Article on Stotts and Dame in the Athletic

I disagree with this to a point. I think Stotts' coaching style could not just win a championship but many. The thing is that Olshey is also insanely egotistically devoted to those he drafted. If one of these guys were different then they would work together. My choice wouldn't be Stotts changing or being changed out but Olshey changing or being changed out. If Olshey would look at Terry's strengths and weaknesses he could make much better choices for us. Olshey should know at this point that Stotts isn't going to stop giving the green light to guys with talent to score like CJ and Melo even if that hurts the flow of the offense (the Dallas offense used to stand still when Nurk would get the ball at the elbow but they were very successful). So Olshey should move those players.

Olshey made moves this offseason that show that he's starting to get this. He sees that Stotts will be flexible with his defense but won't berate bad defenders, so Olshey went out and got better, flexible defenders. I think Stotts is a very smart basketball guy that is great at building confidence in his players... that's enough to be a multi-championship coach but not if your GM is right next to you singing Kumbaya. One guy has to make the hard decisions. In todays NBA that should be the GM because guys want to play for Stotts, Stotts understands the game and those are hard things to find in combination.

Olshey needs to make the hard but appropriate player moves that Stotts can help Dame process. If Olshey thinks Stotts needs more than personnel help on defense then he should hire a defensive coordinator that is stronger on accountability but still knows that Stotts is in charge. I get your old school attitude that the coach should be in charge because in high school and college programs coaches are the man but in the NBA that's just not the case. So Stotts' approach is brilliant, he just needs a GM that's shrewd to make everything work.

 

citing assist stats has nothing to do with my view that last year was not an accurate reflection of Stotts success in Portland....I was targeting our defensive woes last season and our revolving rotations....roster changes and injuries. Stotts has had winning records without superstar teams...many, many of you folks don't like him...I like him alot. Opinions aren't false..they are opinions. You can highlight them and run out a stat sheet but it has little to do with what I've posted about Stotts and a players coach vs a micromanaging coach like Van Gundy. I've heard every Stotts criticism there is....I'm still a fan cheering for him...you have alot of people who'll agree with you around here though

 

Yeah I can tell by reading your posts and listening to Stotts that by comparison Stotts is no moron. Just so you don't take that too personally, Stotts is a really really bright individual. His high minded philosophies about personal empowerment and unity might be beyond some in here but that in no way makes him a moron. I realize because he indulges his players that the ball stalls and we don't get as many easy buckets as some in here think we should but his offenses are still very very highly ranked. On defense Stotts will never be the accountability driven coach but he does have good ideas... he just needs the right players to execute them. So Stotts has some weaknesses the biggest of which is accountability (which in my experience managing several hundred different people is the best weakness to have), empowering and teaching are far more important.

The fact is that Olshey is the much more foolish of the two. He just needs to identify the guys that Stotts' approach doesn't work with and move them on... maybe not grossly overpay them (Crabbe and Meyers being good examples of that but we all know some others) and for the record I have no problem with Dame's salary or status with anyone in the organization.

 

Playing freely on the court and doing whatever they want are two different things.

A lot of the top coaches are player friendly, free-flowing coaches.

You're right that if there was no accountability at all, that would be very dangerous. Accountability can look like a coach screaming at their players in front of a national televised audience or having a calm, honest discussion behind closed doors. We know Stotts rarely does the first, but nobody here knows about the second part.

 

How about you actually read the posts....

The first one was:

Then you responded with:

I was just trying to show you that last year was not an 'anomaly' for a Stott's team. The lack of ball movement has been an on-going issue for several years.

Also, no one said anything about the stagnate offense being an 'accurate reflection of Stotts success'. Also the 'defensive woes' are also not pertinent to the discussion of a stagnant, Iso-heavy offense.

You can like Stotts... Hell, I even like Stotts. But I also realize that he's not someone who can coach this team to a championship level.

 

The key here is that Accountability should result in a change of behavior (or change in play).... so regardless of how Stott's holds players accountable - we can look at the product to see if it is working.

IMO, things have gradually gotten worse and worse over the years in regards to the basketball fundamentals (making the right play, defensive rotations, etc)

 

There is one category where the Blazers always rate highly - excuses.

I believe it is small market guilt syndrome. Many Blazer fans act as if we don't have the right to expect excellence from the franchise.

 

Actually, Stotts was an academic All-American and IIRC has an MBA. He has the intellectual capacity to be a very good coach, but not the personality.

 

to me his personality is part of what I like about him and part of what makes him successful...

 

Do all these Stotts critics really think we have world-beating talent and he's the only thing keeping us from multiple championships?

 

I thought it was the coach's job to call the game.

 

I disagree with this - this fanbase does have expectations - we're just also not blind to the fact that injuries have gutted our opportunities time and again. This franchise wins, almost always - not enough at times for all of us - but one of the most consistent winners in professional sports.

 

It's the point guard's job to make reads...coach prepares the gameplan...a player's coach trusts his floor general to make the reads and then he'll calls timeouts and subs...draws up plays for clock management and inbounding....it's a collective job to manage a game..post game Stotts will say he can't comment until he sees film...that's how he coaches. In the practice facility but show time, he trusts his floor general to carry out his plan.

 

This is a great article.

Dames comments are so refreshing in a league that shows no loyalty.

And I have absolutely no problem with how Terry has coached and developed Dame. The style works for Dame. The problem is how other players receive this style and Terry's ability to actually coach defense.

 

I don't agree things have got worse and I think to say the product isn't working is totally false. They are 2 years removed from a WCF run with a roster that probably ranked 7-10 in terms of talent.

Steve Kerr, who I think is a good coach, doesn't appear to hold his players any more accountable than Stotts. Pop is the rare exception to this rule, and he sure has been trending negative for years now.

I think the strongest argument to getting rid of Stotts is you believe a coach loses the ear of his players after so many years. I wouldn't sign off on that blanket theory.

 

Prepare to get blasted for saying that we don't have a championship level roster is you having your expectations too low.

I agree with you though. You'd be hard pressed to find a past championship roster that is anywhere close to the rosters we've put together since 2001.

 

I agree with you totally the only problem I have with this equation is how Neil handles things. Stotts is a really good, if not great coach but some guys are just going to take advantage of his style of coaching. It's Olshey's job to identify those guys and move their asses. That's all it's going to take. I again am very encouraged by the moves Olshey made this off season but until I see him make a shrewd move with one of "his guys" I won't be impressed or too hopeful that we can make it all the way to a championship but I hope this team proves me wrong.

 

A whole lotta opinions on Stotts, good and bad. But the bottom line is that pretty much only one opinion is all that matters. Dame likes Terry, Dame wants to play for Terry (sounds like for his entire career if he can), so Terry is going to be coaching this team unless and until Olshey wants to piss Dame off (or trade him). And all the caterwauling from a fan site isn’t going to matter a whit. We can do (and have done.....Mo Cheeks anyone??) much worse......

 

I don't think Dame would be pissed. He's so smart and understands the business. He knows that without a championship that Stotts' tenure is almost unprecedented. I think Dame would be sad but it wouldn't have an effect on his dedication to this organization... he has said time and time again that this devotion is so much bigger than any one person or people... that it's about the city, his values and he's explicitly said that he will play for this team until they don't want him.

He has made the Dirk comparison so many times and Dirk had multiple coaches and his favorite teammates moved. Dame isn't going anywhere or half-assing it, if it's his decision. Dirk bided his time, saw many iterations of his team and won a championship late in his career with a far different team and coaching staff than he played the majority of his career with. Now respecting Dame's loyalty by trying to keep the people he wants is definitely a good idea but not at the cost of winning and at the same time the cost of his legacy.

 

Olshey and Stotts are both part of the problem - but quite a few Portland fans object to blaming either one of them.