In John Canzano's piece in The Oregonian he asks if the Blazers were unhappy with Coach Maurice Cheeks, would they fire him during the season?

"I've never been a fan of doing that," Steve Patterson said. "We're not headed in that direction."

According to Patterson, Cheeks' evaluation would be handled by himself, Nash and owner Paul Allen. And that Nash's evaluation would be a consensus of Patterson's input, along with "others" as well as Allen.

"Keep in mind, there are times when the objectives of the coach and the general manager are in opposition to each other," Patterson said.

Canzano believes that Nash's job is safe. Safe despite Darius Miles' struggles, even as Theo Ratliff isn't blocking shots as frequently as hoped, even as the team is committed to paying those two players $93 million from the beginning of this season forward, it's widely believed that those contract-extension decisions were made by committee.