It woulnt surprise me if both Neil and Stotts desire a change in scenery. Jodie & Bert have big decisions to make. If there are changes I predict out my ass that its Seattle squad members.
at the all-star break, Portland had a defensive rating of 16.4. After two games in Minny, it's dropped to 16.9, and that was against the worst team in the league with the 26th rated offense. just for fun, I'll list the offensive ranks of the teams remaining on Portland's schedule: 7 - 7 - 13 - 13 - 1 - @25 - @27 - @14 - @24 - 4 - 28 - @2 - @3 - 24 - 25 - 11 - @20 - @15 - 2 - 5 - 19 - 19 - @17 - @17 - @1 - @9 - @11 - @30 - 18 - 20 - 29 - @3 - @8 - 5 half of the games against teams in the top-half of the league in offense; 13 games against teams with top-10 offenses. The corker is that 30 of 34 games are against teams with better offenses than Minnesota, where the Blazers just gave up defensive ratings of 121.6 and 117.5, both of which were above their season average Portland is facing a huge challenge to just climb out of the bottom-10 with that schedule. It took the Blazers 38 games to dig this hole, they won't climb all the way out in 34 games. Stotts deservedly gets plenty of blame for this defensive mess, but it wasn't Stotts who brought back Kanter, re-signed Melo & Hood, made it necessary to rely on Simons, and went all in on the Dame/CJ back court. The roster ain't built for defense
other factoids....in the previous HC jobs Stotts had, his teams defensive rankings: Atlanta - 22nd, 25th Milwaukee - 23rd, 29th do I detect a pattern?
Interesting that Covington is pushing Stotts a bit there... IMO, that says a lot about both individuals and their mindset. #FireOlshey #FireStotts
No. No. Still Olshey's fault for not getting him talent on those teams even though Olshey wasn't his GM. Also, injuries.
It's important to understand that any indictment on Stotts is a bigger indictment on Olshey. Olshey has had the power to fire this guy any time he's wanted to and he hasn't got the job done. I'm not saying Stotts should stay past this season. I just don't think Olshey should be able to wriggle out of some fucking accountability by firing Stotts.
I'm not sure he could have fired him last season depending on Jodi's priorities as an owner, but he's certainly responsible for not losing him before Paul died. Either way, he definitely holds some responsibility and to me, is the biggest stain on his legacy.
Ok guys. You know how dedicated I am as a fan and how upbeat I am when it comes to the Blazers. In the Stotts era, outside of Game 3 2018 first round and Game 3 2019 WCF, I’ve always found the silver lining and don’t get too down after a loss. THAT SAID— last night during the Pelicans game, I officially wanted to fire Stotts. I promised myself that even if we won, I’d pay a visit to this thread. Up until those final 6 minutes, the game was near impossible to watch. It was like a horror movie. I literally covered my eyes at times. Everyone said it all in the game thread - horrible defense, disorganized on offense- so I don’t need to pick it apart but Stotts made his best case for being fired last night. The only other time I’ve felt that way about Stotts was after Game 1 in 2018 when we needed a three but got a Pat C layup that was blocked. I was like, what is Stotts telling these guys? It seems to me that the way to go is David Vanterpool. Dame & CJ clearly love the guy so bringing him in would soften the blow of losing their buddy Terry. It could be a very smooth transition and Vanterpool would be pumped to have the job. And there’d be another POC coach in the NBA. Everybody wins. It was mentioned in another thread that teams don’t win titles when they fire the coach midseason. I can think of two recent examples in which that is not the case. The 2005-06 Miami Heat replaced SVG with Pat Riley midseason and won the 2006 title. 10 years later, David Blatt was replaced by Ty Lue and the Cavs won the 2016 title. I’m in. Treat Stotts with respect and let him “resign to spend time with his family” and then appoint Vanterpool and give him a 4 year contract to coach alongside Dame’s contract. A new era begins.
- How you want to improve our defense, Terry? - Is that your dog in the background? I forgot your question.
