Funny enough, we were third in the league in opponents 3pt fg% We sucked the season before but last season we didn't give up too many open threes... and that was with Ant getting too many minutes. https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/team...offensive/sort/threePointFieldGoalPct/dir/asc Edit: Now let's not get it twisted... we fucking sucked at the rim... I think for rim protection/fg% in the restricted area we were like third worst, so there's that.
what's more relevant in my view is that he coached a backcourt of two guys who couldn't guard a chair...after Wes and Nico, we had no perimeter talent on that end other than Mo and Chief who couldn't shoot but could defend. You could hide Dame with Wes but you couldn't hide Dame with CJ...and that's what Olshey couldn't realize.
Endless conversations saying this over the years but we had a couple people who were doing their own internet shows who garnered a bunch of clicks by pushing the hot takes.
I don't know what there is to disagree about. When the roster had a proper construction or multiple capable defenders, the Blazers were mid-pack to top 1/3 of the league in defensive efficiency. That's not a mark of a horrible defensive coach. Could he have been better, probably, are there places where his defense had issues, sure. Horrible defensive coach, not even close to it, because if he was, his teams would not be decent or top 1/3 of the league in defense when the roster allowed for it. If the measure of a horrible defensive coach is bad 3P defense, the San Antonio Spurs were #24 in the league, last year, in 3P defense. They were #30 the year before. Are we going to argue that Pop is a horrible defensive coach now? Of course not, he had crap roster, and the results showed it, but Pop did not forget how to coach defense because he had a bad roster. In 2014-2015 Portland, under TS was #7 in the league in 3P defense. Did Terry forget how to coach defense between this year and the year he had the corpse or RoCo playing for him? It's just a bad argument.
This not my battle, but I would add my thoughts on defense. The coach bears no responsibility as to the level of effort that a player gives on defense? No, I'm not trying to compare our last coach and the current one. I believe the effort given on defense currently is not just because the Blazers have acquired defensive players, but also because the current coach inspires for it, coaches it, and demands it. I find the argument of past and current coaches a waste of time, IMO. Whatever is said, argued, or demanded here, has exactly zero effect on front office decisions. Zero.
He's better than Billups. But I think it was time to move on. It's even more time to fire Billups. I think Cronin wants a crappy coach to continue his tank strategy. Someone find me a coach who has lasted so long with such a terrible record?
