So take the mish mash roster he has at the moment and try to implement a different style on offense and defense.
Add some two way players and get a ring?
The Op actually says that Stotts needs to look for different lines ups and change the style to fit them but you have to remember. Damian Lillard is still going to play. Dame does not run. Dame does not throw lobs. Dame doesn't even really move the ball around a bunch. Dame shoots and drives and dishes. On defense Dame is average. Roco has not been scoring well. Jones has had flashes but his shooting has been way off and it's hampered his ability to break to the basket. Melo isn't ever going to be anything other than Melo. Kanter is a beast around the rim and his defense has improved but we all watched him get handled by Poeltl. Nurk would have played much better against the Spurs. Giles needs minutes and could get better but to this point has underwhelmed. Trent seems to be the answer to replace CJ at this point but he is not going to create. 1M isn't getting it done and he also cannot hold the fort down while Dame is out? Hood might continue to improve? Lets hope so?
If Stotts keeps this team at or above .500 until he gets Nurk, CJ, and Collins back they will scrap their way to the 8th seed again. That is the best you are going to get if-
It's that simple. You can't fix issues the players have had without the players playing.
They should've been trying to implement a better style from the get-go.
I'm simply talking about improvements that should be valued no matter the roster, such as defensive positioning, defensive rotations, consistent effort, timely adjustments, ball movement, more productive set design utilizing guys like DJJ more as cutters instead of spot-up shooters. This isnt reliant on his 3pt shot, he shot the same in Miami last year and was still rated as the best cutter in the league according to synergy. Why cant Stotts use him as more than a 3pt shooter? That says something about Stotts to me, not DJJ.
With Nurkic and C.J. out, we need to ratchet up the defensive pressure to create more easy fastbreak buckets, especially with a bench personnel that has the pieces to do so and struggles in the halfcourt.
We also need to make each player more of a viable threat to help Dame out instead of putting all the responsibility on him. That means coming up with new set designs that arent solely reliant on catch-and-shoot 3s or players attacking off the dribble from the perimeter.
We're a different team without C.J. stotts needs to adapt and coach to his personnel, as well as help the team improve their weaknesses that arent personnel-dependant.
We dont have the luxury of CJ and Nurkic now, so we cant settle for stagnant halfcourt offense and hope that Anfernee Simon's bails us out then complain about him not getting it done because he's not C.J. while Stotts is coaching as if he is. We need to be more creative in manufacturing easy buckets and utilizing players better through our system (i.e. DJJ as a cutter more and a shooter less, Giles as a playmaker for the bench unit, Simons not being tasked to create something out of nothing against a set defense, etc.) However, Stotts system has always been to rely on C.J. and Dame to make everything happen. If he's the issue genius that every claims he is, he should be able to do more than that.
I also don't think Dame is as unreachable as you think he is. I've heard quite the opposite. I've seen Dame throw multiple lobs this year. If Stotts is too afraid to coach Dame then that's another reason why he shouldn't be our coach.
You say we cant fix the issues players had without them playing. Are we not playing any more games this season?
There's some things out of Stotts control that we'll be hurt be hurt by due to injuries. But I've laid out multiple things here that he can control with C.J. and Nurkic out.
We play Memphis next. They're 7-6 despite missing Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the majority of the season. Injuries dont mean a coach cant coach.
