OT Whatever happened to all the threads whining about firing Stotts?

9 out of the last ten games were won by the Blazers and presto, the complaining stopped. The win over Utah certainly helped.

 

Not going to whine about him but I hope ownership does the right thing and remove him and olshey when the season is over. It’s time for a new perspective through a new set of eyes.

 

Fire Stotts!

 

Since you asked - Stotts still should be fired. Nothing's changed. Remember when we're won 13 games in a row before Stotts shit the before against New Orleans in the Playoffs? Remember winning 6 in a row earlier this year before losing 4 straight in blowout fashion? Nobody who wants Stotts gone ever said this team was incapable of getting regular season wins. Regular season wins dont make a coach. Plus, we havent beaten a top-10 team that wasnt missing a star during this stretch. Theb only way we go on a rum isn't Stotts does a good job in the playoffs by having an answer for the trap, not isoing like crazy, and coming out with the proper defensive gameplan.

Basically, him finally fixing some of his flaws wouldnt prove the criticism of his flaws wrong, if anything itd add to the case that he should've been a better coach all along. But theres no reason it should've taken this long.

 

blazers are still not in the playoffs and even if they get there, they need to succeed in oder for people to change their perception of terry stotts

im not a believer and unless blazers make deep playoff run (western conference finals), fire terry stotts

 

I think that's a pretty reasonable bar to set. And even if we make the WCF, it still kind of depends on how we make it. If it's Dame going nuclear and us running into teams dealing with major injury to stars, he probably still should get fired.

If, however, we make it that far because he believed in Melo when much of the fanbase gave up on him, and/or because he got the most out of Kanter and Simons, and/or he got this team to play defense, well, I think you have a hard argument firing him.

I have to give him a lot of credit. Stotts went with Melo and Simons when it seemed like everyone have given up hope on those two. I mean shit has been really, really bad at points for both those guys. He had Nassir and Jones as other viable alternatives, and he chose otherwise. Maybe he just saw something in practice. Or maybe he realized our best shot at playoff success was getting the most out of Melo's experience and Simons' shooting, while Nassir and Jones were great athletes but not really likely to be playoff difference-makers. I was not a fan of those decisions, but whatever the reason, those decisions look really smart right now.

I'd recommend Stotts to any team looking to develop young shooters, particularly as an offensive coordinator. Being an NBA coach is a hard job, and TBH he's not bad at it. It's just probably time for the team to go in a new direction.

 

At least you[re out in the open.

 

I really think after the Powell trade his hand was forced and I'm guessing it came from higher up in the organization. Basically telling him this team must win with offense, outscoring opponents is the only way forward with this group. Playing Little and Jones would seem to balance out the rotation between offense/defense but they can't make up for the rest of the defensively challenged enough to make a difference. It really is amazing what these guys are doing with CJ, Kanter, Melo and Simons all getting major minutes and being sieves on the defensive end.

 

Nothing has changed. Stotts will be measured on how well this team can execute in the postseason and how deep a run they can make. He’s had enough time to demonstrate whether he can get this team to the proverbial ‘next level’ and has failed multiple times. Time for a new voice in the locker room. The current success the team is having is too little too late in my opinion and fool’s gold. They’ve done this multiple times in the past 5-6 yrs where they go an a late season run only to be run out of the gym in the playoffs. I don’t expect anything different this year. Hope I’m wrong.

If you can’t fix what’s broken (defense), maybe it’s time for a different mechanic.

 

I know, right? At least for now, the Portland's best defense is a good offense.

Kanter is a beast of an offensive rebounder. Simons has been utterly lethal from three lately. Melo is starting to look like the good version of vintage Melo.

Maybe Kanter, Melo and Simons present such vastly different challenges for other teams to defend against that it just outweighs everything they give up.

 

Literally nothing has changed on the Stotts front. He's still extremely flawed and should be fired at season's end

 

You go down the list, and every rotation player offers elite or well above-average offensive skills:

• Dame - superstar
• CJ - ball handling, midrange
• Norm - all around game
• Nurk - passing, screening
• Kanter - offensive rebounding
• Simons - three point shooting
• Roco - three point shooting
• Melo - post scoring, three point shooting

Defenses have to account for every single one of those guys on every single play. There hasn't been another time in the Dame era where you could say that. Even back in the Wes Matthews era, Robin Lopez wasn't good for much on offense but setting screens.

However, you go down that list and other than Roco and Nurk you don't see a single guy without very significant defensive holes:

• Dame - overall terrible in everything except guarding in the post and drawing charges
• CJ - overall terrible in everything
• Simons - overall terrible in everything
• Melo - overall terrible in everything
• Norm - really small to be a legit SF
• Kanter- overall terrible in everything but guarding immobile big men in the post, which is a pretty useless skill except against Jokic

You look at all that and really wonder how we can beat a team in a 7 game series where they have time to game plan us.

 

Yes, this late-season winning streak changes all the issues that have plagued this team for many seasons.....that had the exact same late-season run only to get rolled when it really counted.

Squeaking by the Lakers w/o LeBron and Schroeder and barely getting by the Jazz with out their entire starting back court has not really swayed my mind to be honest.

 

I seriously don't understand how people watch this team and don't get Groundhog Day vibes ... I mean it's almost the same exact thing every season of the past seven years, except for one crazy playoff run to the WCF that took a 38' shot to win and then a victory in game 7 on the road, two things that very rarely happen. Of course that was followed up by an absolute embarrassing drubbing in the WCF.

 

Still think he will be allowed to re-sign with a buy out and he will end up on another team next year. I would be at all surprised to see him sign with Wiz to coach two all star guards.
Todays game in the NBA will create a demand for guys like Stotts that are player coaches with an offensive slant.

 

Time for new blood from the top down.

Go Blazers

 

Here is what is Literal. Everything the team has done over the last 20 games has changed. It's not just 10 games. It's through the entire comeback of Nurkic and CJ and the week Lillard took off. Even the losses they had to good teams that were very close 1 point type losses the team played way way better.

 

Scapegoat addicts have been posting here since long before Stotts was hired....seemingly desperate to justify the Stotts hate now that Meyers is gone. Stotts is more willing to put the 3rd string in and get some burn than worry about the score in a win....that's what builds trust and develops rookies. I'm a loyal fan of Stotts and what he's brought to Portland. Winning a bunch of games in a row confuses the trolls who want a revolving door franchise...some folks are still fuming about losing to the Pelicans or Grizz after Wes got hurt.....doesn't mean shit to the roster we're putting on the court right now at least to me.....this is not the same team that's been to the playoffs together....I think it's a good playoff roster and all we need is consistent execution to beat the titans of the west. I"m here to cheer. Soccer mom's never cheer...they just yell at the coach

 

The crowd who thinks Stotts is the main problem seemingly dismiss our injuries, over-state other teams injuries, and are quick excuse the last 6 years at the forward position. After Stotts gets fired this summer I expect we'll go through most of next season where those folks point out the differences between the new coach and Stotts that are better. Then in a couple years, they'll be blaming the new coach once again. History would prove this to be highly likely.

However, I'd be suprised if our offensive, defensive, and net rating next year are better than the one this year when we have Dame, CJ, Powell, Cov, and Nurk healthy. I also don't expect the new coach will makes those ratings significantly worse either.