Which doesn’t even make any sense when you think about it. Young players need confidence. The vets can handle a benching. They’re established, matured, and paid. But benching a younger player the minute he makes a mistake seems counterproductive to me. Look at how he handled Vonleh. Even in the limited minutes he did get, he wasn’t trusted to do anything except set a screen and crash the boards. The fuck kind of development is that? Layman is this years Vonleh. Relatively speaking, the only time he trusts younger players is when he’s forced to (Lillard, CJ, Crabbe, Connaughton)
My issue is when things are proven to work such as ball movement, playing through the bigs at the top of the key, playing Dame off the ball, and pushing the tempo but then we hit a little adversity and revert right back to not doing those things. Either Stotts is coaching poorly or he's not holding players accountable which is bad coaching either way. For example, in the Pelicans series Dame got doubled basically every time we ran pick and roll with a hard hedge from their bigs. Yet there we were in Game 4 still running pick and roll almost every play in the 1st half. By the time we started playing through Nurk (he dominated the 4th of Game 4) it was too late.
He’s a good guy. Doesn’t mean everyone likes playing for him. For example, Harkless had to lean on Tibbets to keep his frustrations in check. You think guys like being iced out of the offense? Pops hammers ball movement. Stotts just lets his guards, specifically his shooting guard, do whatever they want, and everyone else can get fucked. The way they’ve played through Nurk lately has been encouraging, UNTIL you listen to Stotts talking about him. Doesn’t sound like something that he’ll stick to once some adversity hits.
It's not like there's a choice...now that Nurk and Chief and others like Seth are getting double digit scoring that seems to have calmed down a bit. We don't win games with 2 guys in double figures...they know that. Players miss shots, turn the ball over and lose by poor execution..from what I see Stotts has coached very few clinkers but our shooters have had long slumps. Stotts system gets guys shots...they have to knock them down
What I’m afraid of is that Stotts will get fired before Olshey. Olshey is under contract for two more seasons while Stotts expires after next season. The worst situation to be in is as a lame duck coach, so my guess is he will go first. Both need to be fired, but Olshey should be first. I don’t want him in charge of hiring the next coach either.
WCS was slower than heck last night. I usually like his game but he didn't impress me last night. Both teams relied on the long ball to either get the lead and the blazers used it to regain the lead in regulation. But Nurk was the difference especially on the d side of the ball.
There isn’t a coach in the league where every player is happy or likes playing for him. My answer would be “oh really Mo Harkless how about you playing harder and better and more consistently and not cry like a bitch to the assistants”. I’m not sure it’s obvious there are a ton of other ways to build your offense with this roster without being heavy, heavy guard oriented and giving those two a lot of freedom. I have a feeling if Stotts did NOT do that, we’d be sitting around saying “wtf why are we giving shots to Mo and Aminu and Evan and not giving more freedom to our two best scorers and players”. Just to put a bow on this thing. I’m not a die hard Stotts or Olshey guy. I just don’t think they are all to blame. It’s a players league. Stotts has managed to win a lot of games in Portland with a less than ideal roster. Neil like I said a few weeks ago does some things well imo but he needs some additional staff to kick this things into a higher sense of urgency.
The forum survey says! 69 - thinks Terry is 1 best, 23 best 20, 38 best 10, 7 best 5 23 - needs to go 12 - hope he improves
Rating coaches is above my pay grade. If Stotts is fired, the goal should be to hire a replacement that has a proven NBA record of getting the best out of his players. Who would be better? The only coach I can think of is Brad Stevens. But even he has had problems this season.
A good scouting program would look at assistant coaches and the NCAA ranks in addition to proven coaches. Even Brad Stevens had to toil in the NCAA before becoming an NBA head coach.
I think a dangerous way to go is to try to replicate a different successful process even though that seems like the most natural instinct, i.e., Stevens is a great coach so let’s grab a young college coach....because it just depends 100% on the actual person. Many college guys have failed in the NBA. Many assistant coaches have failed. Every year in fact. I think you look at those options but in the end you have to do a ton of due diligence with other people who work with him (or her I guess). There’s a reason Pat Ewing never got a shot in the NBA- he didn’t work hard. There’s a reason PJ Carlesimo didn’t pan out - he coached NBA guys like they were in college and that don’t fly. But you research them and figure this stuff out. There are so many hires that make no sense because the background of these guys. And then of course it’s the dynamic between the roster and coach. They have to match. Don’t stick George Karl with a young Kings team. Dumb.
I feel like you and I dont agree much, but you’re one of my favorite posters. I appreciate the way you portray you opinions. I dont think I know basketball better than Stotts. I dont think Stotts is an idiot and who knows what Ive said in a game threads, I hope I havent been too bad. Anyways I really dont like a few things about Stotts. A). He’s been completely out coached in the playoffs. B). His play book seems to not really change, maybe some wrinkles get thrown in there, but usually when the ball gets to half court I can tell what play they’re running. I know I watch a lot of basketball but if I know it I have to imagine the other teams know it. C). Moe and Aminu - This isnt all on Stotts they are probably the best SF/PF’s on the team but I get tired of teams begging those two to beat them. D)Zach, he was drafted and sold as a foundational piece and I feel like the 2nd unit has been trying to showcase ET’s skillset and doesnt play to Zachs strengths at all. E). Defensive Schemes, I dont like how scheme wise the guards always end up behind the play. The scheme works well with Nurkic because he can take up so much space, but they have a problem guarding the 3 point line because a guard being behind the play usually means switches and rotations are late. They dont often change things up on defense either. It feels like at times they’re playing with fire letting guys get good looks. I think Stotts is an “ok” Coach, and yes the Blazers could do much worse. Id love to see what they looked like with a new coach.
I don't expect anything to change (with GM or coach) until new ownership takes over. Let me know when that happens. I'm out of this thread for the time being.
Is fairly obvious that Stotts is a top ten coach. I would venture to say that if you surveyed all other coaches and players they would have him at or in the top ten coaches.
I also think one thing people don't take into consideration is that there is a difference between not liking a coaches style vs a bad coach. You may not like Stotts' style of play, that doesn't make him a bad coach. If you like running, Stotts aint your guy. Not sure that makes sense but it does in my brain.
