Honest question for Stotts supporters

Just so I understand. You think Donovan is an average regular season coach, but a horrible playoff coach, and therefore OKC being 7th in the West doesn't surprise you at this point in the season?

Including injuries, I'd love to see how you rank the talent in the Western Conference. That would help me understand your perspective.

 

Because usually they earned that number one seed and then they have to prove they deserve it in the WCF and then the Finals. We got fucking plastered by a Warriors team that was decimated by injuries. They were so weak that the Raptors made them look stupid in the Finals.

 

Denver beat a very mediocre team in San Antonio. I don't care how good Pop is. That team is below average and they should have blown it up when Kawhi left. This is proven to be true because basically the exact same team is back this season and they're 12-18.

 

They did get an extra injury to Klay in the finals...

 

Completely agree with this. It's the same mindset that allows injuries to be the excuse for everything that happens this season.

Toronto is 21-10 after losing Kawhi and Green this off season and replacing them with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson plus having multiple starters out with injuries. Their coach actually tries different things with his "lesser talent" to compensate for that. So far this season I've seen him employ a box and one, a trapping zone, and a full court press with guys like Chris Boucher, Terrence Davis, and Malcolm Miller. You can't convince me that they just have more talent than us. Instead of trying new things the Blazers still run pretty much the exact same offense and defense they've been running for over 7 years.

 

They won 48 games. All these mediocre bad teams winning 48+ games in the west is pretty crazy.

 

The West is significantly stronger this year. The Clippers. The Lakers. Hell, even teams like the Suns and Kings are more dangerous this season. I wouldn't compare records last season to this season.

 

I think this might help explain why some people are so upset.... They think 50 wins is average. They think a team who lead for more minutes in a series got plastered.

 

If you don't win a game, you got plastered.

 

I don't have time to rank the teams in terms of talent but saying a team is seeded 7th therefore is being coached well (not saying that is what you are saying) is completely absurd to me. So is saying the Blazers are doing awesome because they're in the 8th seed.

Going into the season I'd say that OKC was at best 9th in terms of talent but probably in the 10-12 range. They haven't performed any differently than I expected, it's teams like Portland, SA, Sacramento, and GS that have under performed preseason expectations. So if you would have told me that SA would be this bad and those other 3 teams had injuries then I don't really think 7th is some sort of monumental achievement for OKC.

 

So the West is significantly stronger (your words), we're missing three starters (fact), and we made a bunch of questionable moves this off-season... Seems to me that we should be worse than 8th in the West based off those circumstances.

 

Wait... So if the west is that much stronger why are "losing records" still contending for the playoffs they sure weren't last year. If we're gonna throw out records and say that it doesn't matter I guess the Blazers are in a good position, because well the record doesn't matter let's not compare what they did last year to this year after all. I actually think the top of the West is really good, but the rest of the field has dipped into a ton of mediocrity.

 

I thought OKC would be worse than the NOP too, but I was wrong!

Where do you think Portland ranks talent wise right now?

 

Bullshit. I’m no Stotts apologist, but injuries are definitely the excuse for this season.

 

Yeah, when I made my predictions Zion hadn't gotten hurt yet but that was a big blow for their chances this year. They might actually be 7th if they had him all year. With vets like Jrue, JJ, and Favors they shouldn't have lost 12 out of 13 or whatever it was.

 

Did people not think it would take some time to jell with half the roster new to the organization? Add in some injuries? Add a better Western Conf? They should be what, over .500? Just trying to understand.

 

Here's my overall problem with what you're saying. I think the Blazers, for the most part, were just happy to get to the WCF's last year. I think they got there and felt they accomplished what they came to accomplish. It felt that way all there interviews both during the series and after made it feel that way too. I think it has little to do with what coaches were awesome, and who they played and more to do with the mental aspect of the game, one team knew how to win and the other didnt. You touted Denver's inexperience, well the Blazers had basically no positive playoff experience either. They got a little bit, and got cocky - they were cocky all summer too - look what they did after all they proved all the haters wrong. It was on Stotts and Dame too to say look that was fun, but it doesn't mean anything for this year, instead they talked about how that validated everything they've been through and acted like it was a forgone conclusion they'd be back. That GS was almost all mental to me, mental mistakes included, but one team knew they could win, and one team was excited they got to be part of it.

Stotts got out-coached in the GS series, but the whole team just got outplayed in every second half, including Dame. To take a saying from Stephen A., "They came up smaller than, "mini-me's when it mattered". The whole they only got there because it was easy, I don't buy it. I think they the opponents may have helped to some extent, and not playing GS until the WCF's helped, but it's like saying well Cleveland only made the finals because they didn't have to play GS until then. They played who they played. The problem is really GS knew what it took to win, Portland has never figured out what it takes to beat GS, they may be lucky they may not ever have to try again.

 

Okay, so if we're circling back around, I'll just go ahead and ask you to refer to my post where I said "WE HAVEN'T BEATEN ANYONE ANY GOOD THIS YEAR."

The only reason why we're even remotely in the playoff hunt is because we're beating shite teams. Do I need to remind you how we have done against good teams this year?

Utah - 121-115

Denver - 114-99

Lakers - 136-113

Clippers - 117-97

Milwaukee - 137-129

Houston - 132-108

Toronto - 114-106

Clippers - 107-101

Philly - 129-128

Denver 108-100

Plus you can toss in losses to Santonio, Brooklyn, Golden State, Cleveland, the Pelicans (TWICE), OKC, etc. We can't beat teams with winning records and in most cases we're being embarrassed by them.

 

This post is exactly what I'm talking about. The team unfortunately has bought into this as well. The Blazers still have one of the best back courts in the NBA and a center that has played great this season. I've listed 8 games previously that they blew before Hood went down where other teams had just as many if not more significant injuries than the Blazers did. But yeah, it's an excuse for the Blazers but not the teams they lose to?

 

Yes the Blazers suck this year. No one's arguing that. Their also still a playoff team, which leads me to think that maybe the west is worse than last year if a team this bad is a "playoff team", they really shouldn't be.