Exactly. We could well have swept OKC if we played them. Probably not, it's tough to beat a team 8 times in a row. But I have no doubt we would have won that series.
Take this a step further. Terry got open shots for guys who aren't good shooters. That's not really a solution for our problems of Dame getting trapped. What happened to weakside cuts or sending guys to the rim instead of just settling for outside shots? What if that was actually New Orleans' game plan-- to force Collins/Aminu/Turner into jumpshots? Clearly a situation of Terry thinking any open shot is a good shot, while not realizing that the personnel who were getting those open looks can't shoot. And this isn't even touching the defense. We had no game plan for Rondo or Mirotic, and let Holiday go one on one. Terry got his ass whooped in the playoffs by a mediocre coach in Gentry, and no stat about open looks can change that.
Its hard to slash when your only reliable creator is getting picked up full court and then double and triple teamed. I don’t trust anyone outside Dame to actually make the proper reads. I think it’s more a personnel issue than a Stotts one. Guys like CJ, Napier (if he stays), Moe and Aminu need to commit themselves to improving as passers. Our second best creator was fucking Nurkic, like come on. Shit even Collins was better than most.
Neil also obviously deserves of part of the blame, but take a look at what ET said in his exit interview. Verbatim: Maybe if the team had practiced and designed plays to counter this extreme defensive focus at Dame/CJ, we would have been ready to handle this better.
We are jinxed. It's amazing how we have such bad luck, season after season. I just realized the answer: Try the same coach next season.
If this is the kind of mentality that PA has in being satisfied with mediocrity, we need a new owner. An 8 win improvement in a regular season rampant with major injuries to our competitors and the same result in the playoffs is not much to hang your hat on.
It was interesting in the interviews that Olshey said he focuses not on the playoffs, but the whole season. Stotts said a team is defined by its playoff performance. I agree with Stotts. Nobody cares what a champions regular season record was.
Right, there's no central cause, like a bad offensive system. It's just a coincidence that the 5 shooters listed in the tweets can't make shots.
There's some theoretical truth to what ET said, but at the same time most of our role players didn't really give Terry a reason to trust them, ET being one. Give him a reason to trust you. I don't think Terry's ideal offense consists of CJ hopscotching around the perimeter until he finds a shot he likes. It wasn't like that in Dallas and it wasn't like that earlier in Portland.
I don't think Terry's the problem. I'd point to some serious roster deficiencies as more important (SF, role players who can actually shoot). But if the Blazers want to replace Stotts, I'm not going to cry about it.
