I did not comment if it was good or bad, just highly likely. Maybe you took it that way because you fit the criteria? I have never stated I want to keep anyone forever, regardless of ability. My positions on Olshey and Stotts would support that. I do think there is a cost to change (in general), so yes, very frequent change for the sake of change would usually produce worse outcomes in the long run. I'm all for change if it is made in an educated manner where the next outcome in more likely to be an improvement.
If I felt that were true, I would be in 100% support. There are certainly better coaches out there. The question is, are Olshey and McGowen likely to obtain someone better? Most importantly, is there a coach out there that can win a championship with a roster that only includes one all star who is below average height? History would say, no.
Olshey has to go. Then the new GM can choose what to do with Stotts and I can't see most GMs wanting to keep a coach that has been so mediocre for so long.
For those who want to really increase the chance of us winning a title, this scenario makes by far the most sense to me. It has risks, but has far more upside than just replacing Stotts and keeping Olshey.
I get that is how a lot of fans feel about their coach. I think you'd have a hard time finding a national expert who thinks he's the worst coach in the NBA, let alone worse than "everyone".
So you're just being flippant? Do you think that Olshey and Stotts deserve virtually unprecedented tenures with their lack of success? They haven't won a game in the conference finals in the 9 years they've been here. The team made a run to the conference finals but got swept out. The other two times this team has made it out of the first round we only got one win in each of the second round series. I think that Olshey and Stotts have managed to fail like this in spite of Dame's greatness. So maybe it's crazy but I'd like to see what another GM and head coach could do with their vision of what to do with Dame's excellence and who they'd put around him. I think it's about time for a fresh point of view for this team but I don't think you can get the right return for Dame, not only on the court but off of it.
This goal post moves. Nobody anywhere has ever said anything about "unprecedented tenures", but it sure is funny how before the WCF run and before the Bubble what people were complaining about was not making a deep playoff run. Of course now it's defense and the injury "Excuse". Of course "Sweeps" always gets in there. It's kind of sounding like people are looking for things to complain about. Remember. This thread was started in 2016 and now has nearly 89 pages. Go back and read how it has evolved over the years. Because a bunch has changed and this team has brought in "Fresh points of view" in the form of assistants and players. It's very different and plays much different than it did in 2016. Were mistakes made? Sure. Could they have played better? Sure. But now all the sudden the goal is winning a game in the conference finals instead of a deep run. So if they make the conference finals and lets say push to a 7 game series but lose will the new mantra be "Not making the Finals? If they win the WCF's and get swept in the finals will it be not winning a game in the Finals? What happens if they get in the playoffs this year and play a very tough 7 game series and go to the second round against the Lakers at full strength or maybe the Suns or Clippers for that matter that swept their first series and are fully rested? Then go through a gentleman's sweep again. I suppose that will be on Stotts again right? Point is this team right now is a very very long shot to even make the WCF's and everyone watching should know that. If they make the second round you would think Stotts did his job. I'm not even a huge supporter of Stotts but at least we got to be honest about what is expected and quit moving the goal post.
What I believe is there is blame to go around, and its beyond a coach and a gm. I've said over and over, fire those two. Try something else. But I also believe in player accountability as well. I think every team's situation is different. Its impossible to compare the Blazers to the Bucks or the Pistons and so on. The players, the money, the ownership situation, the city, its a big puzzle. And thats why those two have been around so long. The death of an owner during their tenure essentially reset their time here. Nothing was going to happen around that time. They HAVE won a lot of games, but not anything too significant. They are this strange team that one week looks great and then doesnt, so blow it up. They have injuries constantly - and significant ones, which I think also causes a pause on any changes. They could do better, they could do worse. I say make the changes. But I also say as amazing as Lillard is, he isn't without his warts and takes responsibility for some things as well.
Why is it that people who defend Stotts always take it to "NAME ONE PERSON WHO WOULD WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP WITH THIS ROSTER IDIOT!"? It's like there's no in between from wanting a coach who actually does his job and having to win a title.
Stotts is doing his job. You don't have to like it...and for the record...I don't have to defend him. Winning a title takes more than a coaching change...it takes chemistry and health and some luck. I'd prefer to be a fan of the team and it's culture and approach to success than someone constantly and desperately angry over not being a team dominating the league from the tip off. I don't see the "fine line" in that gap. Everyone has a different way of enjoying Blazer basketball and that's how it's always been. Frank Vogel is nothing special in the coaching ranks...he's not the reason the Lakers are the champs....he's part of it but let's get real about why they won a chip....superstars and superstar loving refs
I think the people who are OK with Stotts are saying the same thing, we ARE in the middle of "does his job and win a title" and most teams are the same. I thing the Stotts haters seem to be the ones that are "he doesnt do his job, let's change and win a title", moreso than the other way around.
The goal posts should move. The longer a GM and/or a head coach are with an organization, the further they should progress. So while this year I just want them to show that they are at the furthest point by actually winning games in the conference finals. That will mean, for me that next year, after a decade, that they better deliver on a championship appearance. No other GM has ever had the chance of try to build a championship team around Dame. No other coach has ever had a chance to coach him and a team around him. If we don't see both of these guys trending in a direction that goes further towards a championship... after nine years, they should both be gone. Jerry Sloan is the only coach in the history of the league to enjoy a tenure as long as Stotts has without winning a title. In his ninth season he led his team to the finals against Jordan's Bulls and lost. In his eighth season he took the Sonics to game seven in the conference finals. The previous two seasons he took the team to the conference finals and won games. He was trending in the right direction. The reason why I bring up Stotts first is because I am more sympathetic to his situation. He works for a guy who is a snake oil salesman that is so dedicated to his own ego that he won't recognize when one of his guys isn't the right fit for this team. He should have been fired just because of how disastrous his 2016 spending spree on role players was. He should be fired so we can get a straight shooter in there. He should be fired because of either not putting the right team out there for Stotts or not getting rid of Stotts sooner (or hiring an assistant head coach that makes up for Stotts's shortcomings). The fact is I don't understand why anyone who roots for this team doesn't want big changes and if you do, why would you think that Olshey and Stotts will make them in a way to improve our chances to win a championship? In case you're wondering that's where I want our goalposts to be moved to. We need to be trending towards winning a championship or getting new blood that has a better chance of getting us there because I think Olshey and Stotts have shown that under them we have no shot of getting there.
There is a lot of blame to go around and the person that should be doling out that blame and making the proper changes is Olshey and he's just not doing it. So the first move would be to fire him and then I guarantee you that because of the fact that no one else has had a chance to coach Dame and because no head coach has ever been given this long of a leash, the new GM would fire Stotts and likely make some pretty huge personnel moves.
I have told you before that I respect your loyalist point of view. I just think it has no place in the business world and especially in the highly competitive business of professional sports. Winning a title does take more than a coaching change and while a I agree with you that a coach doesn't win a title, he surely can lose titles, games, first round playoff series' and so forth. For the record my first desire isn't to get rid of Stotts first, it's to get rid of Olshey. A new GM can make a decision on what will provide the chemistry and health it takes to win a championship. For the record it didn't take luck for Jordan's Bulls to win championships and it didn't take luck for the Shaq/Kobe chips either.
