The Portland Trail Blazers addressed one of the biggest issues facing their franchise today when Coach Nate McMillan signed a two-year contract extension. McMillan was in the last year of his contract. Terms were not immediately available.

“With his NBA and USA Basketball track record, Nate has established himself as one of the premier minds in the game of basketball,” said General Manager Rich Cho. “What Nate has accomplished in the last few years is truly remarkable and getting his contract extended was a top priority for the franchise and me.”

McMillan’s name, as the season moved closer to completion, had started to pop up in rumors related to possible coaching vacancies. In particular he had been tied in recent weeks to the Los Angeles Lakers, where Phil Jackson will retire when the season was over. In previous seasons McMillan had been hesitant to extend, but over the past year had become more and more comfortable with the direction of the franchise.

“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to finish what we started,” said McMillan. “Portland is home for me now and I greatly appreciate the bond between the fans and this basketball team. It’s a very special place to be and it’s the only place I want to be.

"I want to thank all the support that I’ve been shown along the way, especially that of our owner, Mr. Allen, who time and time again demonstrates his commitment to this franchise and winning basketball. I also want to thank Larry Miller, Rich Cho, my coaching staff and everyone in the Trail Blazers family as we continue on this journey of bringing another championship to Portland."

{AUTHOR_BOX}Now in his sixth season with the Blazers, McMillan has posted a 234-239 record in the regular season (4-8 postseason). That includes taking over a very, very bad Portland team and improving their win-loss record three seasons in a row, from a low of 21 in 2006 to 54 in 2009. Along the way he has had to deal with a team facing significant injury issues to major players (namely Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and Joel Przybilla, among others) but managed to keep his team playing hard and, by most views, producing better than should be reasonably expected.

“Without question Nate has ascended into the upper echelon of coaches,” said Trail Blazers President Larry Miller. “He’s more than demonstrated his leadership and commitment to the team and this community and the time was right to demonstrate our commitment to him by extending his contract.”

McMillan’s coaching hasn’t been without criticism. Depending on the viewpoint he can alternately be seen as one who puts too much restriction on his players and stoically refuses to speed up the offense when many see that as a good fit for his roster, but at the same time his dedication to defense and hustle has proven key to dealing with the repeated bouts of adversity thrown his way.

There is little doubt extending McMillan was the right choice for the franchise. Blazer fans have wondered what McMillan could coax out of a healthy roster and now, with two more seasons under contract, they hope to have that chance.

Blazer fans, what do you think? Good extension? Bad extension? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!