Please stop blaming Stotts for no bench production

And that's somehow unique around here?

 

I was told to stop and didn't. I deserved the time out

Eric just did it again though, so we will see if there can be some consistency

 

I never said Patty Mills was garbage. He's my favorite active non-Blazer, even though the little bastard played a decent-sized part in whooping our butts, lol...

 

I don't blame Stotts for our lack of a bench. However, I DO blame him for our horrific defense.

 

It's not about giving players like Webster and Outlaw time; it's coaches using that time to force them to change their bad habits. Were Mills still here, he'd be as defenseless as he was under McMillan and...can't name him...see thread title.

Popovich USES his years instead of waiting for miracles.

 

It comes to 4-5 years of experience. The Spurs' bench is stocked with guys who are seasoned pros. The Blazers' bench has only a couple of those guys. It took Patty Mills playing in foreign leagues and working several years on his game to be good enough for Pop to take him on and finish turning him into the player he is now. Nothing Stotts could have done would have greatly improved the experience of his bench players, but it sure could have cost a chance at getting into the playoffs. And getting into the playoffs, which you dismiss so easily, is a necessary step to getting experienced FAs to sign on here instead of cities that have playoff teams.

 

Its nitpicking but if he plays the bench more on back to backs and road trips I think the starters will be more productive the next time they are on the floor. What's done is done but next year I want to see a small change.

 

If there is nothing he could have done to improve Mills, then there is nothing that he can do to improve anyone on our bench, and by your logic, everyone on our bench besides Mo/Wright/Watson need to go into other leagues to work on their game....

Nonsense.

They need playing time in this league to work on their game. Yes we might have missed the playoffs or whatever. But we're always going to be a 1st or 2nd round exit if we don' improve our bench.

And for that matter, what happens if one of our 82 game starters gets injured? In Pops system there is minimal production loss.

 

We're at least a year ahead of schedule. Ergo, Olshey left our bench as a proving ground. Next year, expectations will be different and so will be the role of our bench.

In other words, I fully expect Olshey to bring in some solid vets for our bench and for our starters to play fewer minutes.

 

I disagree he only went 9 deep in rotation most nights but he gave everyone a pretty fair chance during the season. People questioned why het sat trob and played leonard for a few weeks. He was developing everyone while riding the starters to victory. We need players with a motor and work ethic. Barton, trob, and freeland are above the rest of the bench there.

 

In all honesty, to me, the defensive rotations and sets looked fine to me. I think its more personnel than system. Tibbetts is a Damn fine defensive coach

 

Do you think it is just a matter of more experience in the system, and more effort for it to work? I'm not sure, but we do have a lot of young/new players compared to San Antonio. I could see any system working much better with another year of experience behind it--getting to the point where you don't think, you just do it. That is why I would like to see some stability in the coaching ranks.

 

No. Aldridge and Lopez are the only decent defenders on our roster

 

So much this. I'd put Barton in the "not embarrassing" category along with "Batum when he's paying attention".

Even Lopez is really in the "not embarrassing".

 

Could be right. Batum has always been a poor defender in my eyes.

 

He's pretty good (imho, obviously) when he gets a specific assignment and carries it out. He's not so good when he's just playing defense in a normal game.