I would say Nurse or Kerr. Any coach who won with Lebron; it's hard to give them much credit, although I think Vogel has done a real good job and was a good coach in Indiana. I like how the GS teams play basketball, and they always play smart. Their GM should get a lot of credit also though. Nurse won a championship even though he only had Kawhi for one year, then did good without him and they are coming around this year even though Siakam not playing so well. Again though he is paired with a great GM.
But did he REALLY coach the Lakers to a championship? I have a feeling LeBron and AD took care of that. And Lue? Really? LeBron literally grabbed the clipboard from him and drew up plays in the huddle. We see that Luke Walton could have also coached that warriors team to the ring and look at him now. Nurse I'm sure was quite grateful to have been handed Kawhi, I'm sure that helped. This is a perfect example of coaches getting too much blame and too much credit. To think these coaches "LED" their teams to championship rings is comical.
We didn't see that at all. Walton simply continued the system Kerr put in place. Coaching can matter--look at the Warriors with Mark Jackson and then the next year with Kerr. Substantially the same personnel, but they went from first round losers to 67 win champions. Personnel has to be good, but the best coaches mesh their strengths into the best possible unit. "Best possible" doesn't mean championship-caliber if the talent is bad, obviously, but not every coach is capable of doing that. In fact, I'd say most coaches can't tune a system perfectly for their personnel. To me, Stotts falls into that category. That doesn't make him terrible, just places him in the large group of coaches that can't elevate their personnel. I think Kerr and Nurse are excellent coaches. I don't think Lue elevated what he had particularly.
Once again, I understand coaches impact on teams, negative AND positive......but it ain't just them. Tyron Lue, fuck outta' here.
Stotts hasn’t earned the right to be in the same sentence as any of those guys. Two of them have won rings and the other is in the conference finals/semi finals every year with a shittier roster.
Notice some of these "elite " coaches without Lebron haven't had the same success.......sort of like the Mavs after Dirk..Spurs after Duncan.......coaching is part of a team but it's not the X factor in winning championships...depth and chemistry are along with consistent execution and some luck..health definitely matters
I can't answer for HCP, but for me it just gets old because it's just not the major issue plaguing the Blazers at the present time and it really isn't realistic to think that switching horses midseason is going to make any significant difference. If the Blazers had Nurkic, McCollum and Collins all healthy and the team was out of the playoff picture, I could see making a change. Or, if the Blazers' roster was really on a competitive level challenging for the title and it was decided that a coach with more championship experience was needed, that would make sense to me. I think that Olshey and Stotts both have to be on thin ice with Jody Allen after spending so much money the last couple of years with not much to show for it. I think that unless the team gets healthy and really makes a strong finish to the season and then goes on to achieve some success in the playoffs, they're both out of here next summer. The new GM would have a chance to change the roster up and pick a head coach that he feels can get the job done.
I've been in the Fire Stotts camp, but making a change mid-season would be an unbelievably bad decision. Going into this season, my thought was the Blazers needed to get out of the First Round (at the bare minimum) and make the WCSF series competitive if we were to move forward with another season of Stotts and Olshey. If we're not able to accomplish that, then changes need to be made.
Idk how the Blazers running drop against CP3 and Booker isnt a major issue. Or how the Blazers offense having little structure and stagnating isnt a major issue. Or how Nas can ball tf out and play with more effort than anyone and he only gets 4 minutes in 3 quarters isnt a major issue. Or how the Blazers have no idea how to attack a trap when weve seen it for years isnt a major issue. Or how a lack of adjustments when things are going bad isnt a major issue. Or how the lack of accountability on the defensive end or with little things such boxing out isnt a major issue. Or how the lack of improvement of players defensively isnt a major issue. Or.......
Rosters matter, obviously. No one is arguing otherwise. But I like the base my evaluation of Stotts based on what he does and doesnt do, not based off of what other coaches did once and then did another time.
Yeah, if I were the owner I'd send a clear message that Olshey has fucked up and fire him now. If the new GM chose to fire Stotts mid-season and replace him with someone new or go with an interim, I wouldn't have a problem with that either but I just hope you're right about Jody and the Vulcans (which is also a knew indie rock band that I'm promoting) but I hope they fire Olshey and let a new GM do his thing if we don't make some big noise in these playoffs. The thing is, if Olshey doesn't do what he won't and holds onto CJ and Nurk... I don't give a shit about Zach being out... this team should be fucking phenomenal when they get back. I know CJ was playing great ball to start the season. So if Olshey is right and the pieces fit then getting CJ and Nurk back should make our 61% win percentage since they left skyrocket. So we should definitely end up with home court in the first round and probably pass the one of the top three teams. If our record doesn't improve and/or we don't make it to the WCF and actually win a game, then Olshey should be fired and everything else should be up to the new GM.
To me there is no reason on earth either Stotts or Olshey should be fired. Definitely not my option but I love the stability. I've said a million times that a players coach is very different in the approach to the game than a micro managing coach is. Stotts trusts his vets to make reads, execute, know their options and stay sharp....he'll live with the results. I have no issue living with the results either. Pat Riley said no coach will win a championship again until MJ retires! ...then Pat got Lebron and Wade and Bosh and won. Phil Jackson sucked with the Knicks..he didn't make them win...he also didn't coach MJ, Pippen, Kobe or Shaq at that point. Larry Brown didn't change Charlotte after winning a championship in Detroit....there's no coaching bandaid to win a championship...that takes a combination of things falling together at the same time. I just think some fans have an inherent need to see the grass greener and really enjoy what if plug and play scenarios...which is fine. What we have in spades is a healthy lockerroom and a roster filled with respect for our coach....I can live with that too. Never really understood how emo some folks get over this stuff.
What has the stability that you love gotten us? I don't know if we can do better than Stotts, I think so but I don't know. I am pretty damn sure we can use the talent we have on the roster, through trades, to put a better team on the floor but I don't know. My thing is, Olshey needs to be fired because of our constant mediocre results under his leadership, let the next guy who should be an expert make his decisions on Stotts and the roster.
