Like I said I'm not a huge Stotts guy, so I don't really feel all that great about defending him, but you gotta admit that this collection of cast-offs and never-beens is not exactly designed to play inside-out or break a defense down. They play "rat ball" because they have zero post presence and all the coaching in the world can't turn this frontcourt into offensive basketball players.
That's fine but it doesnt give excuses for the problems that I mentioned. Bad, early shot clock shots are not necessary regardless of roster makeup. The way we defend the pick and roll is terrible as we have many athletic bodies that can do it differently. Terry Stotts is inept in these areas and that's the reason why he sucks.
The fact that we have 15 wins before the midway mark of the season, that too, with Dame missing 7 games, and this roster, is ridiculous. Stotts' contract ends at the end of the year if you're hellbent on getting rid of him anyway. Stupid thread.
Pick and roll defense starts with our guards and as much as I like Damian and McCollum they are kind of shitty on D, particularly the way they deal with screens.
This. Any notion of changing coaches is going to have to wait until the roster is rebuilt to a point that a coach who would be a significant upgrade over Stotts would even consider the job. I mean, I suppose McMillan could be talked into finishing up the year if you're into that.
I wanted Thibs before McMoron was out. Still do but I don't think he would take the job. Teaching these guys some D would do wonders for some of their futures. Meyers I don't get, he must have been destroyed by the wife/fiancee. He's a child at this point.
This. And how we don't screen worth a shit on the offensive side STILL! I look at CP3 and DJ work together and its flawless screening. Knocks Dame around all the time. Reverse that, and I see Plumdog/Beibs setting shit screens constantly. When the wife notices....You must really suck at it.
Key points to look at though, see how many players have had career years under Terry and his coaching staff. Dame turned into an all star, CJ is getting there, Crabbe has shown enough flashes and consistency and improvement to warrant a decent contract as a second round pick, to an extent even Will's development this year has to be considered. Take a look at how Kaman raves about Stotts, or how vehement Dame is in giving Terry praise. Aldridge had a career year here, Wessy had a career year and earned a massive contract, Nic turned from a corner 3 and D guy into a legit playmaker, Rolo went from a castoff into a legit starting C. The only guys who I see who have NOT developed under this staff were Leonard (who is in reality still a question mark), and TRob (who Terry did not get under his watch until a few years after his NBA debut). There have been far more hits than misses with this staff. Considering how young we are and how little talent we really have on paper, I think too much is made of the current offensive/defensive sets. We were a top 5 offense and defense with Terry for half a season when we were completely healthy with a veteran roster. Who knows how we woulda finished last year had Wes/Rolo not gone down? You're not gonna have this level of success in developing young players AND getting veterans to buy in to the team with a new coach. Not quickly anyway. There definitely is something to be said about establishing stability. Thibs will not come here when so many other vacancies will open up with rosters that are more likely to contend quickly. I don't really see any upgrades on the horizon. I have 0 interest in D'Antoni or Luke Walton.
Crabbe is good too. And we have the makings of a very good bench. What bugs me, is why are we still near the bottom of the league in fast break points? It doesn't make sense with this roster, we have athletic wings, two tweener point guards....why can't we generate fast break offense?
I think he deserves at least a full year with the current squad. If the team doesn't show enough improvement in certain areas, then the team can look elsewhere. Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
I don't think he's using these guys right. Look up and down our roster, we could really play some pressure defense...at least sometimes. He just wanted to make them play the same way the old crew played.
Stotts is not a very good coach, a very good coach would have played Frazier from the start, he would at least give Cliff Alexander a decent chance. We're supposedly overacheiving but only if you don't understand the strength of our roster. Stotts isn't close to maximizing it's potential. There are some things he's good at, developing young players, his half-court offense, but when it comes to rotations he's often frustrating, he doesn't make the right adjustments on many occasions. With this team, the starting lineup isn't set in stone, there is less ego, so he should be able to juggle the lineups freely. He needs to at least understand why some players work better with others. Why if you have just one of Dame, CJ or Frazier on the court you would most likely be in trouble offensively. I think right now we're underacheiving, I think our team isn't inferior to the '99 team for example and that Stotts while I don't think should be fired, has long ways to go
Yes. There is very little structure to the offense - he relies almost entirely on players to free lance for points. Also, last season we ranked 17th in FG% (45%), this season we're currently ranked 15th (44.4%). We haven't had a good offense since Dunleavy.
I'm not sure about overachieving. It's more like the rest of the West got much worse so we picked up a few more crappy wins and for the same reason are only a couple games out of the #8 playoff spot. Last year the #7 team had 50 wins. This year #7 is on pace for 38 wins and #8 is on pace for 36. That is a HUGE drop off so the Blazers are picking up a few more gimmies than we first projected.
Disagree. It starts with the scheme. The guard will always fail if they don't have a big that can hedge the screen. Even with that MAJOR disadvantage that Dame/CJ face every night, Dame did a GREAT job of getting around screens and contesting shots last night.
