I think that Dr. Jack and Phil Jackson and combined couldn't make up for the fact that the Blazers' forwards are woefully inadequate. I don't see where changing the coach is going to fix that, nor do I think that the Blazers' situation with a lame duck ownership situation is likely to rock the boat by changing the coach while the season is underway. Do I think that Terry's job could be in jeopardy if the Blazers don't make the playoffs and achieve more success than last year? Yes, I do. Calling for the coach's head is always the easy thing to suggest in the NBA. It doesn't very often product actual results.
Hey BonesJones, notice that we have a 52.9% (NBA leading) swish3 shooter. We just need to increase his role and I predict we will improve.
I don't think you realize how bad the tone of this comment is. Watch this, think about what I say, and come to back to me before saying my opinions are "the easy way"...
For the past few years this team have some games where they look.... almost as good as a 2nd tier team? in other games they look like a bottom-10 team. Should we not rebuild because those games from the first category feel so good? I'm not sure anymore. That sour taste from the Pelicans series is still in my mouth tbh. Olshey needs to do dramatic changes if he doesn't want to rebuild. I would start with: Fire Stotts, Release Swanigan and Baldwin, hunt for gems in the D-League\overseas, Hire a bigman coach, Trade Harkless and Turner (ball moving around for those two to brick a three is DUMB).
Bones, if there's a tone issue I can assure you it's on the receiving end. I absolutely did not intend to state that you are easy in your opinions, but I guess I can see how you might have taken it that way. What I was talking about is that so often the first thing you see around the NBA when things go bad with a team is a call by both fans and management to change the coach. It's the easy thing to do. No cap implications. It can create a feeling that things are changing for the better without management actually dealing with the shortcomings of the roster. It's often a GM's way of covering up his own failings in making the wrong moves or no moves when things absolutely need to get shaken up with the team. I don't think it's any secret that the Blazers are playing with a patchwork roster at the SF and PF spots. Fix that before worrying about the coach.
That's not the case in our fanbase. I've seen poll questions with thousands of votes on Twitter that blames talent and Olshey over Stotts. A patchwork roster? We have 3 all-star level players, and our role players aren't as bad as people say.
I said a patchwork roster at the SF and PF spots. None of Harkless, Aminu or Layman will ever make an All Star roster. I think I'm hearing and seeing more "fire Stotts" comments after these past 3 games than I ever have before. I have to go to an appointment so I can't continue this conversation right now.
Harkless and Aminu are two great defenders at SF and PF and can provide offense here and there. They're not great at all but when combined with a stud of a PG, SG, and C, that's a very solid lineup. Watch that video, and then address some points I make. I think I might change your mind, and if not, it'll be interesting to talk about some of the things I want in-depth about.
I would argue that we are past the team-Terry-v-team-Neil point. Sometimes, you just have to clean house and instill a new culture.
When the Blazers are on offense, all the other team has to do is cut the head off the snake (Dame and CJ). We don't have another answer. When the Blazers are on defense, all the other team has to do is isolate their length onto our midgets, and shoot a clear look over them. The latter is what has been primarily costing us games.
People thinking they wouldn’t fire Stotts because Lillard would be upset are wrong. Olshey would not be afraid to do it if he thought it was the right thing to do. Especially if the interim coach was Nate or Vanterpool, guys the team also respect. I would much much prefer Tibbets but not sure he’d be the guy. Just speculating ....Neil dealt Ed Davis and Dames best friend Tim Frazier was let go.
Olshey will fire Stotts at the point he believes it will save his own butt. I'm betting that no matter how bad it gets, both are safe until the off season.
We had above expectations start but have regressed to a mean since then. I never expected us to be a 55-win team, a small improvement over last season would be welcome but also tough to achieve as it seems that West will be full of playoffs contenders this year. Basically the only Western conference team that will 100% not make the playoffs and are truly bad are Suns. 45-46 wins would be good and would probably allow us to make the playoffs. The problem is we will not be competitive against good teams in the playoffs because of how our roster is built, we are a good flat track bully kind of team but will ultimately struggle when paired against a strong, competitive team. There's no intention from our front office to address that either as Olshey appears to be happy with where the team is and unwilling to make any significant changes that would require giving up on some of the assets. We will probably go down to .500 or close in the next 20-25 games, then go on a run where we are like 15-5 and will finish the season at 46-36 or so.
We have one All-Star level player and two very good players who are top 10 (CJ) and top 20 (Nurkic) at their positions, plus a bunch of role players. But then you look at Milwaukee who were in the same position last year and you can easily see how a change of coach can have a huge effect on the team. They also had one All-Star (Giannis), one top 10 player (Middleton) and a top 20 player (Bledsoe) plus a bunch of role players. Won 44 games last year, will probably win about 55 this year.
22 & 15 per 36 with elite rim protection is all-star level. Middleton and C.J. are barely star level. Regardless of semantics, are roster is much better than people think, and much more poorly coached than people think. I wanted Budenholzer and to your point, look at what hes doing.
"Eh. Still need some time haven't decided...." That's actually probably an excuse and I do know how I feel. But since so much of the future is in the dark.... I'd just keep my thoughts to myself. I'll say one thing, there are changes co ming in some form. But whether they are significant or posutive is anyboddy's guess.
Indeed, I think we could be better than we have. We've made some terrible moves in the market but with good coaching and maybe 1-2 realistic roster moves we could get to a very high level of basketball. I think Nurkic is completely fine for his purpose on this team. I don't think he's All-Star but we don't need a better center. He's better than any center Warriors have had in recent years, in today's NBA what you need at center is basically a decent player who can protect the rim and rebound, everything else is a bonus.
