Well as much as I agree with you if a coach like Tom Thibodeau, Erik Spoelstra, Rick Adelman, even Rick Carlisle where available you would at least have to consider it. Oh and I have always liked Mike Dunleavy.
All I ask is, don't keep Stotts forever like we did McMillan. Unless we're almost in the Finals year after year.
No you wouldn't. Fast forward to 2014. Adelman and Dunleavy haven't been relevant in years, neither has George Karl. As the NBA evolves coaches sometimes fade from being successful. Often coaches look great because they have great players, Spoelstra is one, Doc Rivers another, probably even Carlisle fits that mold. The number of couches that are flat out superstuds is very small... Very very small. Pops is one, Sloan another and maybe Phil Jackson, but he might fall into the category of hard to lose having so much talent.
The lowest regular season winning percentage for a coach who has won a championship is .450 by Paul westhead who won in 1980 with the lakers. As the head coach of the blazers stotts has won .530 of his games, .451 overall regular season record. The lowest playoff winning percentage for a coach who has won a championship is .431 by Jack Ramsay. As head coach of the blazers stotts has won .454 of the playoff games he has coached, .375 overall playoff record. There is no reason to think that Stotts cannot be a championship coach. Pop is a horrible comparison because he is one of the top 3 NBA coaches of all time. Stotts will not likely be a top 3 NBA coach, however you don't need to be anywhere close to that in order to win a championship.
Anyone out there not named Thibs is a waste of time. Not seeing any upgrades over Stotts other than Thibs.
Well if Carlisle is in that mold of looking great because of stars then it would might be hard to believe Stotts isn't.
The improvement in the team this year was immense. He deserves more time, not even a question. Well I might consider Craig Robinson.
...but it will be crucial to bring in a defense specialist to add a whole new scheme & philosophy for team defense. Who? That is the question
Give him Meyers Leonard. The trouble with any tough coach like Thibodeaux is that Aldridge and Batum have been on Easy Street so long with McMillan and Stotts that they would ask to be traded. Our younger players (all the rest) would adapt. My favorite coach of all time, Bill Fitch, was a real SOB.
I voted "No" only because we never improved on our defense (For playoff caliber), and we never were able to crack SA. The ONLY reason we won at home was so they could win in front of the home crowd. I think they let us beat them.
