Three Coaching-Based Things I'll be Evaluating Stotts on the Most This Series

Stotts has power and control of the following things. Personnel may affect the overall effectiveness of these, but I'm not critiquing based off that, I'm critiquing based off the following:

#1 - Defensive Schemes

I'm of the opinion that the drop pick n roll scheme that Stotts loves to run is the worst scheme to run against LeBron & AD. If LA is tearing up that scheme, we need to adjust it.

And in an overall sense, we need to switch up looks on defense in general.

We should see some double teams and multiple pick n roll schemes to keep the Lakers uncomfortable offensively.

Stotts is responsible for the scheme. The players are responsible for executing it. If they're not executing well, Stotts should use timeouts to go over things to hopefully improve their execution.

#2 - Floor Setup vs. The Trap

If Dame is getting trapped, we need to have an offensive floor balance that's designed to put players in a position to exploit the 4v3 advantage on the backside. It's on Stotts to put the players in that position, and it's on the players to execute.

Another effective setup against a trapping defense could be running more side pick n roll instead of in the middle of the floor. This floor setup makes it easier to exploit the trap.

#3 - Offensive Sets

Theres a couple things I want to see:

A.) Sets that use Dame off the ball and free him up (especially if they're trapping).

B.) Sets that free up our bigs inside (cross screens, backscreens that free up our bigs on basket cuts and lobs, etc).

The Lakers are big, so we need to have some package of sets that frees up our bigs. Resorting to direct post entries will resort in our bigs getting pushed out and catching the ball 10-15 feet away from the rim with a big on their back and a set defense behind that.

Conclusion

These are all things that Stotts has CONTROL over. If we do these things & we still struggle, then the personnel excuse becomes more valid.

However, I do think we shouldve done these things more throughout the season so that wed be better prepared to do it now, & thats on Stotts. Either way, "personnel" isn't an excuse for Terry NOT doing these things.

 

I agree. A sure-fire way to avoid Dame being doubled high is to have someone else bring the ball up. If he is trapped then Dame inistates two fast passes maximum for a layup/dunk.

 

No mention of Stotts’ Diamond Defense?

 

I would add push the ball up court more than usual. It's an area we should have an advantage in. I hope Dame just doesnt bring it up slow all the time and allow them to get set.

 

I have one criteria for Stotts.....winning...don't care how, win ugly, blow them out, getting stops but winning...that's what I bank on

 

Good initial post.

I agree on the trapping of Dame, its been an issue for years so we have to be able to have players in the right spots to solve it. There is no excuse to be unprepared for this. The Lakers don't appear to have great trapping personnel on their roster, although of course Davis is individually awesome at it. We could just not set screens with whoever Davis is guarding.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your point on the defense, I have been thinking we should double and make their shooters make shots... Although our defense is such a mess right now.... I kind of expect Stotts to initially play our standard conservative defense, also preserving energy for starters as much as possible. Then maybe add different looks if things go bad. I'm just going to watch the game first before judging Stotts defensively too much, he really has no good options here.

 

I think Stotts is likely to do well on #2 and #3. #1?.....ehh not so much.

 

Defensive..... schemes?

Terry doesn't scheme. He's too nice for that.

 

The Chuckster just said "dont double team LeBron." Thoughts?

 

Is that the defense where he allows the opposition to shoot wide open threes? Lol

 

Nice or ....? Apathetic? Clueless?

 

If he didn’t have Dame on this roster, he wouldn’t have lasted two seasons in Portland.

 

Don't forget the other team has a coaching staff too.
Just sayin'.

 

Double teaming LeBron is a very bad idea imo, he's one of the best passers if not the best passer in the league, he will still find a way to make a good pass. You need to make him a scorer

 

I agree... some on here would disagree.

I thought minimizing our double-teams was a great idea. We got away with a couple, but he often made the right read when we doubled him

 

We should’ve seen this coming. Your team is rotten to the core if you need to add Waiters, JR Smith, and a Morris twin late in the game. Blazers have a roster they stuck with.

 

To be fair: We played 2 guys tonight who played for us in the WCF last year, so it's not like we're exactly rolling back the same squad from last year.