So we have a "Bonesjones appreciation thread" for a guy that made threads that are titled. "I'm so sick and tired of Neil Olshey". "Trade Ideas Thread" (Get rid of Stotts). "Blazer trade ideas from other teams" Thread (even though there was already "Summer upgrades" thread by Scalma. Then there was the "Who should get what job in the Blazers organization when they clean house" thread. "Breaking down every issue i have with the style of play and why Stotts should go" thread. "If you can handle the struggle now..." thread (Again get rid of Stotts and players). Then there is the "Fire and Keep" poll thread... (Again get rid of Olshey and Stotts). "What will Neil say..." thread (another fire Neil and Stotts thread). Then there is the "Not Damian Lillards fault" thread. Again a set up blast on Stotts and or Olshey take your pick? Not only that there were other threads by a couple others that cover pretty much the same talking points. This is why the rest of us say "Vocal Minority" about these issues. Now all these threads pretty much have one thing in common. Bones doesn't like Stotts. I only went back one week on this. You see where this is going right? Merge the threads and keep the conversation in one place. Not sure why there is an appreciation thread for a broken record that for all it's merit, has no more validity than someone saying Stotts is doing the best he can with what he has and they are in year 3 of a total rebuild. Now those are FACTS that cannot be denied. The Blazers lack talent. But have shown an immense amount of Heart. Of course Stotts gets very little credit for the heart his team shows and the willingness those players have to continue to show it. This gets them further than people expect and that raises expectations even further. When they fall short it creates a breeding ground for distress. Expectations are simply an opportunity to create resentments. The process is in place and is working but there are super teams to deal with and the Blazers ain't one of them. Until they are they will be one of the teams that are trying their very best to get better.
Saying Stotts is doing the best he can is only a fact if you mean HE is doing HIS best. Someone could do better. I don't even believe that he couldn't have done better.
Explain what you mean by facts. You said they cannot be denied. I'm not twisting words, I'm trying to figure out how your statement of an opinion can be a fact. I didn't even mention that "total rebuild" isn't a fact by any stretch. Are you saying that those opinions are just as valid as what Bones says?
A little side story here. When I was 18 I went to a party thrown by a friend of mine. His parents were on vacation in Europe and he had this beautiful home near Council Crest all to himself so a party seemed like the natural thing for an 18 year old to do. There was this guy at the party we called "Dick the Savage". He claimed he rented out his fists to anyone who needed someone else to get beat up. He was pretty strong. So, a bunch of us guys got together in the kitchen and were bragging about how strong we were. We all took off our shirts and started flexing. Hey, we were all about 18. Dick and I were the strongest and neither of us could put the other's arm down. Then, this girl came in the room who used to set chokers for her father in Alaska. Geez, she was strong. She put the arm down of every guy in the kitchen including me and Dick the Savage. So then, someone said "Hey, look at the front door." We all looked and there was two guys kissing. Wow, first time I had ever seen that. I was kind of awe struck. A very socially liberal kid and stared at it trying to adjust to it. Dick the Savage started going crazy. Some of us had to physically restrain him or he would have been out for blood. Later in the party, Dick the Savage had to take a bathroom break. We were all liberally drinking beer. The word was Dick the Savage passed out on the bathroom floor and woke up to someone laying a lip lock on him. What I saw was a fella named Bill leaping down the stairs from the upstairs bathroom taking about two stair treads with each leaping step and a very very angry Dick the Savage close behind. Out the door went Bill who appeared to be a tad faster than Dick the Savage. Never saw either of them again. Wound up necking with the girl from Alaska the rest of the evening. My first time with heavy necking. I've had an interesting life.
And then there's the same people that arent ok with my opinion and complain and pick away at me while trying to pass theirs as fact. They call me a "broken record" with no "validity" and try to straight up lie to try to make me look bad, and then if I take issue or show frustration with that, it's the same people complaining about me "arguing too much" or complaining about the way I took exception. Onto the lies... I love how you take a (Fire or Keep) poll as a thread showing I want guys gone. It was a poll that showed no bias and was made to see where this forum stood. In regards to the other threads "What will Neil say.." was me jokingly trying to predict what he'd say at his exit interview. "I'm tired of Neil Olshey" was my reaction to what he said, which is different, and was the only thread I made due to me wanting him gone... I don't see how starting a trade ideas thread means I want Stotts or Olshey gone... That's all to do with roster, and the summer upgrades thread I figured applied as much to who we should use our MLE on as it did trades. The "who should get what job..." thread was something fun that was created with positivity in mind hoping that we could talk about some posters strengths and why they'd be good for each job.. even if they had management/staff I liked, I still would've created that. "If you can handle the struggle now..." didn't have a single reference to Stotts and was about how I believed the end of this season was the most disappointing in the Lillard era and how things would get better. So I haven't stated a single thread that even related to me wanting Stotts gone, and one about Olshey.. yet you claimed all of them did. In the "Its not Dames fault" thread i broke down film amd outlined the problems I had with our play style. Is that really that unacceptable to you? That's the only thread that took issue with Stotts and it was valid and based off stuff that I tried to show and use to get a discussion going over style of play with specific instances presented. Yeah, this is the type of stuff that frustrates the hell out of me.
another old story...My good buddy had just gotten back from Nam and brought home a pet python of which he built a very nice glass enclosure in his living room. Needless to say the snake was always a big hit when friends would come over to play poker. He would once in a while take it out for a bit to show lucifer off. I purchased a rubber 2/3 foot snake I got at a flea market, so I took it to one of the poker parties and when a good buddy came to play the minute he walked through the door I tossed the rubber snake at him hope he would think it was lucifer. We'll he literally pissed his pants and the lady he had standing behind him ran off to never be seen again.
Please read this entire post as it gives you plenty of credit for the work you put into this site. Read your threads Bones. Everyone of them go to the same place. Like i said. These things could all be on one thread. We could call it the Bonejones appreciation and fire Stotts and Olshey thread. Just a thought. Now to get to why i pick apart your posts and threads. They are full of blanket generalizations. Constantly saying things like "Need more cutting", "Need more passing", "Stotts just doesn't do that", "Need more easy baskets". Here is one of my favs... " Stotts relies too much on the three ball". "Stotts offense doesn't get guys open looks". Another really good one is "Stotts made Nurkic quit looking for assists because his offense doesn't work that way" The list can go on and on with the blanket statements and generalizations. There are indeed many. When i read these statements in threads i automatically want to roll my eyes and say "Here we go". Then you will actually put in an awesome amount of work to pull up various videos to show what you are saying is indeed factual. But the fact remains that you are not in the game and you have not heard what Stotts has actually asked his team to do. You also don't seem to ever give any credit at all to the fact that he is trying to do those things against NBA caliber players on NBA teams with NBA coaches trying to stop him from getting "Open shots", "Easy baskets", "Cutting opportunities" and "Assists". The guy also has to deal with the hand he is dealt. That means he might be dealing with things you have no clue about. How do you know on the day that the game was played that a certain video you are using to make your point a certain player wasn't dealing with a nagging injury you have absolutely no clue even exists? Do you take into account the foul trouble that might be effecting a player or rotation he is using? Was one of those players dealing with an acute case of the shits that day? Girlfriends? Wives? How about just plain being human and not paying attention to the coach for a stretch or having a terrible day? Stotts like all of us is human. He absolutely makes his share of mistakes. I have shook my head more than once at what i watch him try on the court. Sometimes in utter disbelief because to me the decision was obvious but then going WOW as his decision turned out to be the right call. But then in the very same game he boneheads a Time out and loses the game for something stupid. It's called Sports. It's why we watch em. What i read when i read your comments is someone who forgets that who is reading them isn't an average fan. We here on S2 are not average fans. We are Blazer MANIACS who watch and study the team and the game to a fault. When you say "Stotts offense is stagnant" i want to know exactly how you are coming up with that being you have no clue what he told the team to do. You sound like the John Canzano of S2 to me. You know enough to stimulate the casual fan and can sound knowledgeable in certain circles but here we know basketball better than that. Now lets get down to REAL nuts and bolts shall we? The Blazers hired Terry Stotts from Dallas. Terry Stotts was the mind that created the Flex Flow offense that was fundamental for getting Dirk his open looks. The reason he was hired was because of his Offensive mind and the way he could tweak it to fit a mid range needy LaMarcus Aldridge and benefit the type of players the Blazers had. After the decision by Aldridge to leave Stotts had literally Lillard and nothing else to work with. He created what is called the "Rhythm Flow Offense" that they use now and have again had to tweak with the addition of Nurkic. This is and will continue to be a work in progress as Nurkic gets better and hopefully they get a standout SF that can make teams pay for cheating. Guess what? Steve Kerr decided to use the very offense that Terry Stotts created. Not only did he decide to use it but he uses it very well with the players he has available. Guess who also decided to use a form of the very same offense created by Terry Stotts? You guessed it D'Antoni. However Houston didn't have the the same players so Mike decided to put some twists in it also. He can do that when you have a dominant scorer like Harden and a PG like Paul. The Rhythm Flow offense is designed to create open looks through passing and efficient shooting. It also takes advantage of three point shots to keep defenses spread out. You have got to hit those shots when open or it will not create open lanes. Offense in the NBA does not create fast breaks. Defense does. You being a player should know this. So a number of easy baskets and assists come from defense. There is no question Terry Stotts made good on his promise to make this team better on defense. Simply writing that off as the addition of Nurkic is a sham. If the offense had better players it indeed would also be better. So which is it? Better offense you want or Players? Now that fact is Stotts has actually done fairly well record wise here. He also had a couple of second round visits with little success after that. But like all things NBA there is a time when Coaches and Players run their course and a new direction is needed. That time might be soon as he has been here 6 years. Ramsey was here 10 years. Nate was 7. All the rest were 6 or less. So thinking Stotts will be here more than this contract would be a stretch. Just can't see him getting another contract unless he gets this group into the WCF. Problem i see is i just don't see this group getting to the WCF in time to save Stotts. Like i said in earlier posts. I have great respect for the effort you put in to make your case. I just would prefer to see you take in account all the positive things that have gone on as well as the possibility you don't have all the information. Now go study the Rhythm and Flex flow offenses so you can see what coach Stotts is trying to do. Then look into what he needs to do that.
Wow. Can't imagine how let down I am right now. When I saw this thread, I got happy as usually these threads pop up after said poster has been banned. #clickbaittitle
