I'm So SICK & TIRED of Neil Olshey

Bottom line: I want a championship, so making the playoffs isn't an accomplishment, and Stotts was exposed during the playoffs, and Messina should replace him.

 

Seems to me like this post in the yard has been ran around aplenty. if NO is here for another year, I hope he makes moves that help the Blazers become contenders. If not than, I suppose I've been a Blazer fan long enough to already know how it feels...
My point on Dame is this. He has so far not played up to par in the Playoff's, I bet he would tell you that. No matter how good he is, or isn't, if he doesn't play like the Star we think he is in the playoff's the Blazers will not win with him as the main guy. So yes I think Dame should stay, "but", he really has to prove he's capable of playing well in the playoff's. If their going to win with him as their best player, they will need 2-3 guys who at least on CJ's level of effectiveness and hopefully more well-rounded. I think Collins and Nurkic can get there, they're young but they have talent, but who knows maybe they can't. I'm not counting Dame out because I believe he's the closest the Blazers have had to a superstar, since Clyde, and I think eventually Dame will figure out how to play against playoff defenses.

Anyways, hoops I don't really have anything to say that hasn't already been said so you won't have to worry about me interjecting between you and Gronk.

God, I hope in a year or two I'm sitting here saying how wrong I was about NO, assuming he's still here... I would like that so much more than to be back here day after day year after year feeling the same way I do now about the Blazers GM.

 

People that question if Dame can play well in the playoffs don't pay enough attention.

Dame cant score 1v2 when being trapped all the time and Stotts doesn't figure out a way to counter those double teams other than ET jacking up 3s.

Dames playoff performance was because of how he was being defended, not because he "can't play well in the playoffs". This dude shows up and raises his level of play in big moments of games, so do really think his playoff striggles are him withering because of the bright lights?

"Dame will figure out how to play against playoff defenses"... C'mon now. You don't figure out how to play through a situation of which you're guaranteed to fail. It's on Terry to put Dame on a position to succeed (i.e. don't run half court bell screens when they're tapping with Anthony Davis for 3 games in a row). Its another reason I don't like Stotts, his poor coaching has led to this false narrative of Dame not showing up in the playoffs. It's not Dames fault.

 

Except that it’s not just one bad matchup this year... Over Dame’s 5 year playoff career he is shooting only 40% fg and 34% 3pt on high volume... plus over 3 turnovers a game. At some point you have to look at the player. And I watch every game closely, especially in playoffs.

 

Because every team does it...

 

Sure some of it's on coaching, but players play, and his percentages in his career in the playoffs are pretty poor. I think he'll figure it out eventually, or at least I hope we get him help.

 

Why do you think his percentages are poor?

Because he's constantly being doubled.

Smh...

 

Unless we got EXTREMELY lucky in draft/trade, no coach is turning this roster into a championship contender. Some will point to Boston, but they still have four top 6 draft picks on that roster, which isn't even accounting for Irving and Hayward.

Talent wins in this league, and I'm afraid we'll always be at too big of a deficit here compared to the top teams. Reality sucks, but it doesn't mean we have to blow it up or that we can't enjoy this team for what it is.

 

I don't care if you interject, my point is that you are taking me talking directly to an extremist and using that to paint my posts in a certain light.

Why can't you answer why Olshey gets the blame not Stotts?

What would it take to constitute a successful season next year for Olshey to keep his job?

 

I think they both deserve blame, but this thread is supposed to be about NO. So I haven't focused on Stotts as much, but he definitely deserves some blame for how things played out. He got flat out, out coached.
Well for starters being competitive in the playoffs isn't a bad start... 2nd round and being competitive in the second round (say they lose in 6), would be a lot of progress.

I think NO gets the Blame because he is Stotts' boss, and PA won't be firing himself. I think the roster is on NO, when he got the team turned around after losing LA and still made the playoffs, didn't NO seem to really like taking the credit for that? So when they get their butt kicked he can take credit for that too.

 

We could compete for a WCF birth with Brad Stevens as our coach.

 

With our current roster? Not a chance.

 

An elite rim-protector and all-star level center, a properly used and therefore more efficient all-star level SG, and a superstar, top 10 player in the league at PG?

Yeah, we could, if we played the right style. Our big 3 is underrated. Nurk would be a beast under Stevens.

 

Stevens is great but the O and D versatility he has on that roster is a huge reason for their success and something we just don't have.

Nurk is not the dynamic pnr/pnp scorer and decision maker that Horford is and they have a stable of quality 2-way wings plus play zero below average defenders w/ Kyrie out.

 

If Olshey fired Stotts, would that make a difference? You've had several posts about the offense and passing being better in previous years. With a very similar roster I just don't get why you think the roster is the issue then if that virtually same roster has shown in past years and for stretches of this season (13 game winning streak) that ball movement does lead to this roster being more than capable. Last year during Summer League I heard Stotts say that he doesn't like to get involved in personnel decisions or the draft. I'm not really a fan of that attitude. It's good that he and Olshey seemingly get along but I want a coach who knows what he wants and puts in the time to let the GM know which players he thinks will be good fits in his system. He shouldn't have the final say but it would be nice to know he's fighting for certain players and at least has an opinion. Stotts is an okay coach. Certainly not terrible but not elite either. I'm kind of indifferent towards him now where I was a supporter in the past.

 

Honestly I haven't been a fan of Olshey for a while, I've tolerated him and supported him but "liked" him is a big stretch... Stotts is kind of a weird one for me, as I actually kind of like him, and I think he's an ok coach, but the end of the season it was really apparent to me he was getting out coached quite a bit, he didn't have his guys ready to play, and in the playoffs I'm not really sure what he doing... If this thread was I'm sick and Tired of Stotts, well I think you could make a good argument that it's time to find someone else for that position. My criticism of Stotts though is more of a new thing and admittedly when you don't like someone for a long time they are easier to be "sick and tired of", if that makes sense.

I believe changing Coaches may be the quickest way to make a significant change to the team, but it's a very volatile change, sometimes changing coaches, can be really good and sometimes it's a disaster. Changing GM is usually a more gradual change.

 

I'm trying to think what team has had success when changing their GM? Myers in GS had Curry on his roster when he took over. He did draft Green and Barnes so maybe that is the closest example.

Riley with the Heat, Nelson with the Mavs, Ainge with the Celtics, Buford with the Spurs, and Kupchak with the Lakers were all allowed to grow for years.

Dumars won in his 4th year as executive. Maybe that's the best example? I don't count the Cavs because they are a disgrace of an organization outside of LeBron.

I just don't see much in terms of a precedent of a new GM leading to a title.

 

I think Jerry West is a great GM...not sure if he's brought a title to a team on his own but the guy makes smart moves

 

Sam Presti? I realize they didn’t win by they were close.

I dunno it’s a good question.

 

Presti is in the Morey class to me. He's thought of as some genius but when he was hired the Sonics already had the #2 pick with one of the biggest no brainer picks of all time getting Durant. I think any GM could have some success with a top-2 player in the league for several years. He traded Ray Allen for the #5 pick which was Jeff Green, not sure about that one. He made great picks in Westbrook and Harden but traded Harden for what ended up being Steven Adams, who I think is kind of overrated. He probably made the wrong decision building around Westbrook and Durant instead of Harden and Durant. Both trades last summer look pretty bad, especially if George leaves.

It's a tough one to judge. On one hand he built a contending team in OKC. On the other hand he had 3 NBA MVP's on the same roster and couldn't figure out how to keep them together or win a title. I tend to lean towards that being a failure when they look back on his tenure.