Game Thread GAME# 11: BLAZERS @ KINGS - NOVEMBER 12, 2019 - TUESDAY, 7:00 PM, NBATV & NBCSNW

who are we gonna replace him with? There isn’t a remotely better alternative.

Listening to Stotts in the post-game, it seems clear he’s not panicking at all. He knew there would be a steep learning curve. I don’t think anyone in the blazers organization is panicking tbh, it’s only the fans. Our weaknesses are all simple fixes, it’s just gonna take time playing together.

 

So far you two examples of his gameplan ability is game 82 of last season and Stotts saying an Harkless cramping caused him to play Hood? These are 2 decisions out of probably 10,000 he's made. Undoubtedly Stotts made plenty of bad decisions out of 10,000 when going against another coach who is also making 10,000 decision to try to out smart him. These random examples aren't proof of any long term factual game plan one way or another.

 

Portland is consistently lowest in the league in team assists per game, teams constantly blitz and double team Dame yet Stotts insists on employing the pick-and-roll which makes it easier to blitz and double team him, lower to middle tier defensive team.

 

Well said. Both sides of the argument want to use failures/successes to prove their point, but are quick to dismiss the opposite. I no doubt do it myself!

 

someone asked Stotts if he was concerned with Dame and CJs minutes so far this season. He said no. Blazers did a study on guys in the past that averaged 38+ mpg and found no discernible difference in those players wearing down sooner. In all honesty I’m more inclined to agree with him. This whole minute managing thing hasn’t really come up until the last few years, and while I understand it to an extend for guys with lingering injury issues, Dame has been relatively injury free his entire career. LeBron has more miles on those legs than anyone in the league and he’s still out here at age 34 as an MVP candidate. And he’s just one example. If you look at guys before this decade you’ll see most of them have seasons where they push 38-39mpg and are fine.

 

That's great, Dame loves him and Lillard has improved. But he's not just Dame's coach, he is the Blazers coach.

 

I've charted sets before. We've been bottom 5 in assists going on 5 years now, but people want to blame "screens" from one guy. It's silly.

We don't move. We don't cut. We don't screen off the ball unless we're trying to free a guy to run away from the hoop, towards the sideline, or on some looping backdoor action that we never throw. The thing with all these actions is that they don't free anyone to go towards the rim. They usually result in a player catching the ball on the perimeter and we're right where we started. Then, we have to try to create off the dribble which is why so many sets end up resulting in isolation or backing the ball out and running pick n roll. Or those options aren't open and we waste 14 seconds of shot clock standing at halfcourt like the play I showed you. Meanwhile, there's so many actions that could help our offense that we don't utilize which could really help our offense out. Dame wouldn't have to do as much, CJ could maybe get a flow within a system, we could get guys on the move with looks around the rim, and hopefully the action would spark better ball movement.

But no, we have sets like this and Horns (which usually ends up with the guy in the corner coming up for a handoff then having to create off the perimeter).

Our sets are the worst in the league. I can say that with confidence.

 

This is interesting. I've got one guy telling me all Stotts does EVERY play is run a 1 on 5 play. You are saying we run the pick & roll over and over. Interestingly, isolation and pick & roll are the two most common plays in the NBA>

Assists are a tricky measurement to prove anything. Are the Blazers consistently lowest in the league in offensive efficiency? That would be a much better tell of the effectiveness of the offensive gameplan. It's also interesting to look at guys offensive productivity pre and post their stops in Portland. I'd have to really breakdown the data on that last part to see if we see a trend one direction or another. I'm not going to use one or two players as an example to prove my point because it might not be accurate.

 

It hasn't come up because Dame and CJ weren't getting over 38 minutes per game...

 

I only caught the 4th quarter. Dame looked worn out at the end.

 

That's amazing that last year we were bottom five in assists, ran the worst sets, and were 3rd in the league in adjusted offensive rating. Especially given Harkless and Aminu couldn't shoot. Something doesn't add up there.

One thing I found out when I worked for Synergy was that when I gave other teams as much attention as I did the Blazers, I saw all their warts. Maybe you are so focused on the Blazers you are unable to see how they truly compare to other teams .

 

Stotts-apologists always resort to, "who are you going to replace him with?" Well, you know what you do? You do a coaching search. Look at Nick Nurse, look at Steve Kerr. Guys with ZERO head coaching experience that turned out to be high-quality coaches.

 

Thing is, other teams are able to understand when it's not working and they quickly adjust by running sets who's end result isn't more isolation and pick n roll.

The Blazers aren't lowest in the league in offensive efficiency because they have possibly the most offensively talented backcourt in the league right now. They also had an efficient, 20ppg PER 36 center who was a terrific passer.

It a good system, this team should be top 10 in offensive efficiency. We might have the best offensive player in the league right now and have nothing to show for it.

 

not sure you have to be a “Stotts apologist” to realize that firing a reasonably-successful coach and having no backup plan just bc you’re frustrated is a terrible idea dude.

Stotts might not be the best coach in the league but I bet he’s better than all the unemployed scrubs begging for work.

 

Those guys could finish around the rim though, and were solid cutters. Those guys got way too much hate.

Dame and C.J. are able to excel in spite of our system, since they're great at creating something out of nothing. However, when they're struggling with that, we struggle mightily, and that's why we got swept by the Pelicans and Warriors the last couple years. Right now, are role players are struggling even more but the system is doing them no favors at all. Guys like Mario should be used as an active mover and cutter offensively. Nope, dude just stands around.

 

Depends on how you define "success".

 

I was begging for Mike Budenholzer in the summer of 2018. Look how he turned out in Milwaukee.

 

so do you think we should fire Stotts? Or are you just criticizing his plays?

 

this was after the Atlanta game where Dame and CJ were already 1 and 2 in minutes played. 39 and 38 respectively



you can watch the video yourself. They asked CJ too and CJ said it’s fine.

 

I watch a ton of NBA basketball my guy, and I love paying attention to set actions. I also do so unbiasedly.