Chauncey Billups coaching and basketball stuff ONLY!

I think we have more talent thanjust Dame...Norm..CJ Nurk...are not chopped liver...I also think as a first year coach Chauncey has a stronger defensive foundation going in than Kerr or Nash had...no knock on either guy ...they are good coaches.

 

In his presser before leaving to Japan (I know a lot could have changed since then) Dame was asked directly if Chauncey might be a big enough change to satisfy him and he said that Chauncey might be the best coach ever and looking at the team, he still couldn't see a contender. So that kind of sums things up pretty well. Maybe Neil and Chauncey sold him on something different that night but he sounded pretty certain.

I just can't imagine he's OK with what's happened with the roster this off season or more accurately what hasn't happened. He talked about missing out on some free agent targets but he couldn't have thought we were a TPMLE signing away from contending. Oh well, I guess we'll see.

 

I don't buy any of the Dame spin...listen to Norm talk about Dame since Tokyo...it's the opposite of him wanting to leave..it's him being excited to beast with Norm...Dame is entering a giant contract...I hope people don't spend the next few years making this a story about him leaving ...I think that's the last thing on his mind

 

We know it's not the last thing on his mind, he told us that straight up but I think he's decided that he's giving this team a chance and for Dame I think that means he's fully invested. If this upcoming season looks like last season though (where we beat the bad teams and lose to all of the good ones) I think Dame's attention will turn to what he can reasonably expect his future to look like. This isn't spin... he said that for the first time he didn't know where his future would be and that he had to make that decision. If you're saying that what has happened since then has made that decision for him, that's fine but I don't know why. I just don't know what would have factored into that decision that he seemed so uncertain about at the presser, since that presser.

 

I hope you're right, but I think it's a stretch to act like Dame isn't considering his future with the team at all. I'm not sure how anyone could come to that conclusion at this point.

 

I think the situation is pretty complex

to start with, I think Dame does not trust Olshey. If he did he wouldn't have gone over Olshey's head to talk to Paul Allen 3 years ago. Adding on to that, I think Dame suspects the Vulcans don't really care about contending or holding Olshey accountable

Dame did an interview a few weeks before the playoffs. Essentially, he said that 'this' year's team was different; that it had a better focus & feel than any past team he was on. He expected them to be very competitive in the playoffs. Then, Denver happened, and that loss, when none of his teammates really stepped up, knocked the pins out from under his expectations and perceptions. I suspect it was the biggest disappointment of his Portland career.

then, Olshey gave that press conference where he threw Stotts under the bus, said the roster was fine, and dodged accountability. Even if Dame realized it was time for Stotts to go I have to believe that the way Olshey treated Stotts in that presser rankled Dame...a lot

so, Dame lacked confidence in both management and ownership and was deeply disappointed with his team's performance against Denver. Then, he watched the Bucks win the championship just months after they traded for a player that Dame has lots of respect for. And he watched the Suns get to the finals in their 1st year after making a big trade and spending their MLE wisely. So he reacted and said the things he did. Then, in a very real way, Olshey threw Dame under the bus and let Dame take the heat for Portland considering Kidd and Billups as head coach candidates...or at least Olshey didn't offer Dame any cover. Dame couldn't have been anything else but a mixture of disappointed and angry

but, on the other side of the scale, rests his love of Portland, the city and the franchise. A love and contentment he has voiced over and over for the last 9 years. And, as the sting of the playoff exit and the aftermath has lessened, I'd think the weight grows heavier on this side of the scale. And the depth of loyalty could run a lot deeper than the disappointment of this season's end

I don't think there is any doubt that Dame will be fully committed to this season. There is some doubt about his total loyalty to Portland though. But I'd think there is some substantial "time heals all wounds" at work here. I would not expect Dame to take the pressure off Olshey by declaring that loyalty though

 

Since this is a thread about Billups and not whatever that post was about, I’d like to say how different the defense looks already.

pressing and pushing is a sight for sore eyes.

colapsing and rotating has been missing since Adelman

 

I saw Greg Oden collapse a couple of times

 

Great insight. For those that don’t want to listen for some reason, here’s my recap

1. The offense has not been implemented

2. Running a vanilla defense in summer league

3. Our defense sucked last year. Mentioned communication and effort as needing improvement to take the next step

4. Thinks big picture on offense. Mentioned Terry and how well the offense was, but big picture we need to get more people involved

5. Loves penetration (no jokes please). When Dame or CJ get doubled someone needs to be the secondary attack point

6. LOVES Sheed

7. Mentioned being small with Dame, CJ and Norm, but moved past that quickly

8. He’s very engaging. Wants to have a lot of communication with ALL his players. Says he’s had coaches who do and don’t communicate, thus he wants to communicate with everyone

9. Loves Nurk. Says he’s a weapon most teams don’t have. He can score, but loves to fascinate as well

 

So this pretty much answers the summer question. CJ isn't going anywhere.
Doesn't sound like Dame is either.

 

Not necessarily. He might have moved past it quickly cuz he knows Neil is trying to trade CJ, so no use discussing it too much right now?

 

Or maybe Dame is GONE!

 

They absolutely count...they both won as rookie coaches which was the topic...and to my point, neither could play defense as well as CJ when they played....Nash led the league in turnovers for a stretch...still they find guys to help them and listen...Chauncey has the best defensive IQ of the 3 of them..you don't need to put them on your list if you don't want to...Tyrone Lue won early in his coaching career too...Kerr didn't sit out his rookie season if I'm not mistaken he won the NBA record for wins as a rookie coach..nice try though...the subject was rookie coaches

 

On May 14, 2014, the Golden State Warriors named Kerr the team's head coach. On April 4, 2015, with a win over the Dallas Mavericks, Kerr broke the NBA record for the most regular season wins for a rookie coach.

 

If "god awful" resulted in a title the first year I would take it.

 

Lue has always been underrated because of who he’s gotten the privilege of coaching. If things went well it was all LeBron. If it didn’t it was Lues fault. Phil Jackson got similar treatment in Chicago.