A lot of what is said to Giannis applies to Dame. We have only seen what he can do under Terry. Am really curious how much more he can grow with a different voice.
If you say so. I don't agree. But other than saying it, can you point to examples? And how Terry was instrumental in their over-performance? Dame did what Dame does. CJ was off and on...and got railed HARD by a ton of people in here. Nurk was mostly a big disappointment offensively (but great defensively). Vonleh went from starting to not even playing. Harkless started very poorly, and then rebounded to his usual self. Turner followed up his poor first year with another underwhelming performance. Last summer many of us (you included, I believe) thought Pat would be able to replace Crabbe...and he kinda did (but how does Terry have anything to do with this if many of us already thought he could do what he did?). Four games. I'm sorry, but it was four games. He was left wide open because teams know that Aminu shooting jumpers is not going to beat them - career percentages be damned. (Also, they weren't career best percentages - he set those when he was with DAL, as a bench player, which is what he is.) And getting something out of Bazz and Pat? What did he do other than give them minutes? Bazz and Pat have skills - of course they're going to give "something" if they get minutes. It's not like it's Nolan Smith and Armon Johnson. Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaat???? Only an idiot would think this team would win 27 games. As a collective, we precisely predicted how many games we'd win (I think the average prediction was something like 48.53). The team performed exactly to expectations, neither over- nor under-performing...and it took an unlikely 13 game winning streak to meet expectations after a disappointing first half. Again - much like Pat and Bazz - Meyers does have some skill. But this is a case of the knife cutting both ways. If you want to give him credit for eking out a couple made shots from Meyers, you also have to blame him for the yearly regression since his rookie season.
Sadly, Terry is probably the easiest thing to change on the team because of all our crappy contracts. It's easier to change the coach and see if someone new gets different results.
He made Meyers play away from the basket. He's doing the same thing with Zach Collins right now. Shabazz has been a competitor since his college days. Stotts deserves some credit but doesn't know how to coach a big man and utilize their strengths. IE, Jusuf Nurkic. He can be so much more but it tooks Stotts 16 quarters to realize that Nurk could score on Mirotic at anytime. He doesn't get credit for Aminu making open 3s. That credit goes to Aminu.
There used to be a website that tracked this, but I can't remember this. But we always seem to to turn it over or dribble the air out of the ball immediately following timeouts. Oddly enough, we were amazing with Nate.
I'm talking about Stotts entire tenure not just This season. He did take a team that was slated to win 27 to the playoffs. He did thus just last year and that made your expectations for this season's team inflated. Plain and simple, this roster has overachieved.
Shabazz hadn't been shit in this league before Terry. You could say the same thing about others on the roster like Moe who was benched by Terry early in the season. Now we probably won't be able to afford Shabazz in the off-season. Thus is because of his role and the way he was used.
You are my spirit animal right now. I’ll add this controversial bit: Terry is a below .500 head coach who is seeing great success because of an above-average roster, particularly at the time of taking over the job, also taking into account that Damian Lillard is one of the best Blazers of all time and we have a top 5 backcourt. His offense would NEVER work if Damian, or CJ, couldn’t shoot from well beyond the three point line, which stresses the defense to come guard them at half court...legitimately. Any increased success from role players can directly be attributed to them and their ability to change the shape of the court; much like Steph and Klay do. When players have career years with LeBron, we don’t attribute it to Tyrone Lue. We need to do the same with our backcourt recognizing the fact that anyone who plays with them are going to get much cleaner looks than before, because the defense is scrambling to double or even triple apparently Lillard and CJ. Also, the solution doesn’t need to be shoot better from 3. If teams are going to double and triple, that’s 4-2 elsewhere... you can get a layup with a couple clever screens and cuts. How many alley oops do we see on this team? Further, he has held this team, and this backcourt back by refusing to adjust his defense for the first few YEARS he was here. Also; the host of other things you listed previously. Stotts should’ve been canned years ago. This is easy.
Correction: According to @HCP this team overachieved. I'm also talking about more than just this season - the errors with Stotts go back to Day 1. And I still haven't seen any concrete examples of what Terry has done. The defensive improvement is the only tangible thing that's been pointed out...and I suspect that had more to do with Nurk than Terry, but I'll still give Terry some credit for the defensive improvement. However, my biggest gripe with him has always been his offense - it's a regular season offense that won't succeed in the Playoffs.
They way he was used: you mean free reign and green light? Brilliant coaching! I swear I saw Bazz run a higher percentage of no-pass possessions than either Dame or CJ. I wish there was a stat that tracked no-pass possessions by team and player.
I would say playing as the 3 guard with CJ and Dame attributed more to that than Stotts. Yeah he got more minutes and had a green light to jack shots. Same with Moe.
Wait, now Portland has an above average roster. Learn something new every time I login to this website.
I voted "in" because that's what I think will happen. Do I want him gone? I don't like his tactics in playoff situations, but I also think he's an OK coach at getting his teams to perform up to their ability over the long-haul of a season. So I'm ambivalent, because I think the roster (and Olshey) is the root of their most pressing woes.
It’s amazing how many people are smarter and more knowledgeable at basketball than the current Portland Trailblazer coaching staff. Kudos to you all. Must be frustrating to not be paid to give such insight for a living.
So what you are saying is we shouldn't debate the decisions of the organization?????? Then why are we here? Why are you here???..... Must be frustrating to have nothing tangible to add to the conversation other than to try to degrade and demean the forum members for thinking and discussing potential other options the Blazers have and do have........
When I have a spare hour maybe I’ll come up with the tangible evidence you need. Essentially I mirror Dviss’ sentiment.
