What it will take to get Stotts fired?

That and the fact that a forum of fans couldn’t run a team.

 

Correct I'm unimpresed by Olshey.

I just think pointing out that Portland having less Top 100 players than the average team doesn't really back up that a coach who has made the playoff for 7 years, in the West, is below average.

 

True true! Some probably think they could, but I certainly don't!

 

Does that preclude the Blazers from saying "OK, Terry's taken us as far as he can, let's do a thorough search and find someone we feel has a good chance of taking us another step or two"?

Because if you aren't willing to do that then you pretty much are telling everyone you don't believe this team can be any better or that you can come away from a coaching search with someone at least as good as the current average guy or you are afraid to make a big move while your star player's final viable years are being spent competing for the seventh or the eighth seed.

To me, that seems a lot like not trying.

 

I still don’t understand your logic. You keep saying that coaching is overrated yet you keep pining for Stotts to stay. If coaching were overrated, there would be no risk to firing Stotts. You would actually be highly incentivized to make the move since there is virtually no risk. If you find a lesser caliber or comparable coach, the impact is minimal. But if you find a better coach, you are better off than remaining static.

 

I've been making the argument that both guys have kind of been exposed for having major deficiencies. I wouldn't be heartbroken to have new people in both positions at the start of next season.

But there's a caveat with that. This offseason is so contracted that it's going to be hard to make a change at either spot, let alone both. With everything being done with the draft and free agency in such a tight window, finding a coach would be a rush job. Finding a GM AND a coach would be really problematic.

That's a shame, because I think the Blazers could do better or at least as good at either spot, but this is the one weird offseason that you could make the argument for keeping the Gold Dust Twins simply because there's not enough time to make an informed decision to find a replacement and get all the on-court pieces in place.

 

I agree that that happens a lot, but Stotts isn't in that category--he's not at odds with star player, owner or GM. Outside of that scenario, I think that coaches are generally fired because the team thinks they have better options.

 

Olshey/Jody certainly have every right to draw that conclusion.

If I were Olshey, I would wait to fire Stotts until I absolutely had to because after he brings in a new coach, doesn't provide Dame with another all-star and multiple 3&D players, he knows he'll be next. I think Olshey knows Stotts isn't the problem and firing him would expose that his roster is the problem.

Paul might have forced Olshey's hand, but I'm not sure Jody will.

 

We're going to disagree on that, unless your idea of better options is just that the current coach is easily replaceable with someone of at least similar ability. I've really not heard much of these coaching changes that are made because a GM or owner falls in love with a potential replacement while a coach already is in place and without doing some kind of search.

 

How do you identify a new coach if you don’t commit to firing Stotts? You want them to find the new coach first then fire Stotts?

 

I think that's another important element in this dynamic. Does Jody follow -- and care -- enough about this team to want to go through this process. I think Paul at least followed things through the league, had an idea of the inner workings of a team and a front office. I think he liked it and cared about it. I don't know if Jody has that same passion or interest, and that probably will go a long way into making front office and coaching moves.

 

Teams are always doing their due diligence, or should be. If they're dissatisfied with their current coach, I certainly want them to be discreetly looking at their possible options among the NBA assistant coaches, college coaches and anyone else they think might be worthwhile and have already identified a few candidates that they believe to be more promising.

I don't think the team actually is particularly dissatisfied--as I said, the last time the team had really good talent, they looked like an elite team. I don't see the evidence right now that Stotts holds the team back. I put myself in the "not an expert" category, so I could certainly be wrong about whether he's holding them back.

 

Again, I'm fine if Stotts goes from a coaching stand point, but I think in terms of increasing our odds of winning a championship with this exact roster, it will have zero impact. There is a chance it would potentially piss off Dame and he would want to leave sooner than normal, which would reduce our talent, which to me has a greater impact on us winning a championship. I just don't see the risk/reward ratio being a positive one.

I would rather all our time and resources go towards improving the talent around Dame, not providing Olshey with another excuse for why we need to wait for 3 more years for the talent to show itself.

 

Why aren't we talking about Chris McGowan. He's the one who can make these decisions. It doesn't have to be about Jody nor do I want it to be.

 

I have been watching the last dance and they are talking about the Bulls firing Doug Collins the year after he went to the ECF because his entire offense was built around, and tell me if this sounds familiar, getting the ball into the hands of his best player and nothing else. Doug Collins' offense was entirely built around iso ball.

They fired his ass and went with Phil Jackson and Tex Winter because Phil's philosophy was that they needed to build an offense around lifting up the other players.

We will never win with our version of Doug Collins.

 

Good point. He's always struck me as a business guy, not a basketball guy like some presidents. If he's making sure Jody's investment is doing ok, I believe he'll have a job. He obviously would be the one to fire Olshey, but why would he really want to rock the boat either?

 

Only difference is, we don't have the best player in the history of the NBA. We also don't have one of the best two-way players in the history of the NBA. Phil only won when he had 2 of the top 5-10 players in the NBA.

 

Because we're pissing away Dame's prime.

 

Yeah, exactly, we don't have the best player in the history of the NBA. If that offense didn't work with the best player in the history of the NBA, why the fuck would it work with Dame?

 

Why do you think that improving the roster and firing Stotts are mutually exclusive? You can do both concurrently.