It’s not about Blame it’s about how to improve from it. I think improved in game coaching would definitely help... Do you think Scheme has any effect or it’s just talent? If so why doesn’t Kentucky win basically every year? How did Dallas beat Miami? I mean i get what you’re saying, but it appeared to me Stotts got out coached pretty bad in that Pelicans series.
Scheme has plenty of effect I just don't agree with the idea that Terry did a worse job optimizing his available talent. Both teams played to their strengths, NO was just better equipped to nutrualize ours.
Fair enough I guess, I disagree at least to an extent. Though I definitely think more talent / skill always helps. I felt there were parts of the offense all year and especially in the playoffs that I didn’t like. I don’t feel like my opinion is more valid than yours so I’m ok just saying we can agree to disagree.
I think this is where most feel Stotts failed. It was clear in game one we were outmatched. By game two there should have been some adjustments. By game three you try something different. Period. By game four your trying anything and everything. If a round peg doesn't fit into a square whole, why keep pounding?
I don’t know if it’s on Stotts or not but I think what really irritated me was it took until game 4 for the Blazers to get the edge to them. They finally started to look like that hungry frothing dog ready to fight. Holiday and Rondo brought that the whole series.
I didn't like the Stotts hire initially but he grew on me to the point where I thought he was doing a really good job. However, much like Olshey recently I have begun to question if Stotts is really doing that well. I don't think lack of talent is an excuse. Here are some of my issues: Passing Blazers were of course last in the league in assists last year. They were the only team in the league to average less than 20 assists per game. Team passes per game they were 28th. Both the Rockets and Thunder were bad passing teams as well so maybe those numbers aren't necessarily indicative of a successful offense but I think we can all agree that when the ball movement is crisp and the Blazers make the extra pass it seems like their offensive output and record are better. The coach is responsible for getting the team to make more passes but I feel Stotts allows too much isolation. Fast Breaks Portland was of course dead last in fast breaks as well. This is on the coach as well. I have seen hundreds of times where Stotts is yelling "Run, run, run!" after a rebound but they rarely do. If your players aren't doing what you want them to do after 6 seasons then you aren't doing it right. Rotation Last season Portland had one of the greatest advantages over other teams in the West (except GS) which is continuity. A lot of other playoff level teams made huge changes to their rosters. The Blazers should've came into the season ready to take advantage of the teams learning to play with each other. Instead they got off to another poor start for the 3rd year in a row. Stotts spent the first two months of the season dicking around with the lineups while the team struggled. It was only when he finally started being consistent with the rotations that things started going well. However, there were several games where Stotts reverted back to letting other teams dictate our lineups instead of forcing them to change to us. Defensive Pick and Roll Philosophy I hate the automatic switching on picks. Before last season Stotts said he considered changing up his defense but decided against it. I believe the defense was better last year because Nurk personally doesn't auto switch and gets stuck on guards much less than other players. This is a really overlooked skill. Collins will learn but he got stuck on guards a lot. In my opinion you need to mix up your defensive coverages on the pick and roll. Throw different looks at them. In the Houston game where the 2nd unit almost came back and won they were blitzing Harden forcefully every time he ran a pick and roll. After years of getting the switch he wanted every time he played Portland he had no clue how to attack it. Now blitzing the pick and roll every time isn't the right play either but that brings me to my point. You have to mix up what you do. It's more than okay to switch sometimes but when prime Dirk only needs to pretend he is screening Dame to get him to switch on him every time and then gets the ball at the top of the key then the other team has a major advantage. If they have no clue if you are going to trap, hedge and recover, switch, or blitz the pick that is where you can really become an elite defense. Playoffs (This Year) I'll give Stotts a pass last year because we had no size with Nurk and Davis injured. As mentioned several times in this thread, the Pelicans pick and roll defense was incredible in that series. Why continue to run it? How come other teams can come up with creative ways to get their stars shots? How about trying Dame off the ball if they are double and triple teaming him? In a series you have to be able to exploit mismatches. It might not be fair but it is on the coach to make the adjustments. Most of these things are correctable and almost everything else Stotts does is good but they are things that a coach can affect no matter if he has the talent or not.
I pretty much agree with all this. The other thing to me that I really question is Stotts and his staffs ability to help our bigs get better. Hughes always gets brought up regarding Meyers but it feels like our bigs aren’t leaving with any noticeable improvements to when we got them. I think Stotts is so much more likeable than NO so I have a tendency to dog NO maybe more than he deserves. I’ll give Stotts this, he got Dame and CJ to try on defense, not that they will ever be good defenders but they put the energy out there and the defense was a ton better.
Ive always disliked the way Stotts uses the first half of the season top review combinations. I think it is going to happen again this year with all a new guys. Maybe I'm wrong and its the wise thing to do fro 1/2 the season. I also used to get pissed at Ramsey and Adleman for nor playing rooks or deep into the bench.
The coaching over the past few years has been mediocre at best and was down right appalling in the playoffs, so I've been flabbergasted that Stotts hasn't been let go. If this really is the 'last hurrah' for this roster, then they are going to regret not giving Dame & Co the opportunity to grow under a different coach. The easiest way to 'Freshen' up the offense (and the whole team) was to get rid of the stink, AKA Terry Stotts' systems. Yet, the Blazers brass are defiantly/stubbornly sticking to their guns and standing by the roster as currently constructed (including coaching staff). Stotts being retained after those last playoffs (unbelievably!) was a smack in the face to all Blazers fans, for forcing us to endure at least another season of mediocrity & also to the players, for unfairly, not giving them the greater opportunity to excel under more competent coaching.
Stotts is a bad coach. I would change your mind in 5 minutes if we discussed this in person. I've already posted a lot on why the Terry excuses are lazy as hell. Even Terry admitted his own failures. How quickly people forget what they saw in the postseason. It was absolutely horrible coaching. Stotts is a good coach if you're rebuilding, not if you're trying to contend. He consistently gets outcoache in the postseason, unless he's going up against Kevin McHale (who'd even worse). It all started with us vonti loudly give Beno Udrih midramge jumpers all series long against Memphis, even though he was killing us with them, and he wasn't comfortable shooting 3s or attacking the rim...
I am pretty much over NO unless he pulls a miracle... Im riding the fence in regards to Stotts, I don’t think he’s a bad coach but I think their are good arguements to keeping him and to letting him go.
