Woj is hinting at Billups/Portland in here. This as much as he’ll say without actually saying it. also mentions Celtics players are endorsing Udoka. I wonder why he wasn’t a candidate in Portland.
The “next level” for Portland would be consistently getting past the first round. Which D’Antoni does.
Ime got Aldridge to San Antonio according to LaMarcus himself. Maybe Olshey holds a grudge from that.
And getting an unproven coach does that, how? Swing for the fences is MDA with someone like Clifford as AHC — in my opinion. Someone with a proven track record of winning in the playoffs and someone with a proven track record of being a beast at teaching defense. not sure how Darvin Ham is swinging for the fences.
When you get blasted in the first round, the next level isn’t championship barring MAJOR roster changes. The next level is getting out of the first round and competing in the second round / conference finals with a shot at the finals with injuries (like this year). assuming the roster stays the same, in my opinion, it is absolutely insane to consider the next level for this team a championship. Don’t care if Phil Jackson, Jack Ramsay and Gregg Popovich formed a super staff.
And I’ll actually recant a portion of that. The next level should be conference finals. That should be the expectation. Finals, uh, not gonna happen without major injuries (once again, like this year.)
They went past the first round like two years ago. I don’t think rounds or where they finished last means shit. It’s not always a round by round progression. They need to have a better roster and better coaching
These are professionals we are talking about here. Not sure you can blame anyone for Aldridge other than Aldridge.
From what I recall, they got swept in back to back years. Made a run to WCF, where they got swept, then lost in the first round in back to back years. 4/5 years not reaching the second round. While I don’t think it is round by round progression that is the end all be all, I would certainly judge this team much differently if we reached the second round 4/5 years rather than the other way around. Additionally, the players stated getting WCF experience was eye opening for them. (Although it resulted in them getting bounced in the first round.) And the whole “playoff experience” thing may or not be bullshit but I certainly thing progressing in the playoffs is… preferable. and it’s not about where they finished most recently. It’s where they consistently finish. In the first round then lose. And if you read my post - I said WITH NO ROSTER CHANGES - it would be insane to assume that this is a finals bound team; thus, with solely a coaching change to “take us to the next level”, it would be consistently getting into the second round or WCF - in my opinion. And as you’ve stated that we need coaching changes AND roster changes to reach the finals, not entirely sure what you’re disagreeing with. Unless you change your theory to “if we had the best coach in the league, we would be title contenders!” Which would contradict your previous point of “needing roster changes.”
