Article on Stotts and Dame in the Athletic

Yes, it's by Jason Quick, so be forewarned.
And it's going to get the Stotts-haters fuming even more:

 

I'm a huge fan of these two guys!

 

"Encourage players to be themselves and play freely on court."

And that's the fucking problem. Right there. Sometimes you shouldn't play freely on the court. CJ is the case in point. It's pretty clear that Stotts has zero control over CJ. He does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and often times to the detriment to our offense and our team. We're also seeing this with Melo and Dame.

We play like we're in a pickup game.

 

I absolutely love the player coach method...it's much more interesting than the micro management style of coaching in my view....it's not a problem unless you don't understand it and need to be micromanaged....Stan Van Gundy is one of the most controlling coaches in the league.....he can't keep a job and has never won a ring. You're never going to enjoy the Blazers if you want that style of basketball. I relate it to music....guys get really bored playing the same 3 chords and song arrangements night after night....players need to stretch out to improve or they just become paycheck players. If we can keep a balanced core under Stotts for 3 seasons together we can win a lot of games, maybe a chip or two

 

I'm sorry but iso ball doesn't win championships.

In the words of the great Steve Snapper Jones, "Ball movement/player movement" is what wins championships. The Spurs did it. They had it down to a science. Denver just schooled us on ball movement/player movement for two games in a row. We tried to out iso them and it didn't work.

Our team doesn't pass the ball. We have a number of ball stoppers on the team. CJ, Melo, Trent, Kanter. These guys get the ball and they don't pass it. The play dies with them. We ranked dead last in assists last year. LAST. Worst in the league. Nobody had fewer assists per game than us. What does that say about our offense?

Our "style" of offense works on blacktop basketball courts. It doesn't work in the NBA.

 

Michael Jordan was all ISO ball...Kobe Bryant was all ISO ball.....plenty of ISO players have multiple rings....I like team ball...we don't have the chemistry Denver has with this roster yet...when we do we'll beat them....it won't be with Blevins and Elleby on the court for half the game either...;.I also don't put much stock in stats from "last year"....we had 19 different starting lineups last year and our best defenders out with injuries...moved rotation players mid season and added Melo with no training camp...last year is an anomaly as far as Stotts teams rank

 

This is completely false. The Bulls and Lakers ran the triangle offense, which involved an extremely complex system of passing and moving the ball. To call what they did "iso ball" is a an exaggeration.

To highlight the difference - in 96-97 the bulls were second in the league in assists and 6th in assist%.

 

I'm not arguing but it's not false that Kobe and Michael were ISO players who dribbled the air out of the ball....and won many rings....triangle smiangle...did you watch Michael and Kobe pass that much really? I didn't...I'd say to judge Stott's coaching on last year and this preseason is a stretch but that's why we're not seeing the same thing here which is fine....and I believe in Stott's coaching

 

Since I added it as an edit:

To highlight the difference - in 96-97 the bulls were second in the league in assists and 6th in assist%.

 

This is a false dichotomy. There's a vast casim between "do whatever you want" Stotts and "micromanager" Gundy.

 

If you pass Michael the ball he scores....same with Kobe....that's a given....to me they are still ISO players and would be in any system

 

we disagree...especially about Stotts....and Van Gundy is a photonegative of Stotts which is why I picked him to compare....I don't see the falsehood in that comparison but hey

 

You can strike a balance between being a player's coach and a drill sergeant. Too often Stotts gives selected players to0 much freedom to freelance.

In the last two years of LMA's tenure here, his usage skyrocketed while his TS% tanked. He was basically allowed to take fadeaway jumpers every time he touched the ball and our offense clunked in the playoffs.

He's been lucky that that level of freedom has worked for Dame. But Dame is a transcendent player. A perennial MVP candidate who gets better each year. Dame doesn't need structure because he is a top 10 offense by himself. That level of freedom is not deserved by CJ, LMA, Mo Williams and least of all Melo .

 

This statement is false too.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/assists-per-game?date=2015-06-16

'14-'15: #13 (average) *This was the last year of LMA, Batum, Matthews, etc*
'15-'16: #20 (bottom 1/3)
'16-'17: #26 (near last)
'17-'18: #30 (last)
'18-'19: #26 (near last)
'19-'20: #30 (last)

The last 4+ years, Portland has been at the bottom of the league with assists. I think this does show how important it is to have a legitimate second ball-handler/distributor on the team. Ever since loosing Batum, Portland has struggled to keep the ball moving.

 

Stotts is a moron. That's the difference between him and a great Coach like Popovich