Joe Freeman'sfeature storyon Oregonlive today focused on the Blazers quest to find consistency.

Beyond these lingering issues is another far-reaching problem: Consistency. Or, more specifically, a lack of consistency.

I'm sorry, but this isn't rocket science. It is very hard to get consistent play when you are actively experimenting with lineups and can't decide who your primary point guard is going to be. There's a reason why good teams don't split the available minutes at the point guard position. The point guard is the player who provides the consistency; he is the floor general. AndNate McMillanis playing two different guys--guys who have very different playing styles--roughly equal minutes every game. That's a surefire recipe for lack of consistency and continuity on offense.

If you doubt this, I encourage you to look through the stat archives and find me a good team that gave equal time to two guys at point guard. Here are theaverage minutesof the league's point guards last season. Note how virtually all starters averaged more than 30 minutes a game (the only exceptions seem to be due to injury or moving into the starting lineup mid-season).

Nate's problem is that he doesn't seem to have the stones to demote either Blake or Miller to a secondary role. If I were running the team, I would have long ago designated Miller as the starter and simply let that lineup get used to playing together. There would be an adjustment period, but before long everyone would adjust to one another and learn to compliment each other's strengths and playing styles.

但由于内特似乎真的不确定咖啡e or Miller is a better fit at point guard, allow me to suggest a simple way of proving this empirically. Here's what you do. For the next five games, start Blake in the first half and start Miller in the second half (or vice versa). That way, each game, both Blake and Miller will get to play a good solid stretch of time with the other four members of the starting lineup. It's a perfect controlled experiment. At the end of the five games, it should be perfectly clear who is the better fit. The evidence will be right there in the open for everyone to see and neither player will be able to complain. Whoever does better becomes the primary point guard and thereafter gets the most minutes. Simple, really.