What it will take to get Stotts fired?

Stotts is an average-below average coach. There is a better coach than him out there. You do a coaching search and find him.

 

The way the team blasted through the bubble and won game 1 of the series pushed expectations way too high. I was somewhat guilty of that, too, though I realized it and readjusted my expectations.

 

Would it have been more of a success if we lost to Denver in game 7 last year so we could say we won 2 of our last 5? Most teams that get eliminated in the playoffs lost either 3 or 4 of their last 5 games.

 

I remember hearing the same about Nate.

 

You're going to trust the guy who replaced Curry, Kanter, Harkless, Aminu, and Meyers with Whiteside, Bazemore, Mario, and Toliver to make that evaluation?

 

And what talent does Nick Nurse have on the Raptors right now? He doesn’t have a top 30 player on his roster yet they’re winning at a higher clip this year than last year with Kawhi. I’d hazard to say Portland has more talent on their roster in their 1-7 than the Raptors do.

Why are they winning? (1) Great coaching; (2) The sum being greater than the parts; and, (3) Focus on team defense.

 

• "They could be the best #8 seed every."
• "They aren't a typical #8 seed."
• "Blazers could upset the Lakers." (numerous media)

.....and yet we just allowed a franchise record amount of '3's to the worst 3-point shooting team in the bubble and in a game that was a must win, gave up a 15-0 run to start the game.

It's not just losing. It's getting swept by the Pelicans who have never won a playoff series with AD. It's deciding to leave Steph Curry wide open as an actual strategy. It's not being able to remotely solve a trap after 8 years.

 

And Cheeks (well maybe worse things were said about him), that Dunleavy can't get teams over the hump. PJ would provide the discipline that players coach Rick Adelman couldn't. The next coach is always going to be the one!

 

We didn't really blast through the bubble. Pretty much every one of our games including the play-in game couple easily have gone the other way. In a number of those games, the opposing team was resting one or more of its top players.

 

If it were that simple, they would. Judging from coaching hires the NBA in general has made over my watching lifetime, I don't believe anyone has an ability to figure out who will be an impact coach ahead of time. Most of the notable ones came out of nowhere, for all the fanfare they got and for all the attention they got from other teams.

Impact coaches are exceptionally rare--getting one is like getting Tom Brady in the sixth round. The Patriots weren't brilliant, they were mostly lucky (with maybe slightly more vision than other teams). Were the Spurs brilliant in selecting a former CIA guy in Gregg Popovich to be their head coach? Were the Lakers brilliant in selecting a former announcer in Pat Riley? Were the Warriors brilliant in selecting a former announcer and GM in Steve Kerr? I doubt it--they deserve some credit, but they also got extremely lucky.

 

Most teams lost either 4 or 4 of their last five just isn't the same as EVERY SINGLE YEAR FOR THE LAST 7 SEASONS the Blazers have been swept out or gentleman swept out of the Playoffs.

 

I merely meant their record; not that they were dominant.

 

What’s your point? We moved on from Nate. Found Stotts. Gave him a chance and he turned out to be an average-below average coach as well.

 

Ah. Understood.

 

I'd hazard to disagree. The Raptors don't have superstars, so the Blazers are up 1-0 there, but they're deep in talented two-way players.

Besides, Nick Nurse is an example of an exceptional coach--there are five or six of those in the entire league, IMO. If you can get Nick Nurse, sure, get rid of Stotts. The chances of getting a Nick Nurse is extremely low.

 

I don't think it's the problem. I won't shed a tear if he gets fired. I would rather the resources go towards improving the people on the court, not the people who sit in a chair all game.

The coaching change will just buy Olshey more time to say his roster needs more time to adjust to the new system.

 

Nick Nurse was an unknown prior to taking that job. Who knows how many Nick Nurse’s are out there? You’ll never know until you fire Stotts and start to recruit.

We all know what Stotts is. We know he’s not going to change. Tweaking the roster and expecting a different result while running the same asinine offensive and defensive system is the definition of insanity. Eight years is long enough.

 

Of course it takes some luck. But if you don’t even try, there is zero chance of finding the next great coach. Stotts has had a long tenure with the team. He has proven to be an average-below average coach.

Why continue to languish in mediocrity when there is a chance to improve?

 

There is no guarantee that change will be for the better. There is a guarantee that you can't improve without change.

 

That's why I'm against bringing back the same roster year after year. Stotts won 33 games one year, 54 games the next year. So a team can improve (or get worse) by 20+ games w/out changing coaches. You don't see me sitting here saying "this roster is tailor made to win it all, we just need to sit on it for 2 more years." This roster is so flawed, that's the problem!