In Praise of Terry Stotts

[Trackjack]

Stotts is a good coach he has this team playing together on both ends of the court.Everyone what stars player and most of the time that don't work right Houston. PA has tried to buy a championship and that didn't work he was close sometimes. The year the Blazer won it all that team play together.

 

[Draco]

A big part of why Stotts has been such a great coach is the players acceptance of his coaching. They all buy in and do everything he asks and work their butts off. They don't complain when he gives them a DNP. Everyone outside of Dame and CJ play under 30 mpg. They have embraced his offense, who gets the shots, who is a role player in ways that LaMarcus, Kaman, TRob, Afflalo, and Mo Williams never did.

Stotts deserves most of the credit for sure, he has done an amazing job coaching this year. The adjustment against Golden State of pushing on made baskets while the rest of the league tries to slow down. Staggering CJ and Dame's minutes so one is always on the floor. Giving Aminu the green light and confidence to become a contributor at the 3 point line. The defensive improvements over the homestand.

But a big reason is the players all doing exactly what he wants. There is credit to go around. Compare that to Houston; where the players don't listen to McHale. Or the Cavs; where players wouldn't follow Blatts plays. Sometimes I think having a good coach is more about all the players following him than necessarily the details of what he is saying. Its similar to workout plans; people will search for some perfect "system". But any workout routine will have huge success if you attack it 100%.

 

[Fun in the Sun]

A big part of why Stotts has been such a great coach is the players acceptance of his coaching. They all buy in and do everything he asks and work their butts off. They don't complain when he gives them a DNP. Everyone outside of Dame and CJ play under 30 mpg. They have embraced his offense, who gets the shots, who is a role player in ways that LaMarcus, Kaman, TRob, Afflalo, and Mo Williams never did.

Stotts deserves most of the credit for sure, he has done an amazing job coaching this year. The adjustment against Golden State of pushing on made baskets while the rest of the league tries to slow down. Staggering CJ and Dame's minutes so one is always on the floor. Giving Aminu the green light and confidence to become a contributor at the 3 point line. The defensive improvements over the homestand.

But a big reason is the players all doing exactly what he wants. There is credit to go around. Compare that to Houston; where the players don't listen to McHale. Or the Cavs; where players wouldn't follow Blatts plays. Sometimes I think having a good coach is more about all the players following him than necessarily the details of what he is saying. Its similar to workout plans; people will search for some perfect "system". But any workout routine will have huge success if you attack it 100%.

I agree with this 100%. Whether it's the influence of Dame or Stotts or some combination, the players are buying in. The Thunder don't look that different from when they had Brooks as coach. Donovan ran some good stuff at Florida but none of it shows on the current thunder team. I think the fact that Blazers, both the 2013-14 and 2015-16 squads have great chemistry that results in more wins than most thought is a testament to how well Stotts gets his guys to play.

 

[ripcityboy]

Right players + Right Coach - Minus Egos = Current Team

 

[Draco]

I wonder how much time Stotts has earned himself to be the Blazers head coach?

I think regardless of what happens next season he'll return for the 2017-18 season. So summer of 2018 at a minimum and that would be with major failures between now and then leading to a critical evaluation of his job. Might still keep him even if we underachive; but that is the earliest date his job could conceivably be in question.

One problem for him with his excellent coaching is expectations will be raised and it may become harder and harder to meet those. If he got this team to overachive by 8 wins this year then next year he has to get them to overachive again just to do what some will say is an average job.

Dame has said he really enjoys playing for Stotts. How cool would it be if 6 years from now if we're talking about one GM one coach one superstar all being here working together with this team for a decade? They all came here within a month of each other. Long term stability is rare in the NBA.

 

[BBert]

You may want to adjust those FGA for pace. Remember, Zach played for Nate when the team had the slowest pace in the entire league - by far and Aldridge's biggest seasons came under Stotts when we were near the top of the league in pace.

You may want to also compare worst FG%:

Zach = .436
Aldridge = .458

Or FG% in a Blazer uniform:

Zach = .466
Aldridge = .485

So much for the myth that Zach was a hard working, efficient scoring beast on the low blocks and Aldridge was a soft, inefficient jump shooter. I wonder why the Aldridge haters completely ignore the fact that he was a more efficient scorer than their beloved Z-Bo.

Feel free to hate Aldridge for leaving us for the Spurs (please, feel free), but if you're going to shit all over his on court contributions in a Blazers uniforms, please at least shit all over Zach's in equal proportion.

BNM

I'm not trying to discount any of that, and I'm not the stats guy so I'll ask: I have the perception that Zach used to get a lot of his own misses around the basket resulting in him still scoring on the same possession, maybe missing a few more shots but scoring more 'efficiently' or 'consistently' in terms of 'attempts' (defined as shots in a single possession)? You know, kind of a Moses Malone thing? It was a LONG time ago though, so IDK (and not that I care, but the thought crossed my mind reading this discussion, so I thought I'd ask).

 

[BBert]

I still contend it wasn't Roy who demanded that the FO trade Zach, but LMA. The reports never said which young player it was. We all just assumed it was Roy.

Hmm...I always assumed it was the Oregonian....

 

[BBert]

A big part of why Stotts has been such a great coach is the players acceptance of his coaching. They all buy in and do everything he asks and work their butts off. They don't complain when he gives them a DNP. Everyone outside of Dame and CJ play under 30 mpg. They have embraced his offense, who gets the shots, who is a role player in ways that LaMarcus, Kaman, TRob, Afflalo, and Mo Williams never did.

Stotts deserves most of the credit for sure, he has done an amazing job coaching this year. The adjustment against Golden State of pushing on made baskets while the rest of the league tries to slow down. Staggering CJ and Dame's minutes so one is always on the floor. Giving Aminu the green light and confidence to become a contributor at the 3 point line. The defensive improvements over the homestand.

But a big reason is the players all doing exactly what he wants. There is credit to go around. Compare that to Houston; where the players don't listen to McHale. Or the Cavs; where players wouldn't follow Blatts plays. Sometimes I think having a good coach is more about all the players following him than necessarily the details of what he is saying. Its similar to workout plans; people will search for some perfect "system". But any workout routine will have huge success if you attack it 100%.

Absolutely. You also cannot discount the attitude and impact of the team's (any team's) marquee player. If Dame were a bitch like Kobe or Lebron, and he didn't like Stotts, Dame would tune him out, the rest of the team would tune him out, and he'd be history. As long as Dame is the leader of this team, and as long as the players support Dame and Dame supports the coach, the players will continue to listen to Stotts and his job will be much easier.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

A big part of why Stotts has been such a great coach is the players acceptance of his coaching. They all buy in and do everything he asks and work their butts off. They don't complain when he gives them a DNP. Everyone outside of Dame and CJ play under 30 mpg. They have embraced his offense, who gets the shots, who is a role player in ways that LaMarcus, Kaman, TRob, Afflalo, and Mo Williams never did.

Stotts deserves most of the credit for sure, he has done an amazing job coaching this year. The adjustment against Golden State of pushing on made baskets while the rest of the league tries to slow down. Staggering CJ and Dame's minutes so one is always on the floor. Giving Aminu the green light and confidence to become a contributor at the 3 point line. The defensive improvements over the homestand.

But a big reason is the players all doing exactly what he wants. There is credit to go around. Compare that to Houston; where the players don't listen to McHale. Or the Cavs; where players wouldn't follow Blatts plays. Sometimes I think having a good coach is more about all the players following him than necessarily the details of what he is saying. Its similar to workout plans; people will search for some perfect "system". But any workout routine will have huge success if you attack it 100%.

Great Post, but I'll add 2 more things:

The unquestioned leader/all-star on the team loves the coach and has shown public support: he wants him here "as long as I'm here."

Stotts runs a system based on reads. The players have a freedom that many of them haven't found in other systems. Players tend to like that.

 

[blue9]

And this is why I'm not sold on Stotts - when the going gets tough he's nowhere to be found. He does a great job of letting players do what they do, but he leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to actually coaching a game of basketball.

 

[Sinobas]

And this is why I'm not sold on Stotts - when the going gets tough he's nowhere to be found. He does a great job of letting players do what they do, but he leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to actually coaching a game of basketball.

Alot of it is on the players, but Harden was just eating us alive, no adjustments. And give them some strategy to counter what the Rockets were doing defensively.

 

[Blazer4ever]

This team is built for consistent substituting, not for a fucking pattern that Stotts always needs to create, Vonleh plays to start both halves, he never plays otherwise, why? because Stotts is fucking OCD, sorry OCD people, we have Cliff Alexander who never got a chance other than in garbage time, why he isn't at least in the NBDL is beyond me, why isn't he playing? because he can't help us? because he can't give us something different, a different look another option? I think he can but I guess we'll never know.
Neil brought all these lesser known players also because Stotts couldn't deal with benching any of last year's starters (besides Rolo) so he sent them away and brought relative no-names but Stotts sticks with his minute distribution patterns so that no-one gets upset and yes, he started making his substitutions more about basketball but it shouldn't be more about basketball, it should be only about basketball.
Shuffle it, Terry. Play with it, have fun with it, think basketball. If you wanna play small, play small, if you wanna try Meyers as a 3, play Meyers as a 3. Don't always rely on some kind of system you think is working, you shouldn't trust any concept. Player movement, ball movement, team defense, offense, rebounding, these are concepts, the substitutions are on you. You have 12 players worth playing, you can give most of them DNPs on any given game but don't just stick to the plan, experiment, trust your instincts, test your instincts.
I'm reading Phil Jackson's book and he said sometimes he let players keep playing through other team's runs for them to figure it out themselves. I think that's fair. Also that criticism is fair. I think Stotts is a good coach and more importantly, I think he's getting better

 

[TBpup]

It is curious how when the only way Houston could possibly come back is if Harden goes absolutely nuts. No hedging, no doubles, no Aminu guarding him....nothing to keep him from getting into an insane rhythm or anything to slow it down. This is not the first time and sadly likely to happen again. It's not like it was GS where multiple other players could hurt you.....Houston had no one else who could carry them to that type of comeback.

A pretty glaring lack of any adjustment what so every.

 

[B-Roy]

It is curious how when the only way Houston could possibly come back is if Harden goes absolutely nuts. No hedging, no doubles, no Aminu guarding him....nothing to keep him from getting into an insane rhythm or anything to slow it down. This is not the first time and sadly likely to happen again. It's not like it was GS where multiple other players could hurt you.....Houston had no one else who could carry them to that type of comeback.

A pretty glaring lack of any adjustment what so every.

Biggest problem with Stotts is that he never adjusts to defending one player, even when that one player is absolutely torching that night.

 

[MickZagger]

Coach of the Year, Coach of the Year!

1 loss, albeit a shitty one. Now everyone thinks he's a bum. Get real, were in the thick of a playoff race with truthfully a mishmash roster of has-been's and supposed to be's.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

Stotts just popoviched Houston. Who gives a shit about them? Why show our hand when they won't be in the picture later. We have bigger fish to fry.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

I didn't want to start a new thread for this.

The Sacramento Kings have brought Tom Thibodeau in as a defensive consultant.

Thibodeau has consulted with several teams this season and will be with the Kings through Saturday, at the request of head coach George Karl. "I think he's intrigued by our offense and we're probably intrigued by his defense," Karl said.

Apparently this is not a new thing. We have improved a lot on D but I would take a week with Tom Thibodeau to see if he could give us a few pointers.

 

[riverman]

Boston is historically a hard place to steal a road win....our role players couldn't make shots all night..2 guys in double digit scoring aren't ever going to beat 6 or 7 guys shooting well. You could tell we were tired after the first qtr. Boston beat us....no need to bash the coach over one road loss. Credit Boston for kicking our butt and move on...I think it's a ridiculous low blow to bash Stotts over this one but doesn't surprise me. Boston is no slouch...37 win team so far.

 

[Draco]

Boston is historically a hard place to steal a road win....our role players couldn't make shots all night..2 guys in double digit scoring aren't ever going to beat 6 or 7 guys shooting well. You could tell we were tired after the first qtr. Boston beat us....no need to bash the coach over one road loss. Credit Boston for kicking our butt and move on...I think it's a ridiculous low blow to bash Stotts over this one but doesn't surprise me. Boston is no slouch...37 win team so far.

I believe this thread is older than you think it is.

 

[HailBlazers]

Boston is historically a hard place to steal a road win....our role players couldn't make shots all night..2 guys in double digit scoring aren't ever going to beat 6 or 7 guys shooting well. You could tell we were tired after the first qtr. Boston beat us....no need to bash the coach over one road loss. Credit Boston for kicking our butt and move on...I think it's a ridiculous low blow to bash Stotts over this one but doesn't surprise me. Boston is no slouch...37 win team so far.

Yea I'll be interested to see how we do against them at our home! Boston has been on a home stand and like us have really good fans.

 

[Blazer Freak]

This team is built for consistent substituting, not for a fucking pattern that Stotts always needs to create, Vonleh plays to start both halves, he never plays otherwise, why? because Stotts is fucking OCD, sorry OCD people, we have Cliff Alexander who never got a chance other than in garbage time, why he isn't at least in the NBDL is beyond me, why isn't he playing? because he can't help us? because he can't give us something different, a different look another option? I think he can but I guess we'll never know.
Neil brought all these lesser known players also because Stotts couldn't deal with benching any of last year's starters (besides Rolo) so he sent them away and brought relative no-names but Stotts sticks with his minute distribution patterns so that no-one gets upset and yes, he started making his substitutions more about basketball but it shouldn't be more about basketball, it should be only about basketball.
Shuffle it, Terry. Play with it, have fun with it, think basketball. If you wanna play small, play small, if you wanna try Meyers as a 3, play Meyers as a 3. Don't always rely on some kind of system you think is working, you shouldn't trust any concept. Player movement, ball movement, team defense, offense, rebounding, these are concepts, the substitutions are on you. You have 12 players worth playing, you can give most of them DNPs on any given game but don't just stick to the plan, experiment, trust your instincts, test your instincts.
I'm reading Phil Jackson's book and he said sometimes he let players keep playing through other team's runs for them to figure it out themselves. I think that's fair. Also that criticism is fair. I think Stotts is a good coach and more importantly, I think he's getting better

You do realize that PDX does not use the D-League for a reason right? It's become clear that we have something pretty special here with regards to player development. When you send a player down to the D-League they travel and are not around the team. Just because Cliff isn't playing in games doesn't mean he isn't getting valuable time with our coaching staff and being around a very healthy and competitive culture.

I know this is just SHOCKING to many people around here but guess what...the franchise is in good hands and I'm prettyyyyyyy sure they have a better handle of their roster than people outside of the organization.

Everyone needs to just take a chill pill. We've got a franchise player. We've got a true leader on and off the court. We've got a great GM. We've got a Top 10 coach. We have an owner that doesn't mind spending to win. Just sit back and enjoy this team and the next couple of years.

 

[Draco]

You do realize that PDX does not use the D-League for a reason right? It's become clear that we have something pretty special here with regards to player development. When you send a player down to the D-League they travel and are not around the team. Just because Cliff isn't playing in games doesn't mean he isn't getting valuable time with our coaching staff and being around a very healthy and competitive culture.

I know this is just SHOCKING to many people around here but guess what...the franchise is in good hands and I'm prettyyyyyyy sure they have a better handle of their roster than people outside of the organization.

Everyone needs to just take a chill pill. We've got a franchise player. We've got a true leader on and off the court. We've got a great GM. We've got a Top 10 coach. We have an owner that doesn't mind spending to win. Just sit back and enjoy this team and the next couple of years.

It's kind of an odd spot to be for us knowledgeable fans who follow a ton of players in the league, know salary cap rules and are fluent with analytics. There were many times in the past the team made so many bad decisions or missed obvious opportunities it was easy to critique.

Neil has a heck of an eye for talent and chemistry. Listening to Stotts on the vertical it's obvious he understands analytics as well as teaching, player motivation, relationship skills. Dame would be a great leader in any situation. Yeah we should just enjoy the show.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

It's kind of an odd spot to be for us knowledgeable fans who follow a ton of players in the league, know salary cap rules and are fluent with analytics. There were many times in the past the team made so many bad decisions or missed obvious opportunities it was easy to critique.

Neil has a heck of an eye for talent and chemistry. Listening to Stotts on the vertical it's obvious he understands analytics as well as teaching, player motivation, relationship skills. Dame would be a great leader in any situation. Yeah we should just enjoy the show.

They rolled the dice, and it seemed to come up just right...

 

[Blazer4ever]

You do realize that PDX does not use the D-League for a reason right? It's become clear that we have something pretty special here with regards to player development. When you send a player down to the D-League they travel and are not around the team. Just because Cliff isn't playing in games doesn't mean he isn't getting valuable time with our coaching staff and being around a very healthy and competitive culture.

I know this is just SHOCKING to many people around here but guess what...the franchise is in good hands and I'm prettyyyyyyy sure they have a better handle of their roster than people outside of the organization.

Everyone needs to just take a chill pill. We've got a franchise player. We've got a true leader on and off the court. We've got a great GM. We've got a Top 10 coach. We have an owner that doesn't mind spending to win. Just sit back and enjoy this team and the next couple of years.

But in the D-League they get to play in real games, the fans can see them play or check out their performances.
Crabbe went to the D-League and even didn't have impressive numbers but he came back more ready and the funny guy with Trader-Bob in his avatar watched all the games and made commentary it was fun. If Cliff Alexander is impressive there he would get minutes when he returns, he would at least get a decent chance to prove himself for the fans, even if the coaches get to see him in practice

 

[Blazer Freak]

But in the D-League they get to play in real games, the fans can see them play or check out their performances.
Crabbe went to the D-League and even didn't have impressive numbers but he came back more ready and the funny guy with Trader-Bob in his avatar watched all the games and made commentary it was fun. If Cliff Alexander is impressive there he would get minutes when he returns, he would at least get a decent chance to prove himself for the fans, even if the coaches get to see him in practice

In an ideal world, yes that is how it would work. But the D-League is still not a finished product with regards to being a farm system. If the Blazers were in the same spot where we were last year with a great veteran team, then yes I'd say to send players like Cliff down there to get experience. However, I'd say the Blazers are now more than likely a Top 5 team when it comes to Player Development and I'd rather have a player that needs to grow do so by spending time with our coaches everyday and developing in the culture Dame has helped to create.

 

[riverman]

But in the D-League they get to play in real games, the fans can see them play or check out their performances.
Crabbe went to the D-League and even didn't have impressive numbers but he came back more ready and the funny guy with Trader-Bob in his avatar watched all the games and made commentary it was fun. If Cliff Alexander is impressive there he would get minutes when he returns, he would at least get a decent chance to prove himself for the fans, even if the coaches get to see him in practice

They play zero D in the D league...it's an oxymoron...practicing against real NBA talent is way better. Tim Frazier is beasting in the D league but he didn't beast against NBA level competition. Alexander, Connaughton and Montero are getting a real NBA education from our staff.