Honest question for Stotts supporters

This is a honest question for Stotts supporters. This is his 12th season as a head coach and 8th season for the Blazers. He’s been a career .500 regular season coach and below.500 playoff coach.

Full disclosure, I am not a supporter of Stotts and have wanted to part ways with him for quite some time now. My question is how much longer do you give Stotts as head coach and what would it take to move on from him?

OneSport3 said:

This is a honest question for Stotts supporters. This is his 12th season as a head coach and 8th season for the Blazers. He’s been a career .500 regular season coach and below.500 playoff coach.

Full disclosure, I am not a supporter of Stotts and have wanted to part ways with him for quite some time now. My question is how much longer do you give Stotts as head coach and what would it take to move on from him?

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Not a bad question.
First off the average tenure of an NBA coach is 2.4 seasons. So parting ways with him seems like a good possibility at any time. But lets look a bit closer and actually break down his coaching record beings that is what you have used to base the question. Stotts has been the Coach of the Blazers for 7 full seasons and this is his eight year. His Atlanta years should probably not really count as he was hired from within and was always considered a replacement on a very bad team. Then you Have Milwaukee in 06 and 07 which were as bad as any team in the league. The Organization actually did decide to tank and they spent years trying to rebuild their fan base as well as any semblance of respect. Stotts wanted out.
The organization that matters here IMO is the Blazers. For the Blazers Stotts is more about .560. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Even more so when you figure in essentially two rebuilds if you include this one.
To me this contract is and should be the last if he doesn't produce. However there can be an argument that he has produced with last years success? I don't feel that is enough success to warrant keeping a coach. But reaching the playoffs even when most felt he would not for six consecutive years does deserve respect.
There is a decision to be made for sure. If a better coach becomes available would they consider firing him? Do the Blazers want to go a dirty route and shop around behind his back? Would they lose Lillard it they went dirty? There is a bunch to be said for stability in a franchise. Stotts brings that. Do we want to go back to 5 GM's and 3 coaches in 5 years? That was ugly to say the least. At what point is it time to make a change? Who would make that call. Just as many people like Olshey as don't like him? Should they fire Olshey first and let the new GM make a decision?

Stotts will get one more year. If next season starts like this season with a full healthy roster, he will be fired. He will get the benifit of the doubt this season. He just got extended. The Blazers are having one of the worst injury plagued seasons in recent memory. Stotts is not getting fired right now.

Stotts is the best Blazers coach since Adleman. Who is better out their to replace him with? No one. Until, there is someone better to replace him with why fire him?

Chris Craig said:

Stotts will get one more year. If next season starts like this season with a full healthy roster, he will be fired. He will get the benifit of the doubt this season. He just got extended. The Blazers are having one of the worst injury plagued seasons in recent memory. Stotts is not getting fired right now.

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Gotta agree with that also. I think his fate was pretty much sealed for two years when Nurk went down. Then without Nurk he pushed through to the WCF's and that helped his case. Even more so if the Blazers make a couple solid trades and get on a roll and finish well he even builds more strength for his case to stay. What happens if they win a first round series again?

Here is an SB Nation article on it that has better numbers. Some of them are conflicting. They say without Pop and Sloan the average is about 2.7 but with them the average is about 3.7 years. It also includes Stotts as one of the best and longest tenures.
https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2019/11/7/20951269/nba-head-coaching-jobs-turnover-statistics

Doesn’t matter who the coach is or how many games we win. If the Portland fan base doesn’t get a championship, then the coach is shit. The fan base will never be happy with ANY coach unless and until the team wins a ring. and then the chase....and negativism begins another cycle.

While I have had my concerns about Stotts here and there, the eye test for me right now is that Whiteside and Anthony (two well known “head cases” who both have had histories with coaches who are considered to be excellent) are both playing very well, are both helping the team and have yet to create a single disruption. That says volumes about Stotts (And his system) as a coach. But then, some folks are never going to be happy no matter what.......

Chris Craig said:

Stotts is the best Blazers coach since Adleman. Who is better out their to replace him with? No one. Until, there is someone better to replace him with why fire him?

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I bet GS and Toronto sure are glad they didn't think like this.

Chris Craig said:

Stotts will get one more year. If next season starts like this season with a full healthy roster, he will be fired. He will get the benifit of the doubt this season. He just got extended. The Blazers are having one of the worst injury plagued seasons in recent memory. Stotts is not getting fired right now.

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I do agree with this. Unless something drastic happens then Stotts is definitely safe this season. Olshey, Stotts, Dame, and CJ all got extensions last summer. The wagon is hitched to those four until at least the end of this season. Like you said, if the team struggles next year with a healthy roster then someone or multiple people from those four will pay the price. It's easiest to get rid of the coach first so Stotts would likely be the first to go.

hoopsjock said:

I bet GS and Toronto sure are glad they didn't think like this.

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1.) They had the personnel (players to win a championship)
2.) They got lucky

I don't see the Blazers firing Stotts, hiring an unknown, and suddenly winning a championship next year.

hoopsjock said:

I bet GS and Toronto sure are glad they didn't think like this.

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Not sure why you would include GS? They got rid of Mark Jackson for Steve Kerr.
Now firing Dwayne Casey after being named COY was a head scratcher though i'm not sure Nurse is better? Just had Leonard to work with?

I will say it feels eeirly similar to Dunleavy. Though I don't think he was extended. The Blazers made the WCF's in 2000. They lost to the Lakers.

The Blazers roster changed dramatically the next season. The Blazers collapsed. Dunleavy was fired towards the end of that season in May....Stotts gone in May?

Chris Craig said:

I will say it feels eeirly similar to Dunleavy. Though I don't think he was extended. The Blazers made the WCF's in 2000. They lost to the Lakers.

The Blazers roster changed dramatically the next season. The Blazers collapsed. Dunleavy was fired towards the end of that season in May....Stotts gone in May?

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May would be when Coaches in general start getting fired. There could be a good one available or a good assistant coach looking to move up?

Stotts has met or exceeded all expectations of the rosters he's had.

Do I think he's the best coach? No. But I think at the least he is average if not above average.

Many Blazers fans have unrealistic expectations of this team and unrealistic expectations of the quality of players on the roster.

The Blazers havent been a contender because they dont have enough talent on the roster. Changing Stotts has no impact on that.

As long as the players buy into Stotts, and managment believe in him I'm fine keeping him as the coach.

Just as I'm fine keeping Dame. Dame will never be the best player in the league, it doesn't mean we should move away from him.

Chris Craig said:

Stotts is the best Blazers coach since Adleman. Who is better out their to replace him with? No one. Until, there is someone better to replace him with why fire him?

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These comments are always confusing to me... Yes they could get a worse coach but how do we know no one out there is better...?
Did any think Kerr was going to be a good coach like 7 years ago? It is very possible that there are better coaches available.

My list would be Ime Udoka, Mark Few, Becky Hammon, Messina. You go out do an exhuastive search and you might find someone.

TorturedBlazerFan said:

These comments are always confusing to me... Yes they could get a worse coach but how do we know no one out there is better...?
Did any think Kerr was going to be a good coach like 7 years ago? It is very possible that there are better coaches available.

My list would be Ime Udoka, Mark Few, Becky Hammon, Messina. You go out do an exhuastive search and you might find someone.

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Kerr is not that good. He had 5-6 allstars. Look at him now.

So... The Blazers lost their starting Center.
Then WE lost our our starting PF.
We obtained a new starting PF, and he's down.
We also lost our starting SF.

We're "in" a playoff spot, even with all of these things happening.

It sucks, but blaming the coach seems a bit strange.

Chris Craig said:

Kerr is not that good. He had 5-6 allstars. Look at him now.

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Ok, but the fact remains you dont know if there is anyone better out there if you dont look.

Also no coach wins without good talent, and GS is obviously not trying to win. Not sure if you noticed it in the Por game but they were not very transparent with keeping Russell and Greens minutes down. Russel played 33 and Green 29.

Chris Craig said:

1.) They had the personnel (players to win a championship)
2.) They got lucky

I don't see the Blazers firing Stotts, hiring an unknown, and suddenly winning a championship next year.

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1) This is BS. Anyone who says GS had a championship roster when they hired Kerr is full of crap. They hadn't even accomplished as much as the Blazer have. Also, how many people picked the Raptors to win the championship last year?

2) Why is it luck? Just because you hadn't heard of Nick Nurse doesn't mean it was luck. He might be the best coach in the NBA right now.

kjironman1 said:

Not sure why you would include GS? They got rid of Mark Jackson for Steve Kerr.
Now firing Dwayne Casey after being named COY was a head scratcher though i'm not sure Nurse is better? Just had Leonard to work with?

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GS had made the playoffs two years in a row when they fired Jackson. They had the most success in a long time under him. Kerr had zero coaching experience.

TorturedBlazerFan said:

Ok, but the fact remains you dont know if there is anyone better out there if you dont look.

Also no coach wins without good talent, and GS is obviously not trying to win. Not sure if you noticed it in the Por game but they were not very transparent with keeping Russell and Greens minutes down. Russel played 33 and Green 29.

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There could be someone out there who ends up being better sure. If you look at the list of available coaches though it doesn't look good.

Yeah Nurse had the talent. Kerr had the talent. I am not saying neither of them are good coaches. They both had the talent needed on their rosters to win.

The Warriors are focused on developing some of their youth because once they are healthy next year they are going to have to figure shit out. Probably thinking how good is Paschall...can we trade Green.

hoopsjock said:

1) This is BS. Anyone who says GS had a championship roster when they hired Kerr is full of crap. They hadn't even accomplished as much as the Blazer have. Also, how many people picked the Raptors to win the championship last year?

2) Why is it luck? Just because you hadn't heard of Nick Nurse doesn't mean it was luck. He might be the best coach in the NBA right now.


GS had made the playoffs two years in a row when they fired Jackson. They had the most success in a long time under him. Kerr had zero coaching experience.

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The Warriors had the pieces. They had a hanfdful of star players. They also had the league backing them as their new darlings. I'm not saying Kerr isn't a good coach or that he wasn't better than Mark Jackson. He is both a good coach and better than Jackson. He is not as good as he is made to be though.

The Raptors took a huge risk firing coach of the year Dwayne Casey and hiring a coach whose only accolades were coaching in Brittan and coaching the D League. 9 out of 10 times that is not going to pan out. Toronto got lucky.

Yes Kerr had zero coaching experience. He had the right players. He had stars to make things very easy for him.

hoopsjock said:

1) This is BS. Anyone who says GS had a championship roster when they hired Kerr is full of crap. They hadn't even accomplished as much as the Blazer have. Also, how many people picked the Raptors to win the championship last year?

2) Why is it luck? Just because you hadn't heard of Nick Nurse doesn't mean it was luck. He might be the best coach in the NBA right now.


GS had made the playoffs two years in a row when they fired Jackson. They had the most success in a long time under him. Kerr had zero coaching experience.

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My money is on Spoelstra. Even when theyve sucked, Im always impressed at the effort he gets out of guys. I dont ever remember seeing them the last few years and thinking wow they’re disorganized and not trying.

TorturedBlazerFan said:

My money is on Spoelstra. Even when theyve sucked, Im always impressed at the effort he gets out of guys. I dont ever remember seeing them the last few years and thinking wow they’re disorganized and not trying.

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right now. he has to be the leader for COY. What Miami is doing is really impressive. Riley might be the leader for Executive of the year as well

Chris Craig said:

Stotts is the best Blazers coach since Adleman. Who is better out their to replace him with? No one. Until, there is someone better to replace him with why fire him?

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I didn't realize you know the coaching talent in all of the NBA and NCAA. Speaking in such absolutes.

I will be sure to revisit your post in the future.

Chris Craig said:

The Warriors had the pieces. They had a hanfdful of star players. They also had the league backing them as their new darlings. I'm not saying Kerr isn't a good coach or that he wasn't better than Mark Jackson. He is both a good coach and better than Jackson. He is not as good as he is made to be though.

The Raptors took a huge risk firing coach of the year Dwayne Casey and hiring a coach whose only accolades were coaching in Brittan and coaching the D League. 9 out of 10 times that is not going to pan out. Toronto got lucky.

Yes Kerr had zero coaching experience. He had the right players. He had stars to make things very easy for him.

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You're wrong man. Not one person thought GS had a championship level roster before the 2014 season when they hired Kerr. If you say they did you're lying. It was a young fun team that had one playoff series win over a Denver team that had a lot of good but not great players. Curry had just signed a 4 year, $44 million contract the year before. No one thought he'd be MVP good, even if he didn't have ankle problems. Klay Thompson was a good shooter but wasn't a star. Green only played 21 minutes a game the season prior.

Stop making up this narrative that GS was a sure fire championship roster.

Hobbesarable said:

I didn't realize you know the coaching talent in all of the NBA and NCAA. Speaking in such absolutes.

I will be sure to revisit your post in the future.

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Just playing Devils Advoctate. Say we fire Stotts today. Name available coaches who are better

Chris Craig said:

Just playing Devils Advoctate. Say we fire Stotts today. Name available coaches who are better

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That is funny. I have named several in past posts. You can revisit and read those any time you like.

There are always options. Saying you don't think so does not make it true.

hoopsjock said:

Klay Thompson was a good shooter but wasn't a star.

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At around the same time, there was debate as to who was the better 2 guard, Klay Thompson or Wesley Matthews

hoopsjock said:

You're wrong man. Not one person thought GS had a championship level roster before the 2014 season when they hired Kerr. If you say they did you're lying. It was a young fun team that had one playoff series win over a Denver team that had a lot of good but not great players. Curry had just signed a 4 year, $44 million contract the year before. No one thought he'd be MVP good, even if he didn't have ankle problems. Klay Thompson was a good shooter but wasn't a star. Green only played 21 minutes a game the season prior.

Stop making up this narrative that GS was a sure fire championship roster.

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Just because people didn't think or know they had the talent doesn't mean they didn't have it. They had the talent regardless of what people thought.

OneSport3 said:

At around the same time, there was debate as to who was the better 2 guard, Klay Thompson or Wesley Matthews

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Thompson clearly