Stotts was out coached by Gentry.
That was the biggest problem.
Most coaches will attempt to make it more difficult on the other teams best player.
Stotts didn't do this, he put a gameplan out that played to AD's strength in hopes AD would be too tired in the 4th.
Watching that series, it felt like anytime Lillard was put in space he scored.
It's when that pick and roll came, which allowed two defenders to go to the ball. Is when Lillard struggled.
Yes all of what you mentioned can help, but at the end of the day Stotts didn't make it easier on Lillard to play basketball.
That's his job as a coach.
Instead forced his superstar to play sideline to sideline out of a double team all series long.
I don't believe for a second that with as gifted as a scorer CJ is.
That if he was put in a position to release pressure with a cut.
That he wouldn't have been able to score at the rim.
At the end of the day, our gameplan was ass. Stotts got paid millions to come up with a gameplan that a 5th grader could come up with.
Everybody stand around, watch Lillard get doubled out of a P&R and hope the three goes in if you get the ball.
Yes, the lack of adjustments was frustrating - it reminded me very much of Nate getting outcoached by Gentry back in the POR vs. PHO series when Gentry put Grant Hill on Andre Miller and was allowed to hide Nash on Batum with ZERO adjustments from Nate.
Still, even if C.J. is capable of cutting and scoring at the rim the stats say Butler is MUCH more capable of doing it. Butler's greater size and strength make him much more capable of finishing in traffic, while also drawing a LOT more fouls (something C.J. is very poor at). In other words, if C.J. could do it, Butler could do it better.
Plus, you ignored the way Holiday lit up POR on the other end. Do you really think Holiday would have posted two new payoff career highs in the span of three games if Butler would have been guarding him? The 41 points Holiday scored in Game 4 wasn't just a new playoff career high, it was the most points he's ever scored in an NBA game - period. This wasn't some young player having a breakout game/series. This was a 9 year NBA veteran with over 600 games of NBA experience under his belt and he lit us up like he's never lit up anybody else.
Butler would have helped us - a lot - on both ends of the floor in that series, but this is about more than just one series. Butler is the kind of 2-way player you need to win in this league. He can guard multiple positions at an elite level, plus he is a very efficient scorer who gets to the FT line (important in close games - especially in the playoffs). And with his size, and ability to play both the 2 and the 3, he really helps balance our roster.
Don't get me wrong, I like C.J., I like him a lot. Getting him with the 10th pick in the draft was a steal. But, I like Butler better and think he's a better fit next to Dame (I thought the same thing about Paul George and Kawhi Leonard).
Given our staff's track record of developing guards (including C.J.), I feel confident that if we land Butler, eventually Simons or Trent Jr. will step up and we can start one of them at the 2 with Butler at the 3. That's the nice thing about drafting them both. We can include one of them in the package to get Butler and still have the other left to keep the pipeline of developing talent full.
In the mean time, Curry can fill that roll. Even if we didn't start Dame/Curry/Butler, that would be a hell of an effective "small ball" line up.
For those who don't think Neil is open to trading C.J., you don't think drafting Simons and Trent Jr., while also signing Curry and Stauskas to short term contracts was done to make giving up C.J. more palatable, especially if it means getting a talent like Jimmy Butler back in return?
BNM
