Rumor Report: Owner Paul Allen investigating whether Trail Blazers’ problem is roster or coaching

And yet they didn't thrive under Mark Jackson. You could argue that Jackson's crew was too young to produce, but they sure matured quick under Kerr.

Also, aside from adding Durant and all the ring-chasers the past two years, they were largely built through good value drafting. "Extreme level of talent" is fitting now, but not really appropriate to where they drafted that talent. They've done a helluva job identifying and developing it. Kerr can't be separated from the latter.

 

But that exact same talent didn't "thrive" under Jackson. They were first round fodder. Kerr came in and took them to 67 wins and an NBA title in his first season - same talent, different coach and system.

Jackson was forcing Curry to play like a conventional point guard. That meant he was both their #1 scoring option and their #1 distributor. That wore Curry down, but it also made the Warriors much easier to defend. Swarm Curry defensively and you shut down not just their best scorer, but also their whole offense.

Kerr's brilliance was taking the ball out of Curry's hands and making Green a distributor. That took the burden of running the offense off of Curry and freed him up to become the most prolific 3-point shooter in the history of the game. It also kept him fresher and reduced his injuries.

Mark Jackson would have never figured this out in a million years. He was a conventional PG and tried to make Curry into one, too.

BNM

 

Yep, went from 51 wins and a first round exit to 67 wins and an NBA title. The pieces were there, the coach and system weren't. Mark Jackson was an old school, uncreative coach. Kerr was an innovator.

BNM

 

I believe Kerr is a good coach. The question is how good? Does he really deserve that top coaches of all time list at the end of his career? That’s what I struggle with when it comes to Kerr. It’s hard to tell

 

fire Terry Stotts, then tell Neil Olshey to do something with the roster and if he cant, fire him too
enough is enough, theres coaches and GM all around the world

 

Many could argue that.... but they would be wrong.

 

Karl Malone

 

Walton is underrated as a coach too. He needs 1 or 2 more years to develop the roster though

 

Too soon to label him an all time great. He's only been a head coach for a little over 3 seasons, but has won two rings and his teams have won 84% of their regular season games. He's certainly one of the best current coaches.

In terms of all time greats, Phil had Jordan and Pippen, followed by Shaq and Kobe - all in their primes. Red had had Russell and his teams were so deep he had multiple future Hall of Famers coming off the bench.

Sure, winning takes talent, but you also need to figure out how to use that talent. Mark Jackson couldn't get the Warriors within spitting distance of a title with the same talent Kerr took to 67 wins and a championship in his very first season. The Bulls, under Doug Collins couldn't get past the Celtics and Pistons. Shaq and Kobe couldn't win it all under Del Harris.

Coaching can, and does, make a difference. The hardest thing for a coach to do is take a team from good to great. Few have done it. Kerr is one of the few, and he did it in his very first year. That's a pretty impressive accomplishment.

BNM

 

This sounds like a mission from god.

I’m in.

 

Right....

Golden sunny time? Three first round exits in a row his last three years in Portland. That's your idea of a sunny time? Well hell old man, you should be bowing down and kissing Neil Olshey's feet. His roster has made it past the first round in two of the last four years. If Whitsitt is your God, what's that make Olshey?

You act like the Whitsitt built some kind of dynasty in Portland, when the truth is quite different. Here's a couple facts:

In the nine seasons Bob Whitsitt was the GM, the Blazers teams won > 50 games one time (twice, if you prorate the lock out shortened 1998-99 season). In those same 9 seasons, Whitsitt's teams made it past the 1st round twice.

He wasn't some God. He was a guy who had an owner willing to spend over 2.5x the salary cap at a time when there were fewer restrictions and no luxury tax. Whitsitt's last season in Portland, the team Payroll was $105 million at a time when salary cap was $40 million and the second highest paid team had a payroll of $83 million - all for a team that won 50 games and lost in the first round for the third straight season.

Them's the facts. Feel free to continue making up fake news and alternative facts.

BNM

 

Question.

If we trade Mediocre man to another forum in another city, will the Blazers no longer be mediocre?

 

Ummmmm, both? (In response to the thread title/article.)

The roster isn't as bad as people make it out to be. They THINK it is because they THINK there are just a ton of capable SFs growing on trees, when in reality there are very few capable SFs in the league, and the few that exist aren't available. A new GM isn't going to change that fact.

This team is much more talented than they've shown themselves to be this season. Our W/L record doesn't properly reflect how poorly we've played. We're too good to have more BAD losses (6+) than GOOD wins (0).

Get a new coach after the first of the year. There's literally nothing to lose and everything to gain - either we play better (+), or we do worse and improve our draft position (+). There are no positives to Terry Stotts.

 

While factually correct (I assume), it misses part of the story. The Blazers were one of the most profitable franchises at the time, so it was a successful business model until things imploded.

As I recall, Whitsitt took a few years to hit his stride, had a nearly great peak with home run moves, and then fell from grace rapidly. Not all too dissimilar from Dennis Erickson... Must have been something funny in the Oregon water during those years.