Game Thread GAME# 11: BLAZERS @ KINGS - NOVEMBER 12, 2019 - TUESDAY, 7:00 PM, NBATV & NBCSNW

We should've fired Stotts in 2018 and hired Mike Budenholzer.

 

You really think C.J. is going to say he isn't?

 

What about going forward?

 

Ettore Messina or Ime Udoka.

 

Looks like we've got some common ground here. I agree with you on Aminu and Harkless. Olshey hired Stotts, should know his strengths and weaknesses, and should be giving him a roster that compliments it. The only reason I'm giving Olshey a pass right now is because no NBA team is going to have long term success missing their entire front court. This is the reason why bashing on Olshey, Stotts, or most anyone is completely missing the point.

 

That's just a convenient excuse for Stotts apologists to fall back on. We've already seen multiple injury-laden teams still play a good brand of basketball. You can still run a good system with trash players which can provide them with good opportunities (if they're trash, they likely won't convert, but at least the opportunities are there).

We don't play a good brand of offense. It's better with Nurk, but we shouldn't be so reliant on one guy in order to play a good brand, because other teams aren't.

 

I believe you do, but your statements weren't matching what I assume you knew.

Now at the end you're lying to yourself. You are a Blazer fan, I am a Blazer fan; that means we have an unconscious bias and can't look at them through the same lense that we look at other teams.

I literally spent a couple seasons watching all 30 teams at a near equal level and boy was it eye opening. I know how much time you spend on the Blazers so I know it would be impossible for you to devote that much attention to each of the other 29 teams.

 

What are you even responding to anymore? It has nothing to do with the original discussion. I’m merely giving you the video to show your initial dumb quip was wrong.

 

Let me say it again, it's called doing a coaching search. Do you know who the coach of the Raptors was before Nick Nurse? It was Dwayne Casey. Do you know who the Coach of the Year was that year? Dwayne Casey.

Your reasonably successful coach has already shown his limitations.

 

A "good brand" is an opinion and not measurable, so I'll agree that you don't like Stotts "brand'. They were 3rd last season in adjusted offensive efficiency. I'll take results over "brand" any day.

This year, we made a lot of moves, have a lot of injuries, and we stink offensively. I'm not going to point to a successful constant (Dame or Stotts) as the problem and ignore that there is likely a correlation between the roster moves/injuries and the dip in the outcome.

 

I think blown coverages and poor execution is having 9 new players who are still learning the playbook and your frontcourt injured, playing your 3rd stringers 10 games into a season...Stotts sees blown coverage or poor execution and doesn't melt down...so the way I see it...his detractors melt down and point at him. I disagree. He's a great, coach but a patient one and a guy who experiments with rosters early every season. He's playing Nas, Moses, Trent Jr this early in the season...he doesn't have an ideal situation for success right now but he has my support as a fan..He's as pissed at losing as anyone...probably more so

 

I said I would not use COTY voting as a solid measurement of a coaches ability. Bones brought it up as a metric to disprove Stotts ability to coach and I was simply pointing out that 2 out of the 3 years prior to the year he got not votes, he did get votes, including a 2nd place finish. I do NOT think that finishing 2nd proves he's a good coach and I don't think him getting zero votes proves he's not a good coach.

 

The WCF with two below average starting forwards. I agree, that is his limitations. Stotts is not a good enough coach to get the Blazers to the finals when 40% of the starting lineup are filled with 6th and 7th man quality players. Few coaches are good enough to take a team of that level to the finals unless they have the best player in the NBA

 

Quit kidding yourself. You can be a fan of the team and watch their sets, and then compare them against other teams sets objectively.

I'll have to put out a video at somepoint to really show what I'm talking about. But the people that won't criticize Stotts will still look at it a certain way.

 

And two really good forwards off the bench that won us that 2nd round series by playing much more than our starting forwards. But that doesn't fit the narrative...

 

In all honesty, do you really believe that Stotts has what it takes to lead this team to a championship? If you say yes, we’ll leave it at that.

 

You were touting how "national media" doesn't criticize Stotts, but they vote for COTY.... I pointed that out along with the response to game 1 of the WCF, when Stotts was laughed at by the national media you're touting, but you only focused on the COTY thing.

Selective listening...

 

You don't have to talk to me about comparing. I spent two full seasons breaking down tape of 10+ games for each of the 30 teams. I doubt anyone else here has done that.

Pulling clips of good plays by one team and comparing it to bad plays of another would prove absolutely nothing. I could make a video that would make Stotts look like the best coach in the history of the NBA or a guy who couldn't hold Mo Cheeks jock strap. Neither would be a true reflection of his abilities.

What is your explanation for how Portland finished 3rd in offensive rating last year? You have to agree that is a much more telling stat than assists.

 

I mean, if you think 0 ball movement, player movement, and no sets that put pressure on the defense through design is a good brand, then that's fine. But you're arguing semantics now, not basketball.

I've already explained that we were 3rd in offensive efficiency last season because of our backcourt, center, and we had wings that could finish and weren't as bad as people acted like. People always blame the players or something else (for example, Tolliver for not switching against Philadelphia when it wasn't the gameplan coming out of the huddle.

 

I'd love to see this video. Do it.

I've already explained that multiple times, too.