Game Thread GAME# 47: BLAZERS @ PISTONS - MARCH 31, 2021 - WEDNESDAY, 4:00, NBCSNW

Felton had that effect on people.

 

Stotts had to retool in 2015. A team picked to finish (median) 25th in the league. So both Stotts and Stevens have had to retool. Stevens has also had like 5-6 all-stars and another 5 or so lottery picks in that time period. Stevens also has been in a much weaker conference.

 

Stevens is just a better coach. His early years in Boston he really had no talent but was taking teams to the playoffs (albeit in the East) with really not great rosters at all. He did it by coaching his ass off and getting guys to play defense.

I think if a league wide survey of NBA executives was given on who you’d rather have as a coach between Stotts or Stevens it would be nearly unanimous for Stevens.

Stotts is an okay coach. Allows the players freedom. But also doesn’t adjust and relies too much on hero ball.

He should not have such the long tenure that he has in Portland. Nothing warrants it.

 

in the Stotts vs Stevens pissing contest, it is worth noting that Stevens has taken the Celts to 4 straight EC finals while averaging 52 wins a year. He even managed to win some games in the conference finals. He is having a tough time this season as his team is struggling, much like Stotts had last season. Stevens has a .558 winning percentage in the regular season; Stotts has a .515 rate. Stotts has .357 winning percentage in the playoffs; Stevens is at .507

 

Stotts should have got canned after we got dismantled 4 straight times in the playoffs to an average Pelicans team.

 

Those All Stars were coming and going. Ainge likes to reshuffle shit all the time.

 

Maybe they’re to young and are tuning him out. He might need a more veteran led team like ours. Plus Kemba isn’t the same. I’d sure as hell love to have him over Stotts tho..

 

I wish we could shuffle in and out multiple all-stars from year to year, would a great problem to have.

 

Comparing coaches in different conferences with rosters of different talent levels is difficult. I would expect the coach with the more talented roster in the weaker conference to have the most success, regardless of their coaching ability.

 

Considering we're like the 4th-6th most talented team in the West, a 1st or 2nd round exit would be totally reasonable. We should never be in the WCF until we add a legit 2nd all-star.

 

This was my preseason prediction if I'm not mistaken. We are right on target. Did the people who are pissed on here EVERY night expecting more from this team? Tonight we win by 23......did we cover the spread?

 

I'm guessing you might have even lowered your win projection had you known CJ and Nurk would be out half the year and Collins would be out the entire year?

 

Most definitely.

 

Well being Stotts would most likely choose to retire I'm pretty certain the answer would be basically irrelevant.

 

The only way to answer this debate is to trade coaches! Actually, sometime just a fresh voice can really help.

 

Could just actually look and see that they've coached head-to-head and are 7-7 against each other and admit that calling either one significantly better than the other is splitting hairs. They've even split the last 4 evenly.

 

The game was extremely close at halftime.... so yeah..... people were annoyed.

 

wait a minute: you say that you predicted for Portland to spend another season trudging along on their pinwheel treadmill. Another year of the same level of Blazer mediocrity...another year of pretending instead of contending

and you're criticizing those Blazer fans who want Portland to be better than what they have been for the 9 years of the Olshey/Stotts era? To actually take that big step forward? How many more years of the same management and same coaching delivering the same results are those fans supposed to endure? Till Dame is on Medicare?