So many things I disagree with in your post. First lets start with it not being stotts fault if we are outplayed. Sometimes players and stars just go off and nothing you draw up or do hinders that player or the play they are killing you with. Sometimes teams just come out flat and nothing is working, as long as the players are engaged its not Stotts fault. Pretty much whenever you lose you got outplayed and if its always the coaches fault then we wouldnt have people talking about what a great coach Brad Stevens is. Inconsistency with the team come from how many long 2s and 3s we take. When there going in great when they arent you go through scoring droughts. Unless you want to tell a team to turn down open looks just because they are missing them, which an open look in the NBA is a great look unless your a player like Tony Allen who is open because the D knows your going to miss. Stotts would also call timeouts when were missing a ton and try to get better looks or have someone attack the basket. Slow offense: You just explained problems with almost every team. We dont cross halfcourt at 17 secounds all that often and it happening once or twice a game doesnt make the other 50 times we crossed it with 20+ seconds evaporate. If a team brings full pressure we would cross later then usual but we were almost never fighting to get across center court which if your bringing it over constantly at 17s you would be. That unnecessary motion you talk about is done for a few reasons, 1 is to tire a defender out another is to try and get open. Its the times people are just standing around you should be bitching about. We do need to work on running off missed shots more but when your scoring over 100 a game there isnt a real problem with your offense. Team D: Yes we run a scheme, as does pretty much every team in the league. Our D looks horrible when we play a team that loves the midrange like the Grizz or the Wolves but it was pretty damn effective as we were a top 5 D when Wes went down and after that it was blow after blow to the team and we couldnt stop a twig. As for never switching Schemes, you switch up defensive assignments, which Stotts does, but asking a coach and his assistants to create a whole new scheme then getting the players to practice said scheme is an impossible order. Defensive Adjustments: Stotts didnt trust the bench last year or the year before but can you blame him? Look at those bench units, this year we had tons of injuries which made it all but impossible to get a real bench rotation down. Stotts did get good bench play before injuries really started effecting it. As for runninf his players into the ground, Thibs is renown for this and yet considered one of the best coaches in the league. I saw Beno get open during the playoffs the same reason he got open during the regular season, Memphis sets damn goodnl screens. Stotts did make offensive and defensive adjustments and as much as they didnt work he didnt pull a McMillian and do nothing during the Grizz series or the regular season.
It goes deeper than just missing open 3s. Its attributed to the defensive end, shot selection, pretty much everything. And if guys are missing open Js he should have something more to go to. But there's a lack of being able to do anything else other than continually brick jumpers when they're not falling. I don't think you realize how slowly the ball is walked up the court. You're not gonna tire a defender out by running from one side if the court to the other.. I mean cmon now, they're professional athletes. The motion ran to get LA the back just wastes time and serves no purpose. And I guarantee you we shoot the most desperation shot clock expiring shots in league. And since we score over a 100, it's not bad, correct. But do we settle for "not bad"? The fact that our whole defense falls apart when one guy gets hurt shows how bad our scheme is and how good a defender he is. I think you don't realize how easy a secondary scheme could be. It could be that you play the pick n roll, but rotate and play off the ball the same way. Just so they don't know what to expect. If you wanna be a great team you spend time in the offseason working on a couple different schemes so teams don't know what to expect Yeah but with Beno are you gonna go under the screen and make him shoot a 3 which he's terrible at or go over and let him get his bread and butter mid range shot? He doesn't run other guys into the ground, only Same. You could tell how tired he was at the end of the season and while everyone else is getting to rest he still playing Dame 30+ The bench problem was understandable until this year, and Game 5 was a prime example of him overplaying his staters in the 2nd half, waiting till Memphis had a double digit lead until bringing in Meters and CJ, who were obviously killer for Memphis Maybe this is all obvious stuff to me that a coach shouldn't struggle with, I don't know.
+> Your four corner criteria should get him fired. Excellent overview! You have a career in HR waiting for you.
I like Terry and I am pulling for him to succeed. But I do think this next year is a make or break year for him. They need to show improvement or he will be replaced. He cannot control injuries unless he is over playing guys, but that was not the case with these injuries. Of course we need to see who is actually on the team before we can set expectations, but if they all come back and they remain relatively healthy, then they need to play like the veteran team they are. The defensive game plan needs work. It did improve last year, but it needs to take another step forward. On offense it will be interesting to see how a Dame, LMA and CJ line up at the end of games works out. That combo is still new, but it has better ball movement potential.
That's what HR is in the free world, HR in the pin (where BonesJones will likely be after doing the hit and run) is Human Rectums, he may have a career in that soon lol
