg) and around the same during his last year in Charlotte (33 mpg), where he started 80 games for the Bobcats, and producing less.
Time for Felton to step up.
It comes down to how Felton produces, plays heads-up basketball, and deals with in-game frustartions during the minutes he’s on the floor for McMillan.
Even Andre Miller knows that.
