The BLAME GAME: Olshey or Stotts or both?

[Blazers Roy]

Terry Stotts is a fraud.



Can Marc Gasol shoot threes, Terry?

 

[Natebishop3]

I blame God.

Thanks God, real nice.


It seems a little reactionary to need to blame anyone at this point. As bad as many think they've underperformed so far (like me) they're still somehow in the playoffs if they were to begin today. Lots of time left to find their groove, plus that whole trade deadline thing. They lost a game they shouldn't have, it will happen again. It's not the end of the world.

 

[illmatic99]

Stotts wouldn't play him anymore than a couple minutes at a time and then not at all. His good performance (11 points on 6-6 shooting in 16 minutes) was rewarded with 9 minutes in which he had 6 points on 4-6 shooting in the next game against the Clippers. By the 3rd game against the Nuggets it was down to 7 minutes in which he got 4 rebounds but didn't get a single shot. At this point he was shooting 83% but Stotts couldn't run one play for him. Not exactly building on a hot start. Against the Warriors he got 12 minutes mostly in garbage time of a blowout loss in which he had 6 points on 2-7 shooting in mop up time.....and that was it. He didn't get to play in the next game against the Suns.

Mind you, he was shooting 63% at the time and was Portland's best big man perimeter defender where every pick was switched at the first sign of a screen. That started the sporadic few minutes here and there for a guy who was the best shooter and rebounder in pre-season and was off to a hot start from the field in the regular season.

Same thing happened with Layman. In what may be the best first quarter of basketball played in history for a rookie, Layman pumped in 17 points on 6-8 shooting in 8 minutes in mop up duty against the Warriors. His reward for such an offensive outburst? To sit on the bench for the next 4 games and not play again until the Blazers were blown out against the Clippers. There he had 9 points on 4-8 shooting in 15 minutes.

Layman finally got meaningful minutes in the next game against the Kings with 5 points on 2-3 shooting in 13 minutes. Until last nights game against Memphis, had only played 5 minutes twice in the 12 games since then. In his first 3 games where he was in long enough to break a sweat, he was shooting 63% from the field. Sound familiar? It was the exact same percentage Vonleh was shooting before he was shown the scrap minutes door.

So it's not like those two players didn't prove themselves worthy of at least a chance at regular rotation minutes while they were there. It just seems Stotts chose not to play them for anything more than a couple minutes here and there which is next to impossible to get a rhythm.

Both cases are small sample sizes but they did well with the minutes given when it was more than 2-3 minutes at a time. It was all they could do and the reward was to sit on the bench and watch players who weren't playing defense, not shooting well and not playing with energy.

Not sure that is the message I'd want to send out to my team.

So Stotts gets blamed for not encouraging Layman/Vonleh when they makes shots and apparently destroying their confidence. But when he apparently says the same to Rouq to build up his confidence last night, everyone loses their shit.

You guys need to stay at least consistent with your blaming narrative.

 

[blue9]

So Stotts gets blamed for not encouraging Layman/Vonleh when they makes shots and apparently destroying their confidence. But when he apparently says the same to Rouq to build up his confidence last night, everyone loses their shit.

You guys need to stay at least consistent with your blaming narrative.

Aminu's confidence doesn't need to be built up, it needs to be torn down. He has WAY too much belief in himself given his utter lack of skills. On offense he should play the same role Davis does - hustle, garbage, clean-up. If he stuck to that he could be a great role player. But this nonsense trying to turn him and Turner into 3-point shooters has got to stop.

 

[e_blazer]

If we play the blame game now against Stotts and/or Olshey, who are we going to praise if the Blazer turn things around and start playing like they were last spring?

 

[illmatic99]

This team IMO has issues and appears badly put together. We are last in the league in D and our bigs just plain suck and as we all know we shelled out huge money for 2 guards/wings in Turner and Crabbe. So is assigning some blame warranted here? and if so who deserves more blame; Olshey for assembling this roster for huge $$$ or Stotts for his rotations and defensive schemes? For me I have to put 80% of the blame on Olshey for the roster he has put together, our bigs just plain suck and we may have the worst group of bigs in the league - given the huge payroll we have IMO that is inexcusable.

Dude everyone under the sun knows that the moves made this summer were not necessarily to build the team, as much as it was to fill the roster with trade chips. We know it's flawed and unbalanced. Stotts knows it. Neil knows it.

Neil paid AC, Meyers, Moe, etc to retain assets. He has said as much on multiple occasions. In this environment when even mediocre FAs need to be overpaid to come here, it's best if we retain what he have on contract, and then see if they can be moved later on to actually build the team.

It's so premature to play this blame game now. Wait til the trade deadline when restrictions on trades pass and we have a better idea of whom to keep and whom to move. Our roster on day 1 of the playoffs will be better defined than it clearly is now. Patience is tough when you have high expectations, but now is the time for it. As long as we are hovering around .500 come February, we'll be golden with our easy schedule to finish the season.

 

[Natebishop3]

Dude everyone under the sun knows that the moves made this summer were not necessarily to build the team, as much as it was to fill the roster with trade chips. We know it's flawed and unbalanced. Stotts knows it. Neil knows it.

Neil paid AC, Meyers, Moe, etc to retain assets. He has said as much on multiple occasions. In this environment when even mediocre FAs need to be overpaid to come here, it's best if we retain what he have on contract, and then see if they can be moved later on to actually build the team.

It's so premature to play this blame game now. Wait til the trade deadline when restrictions on trades pass and we have a better idea of whom to keep and whom to move. Our roster on day 1 of the playoffs will be better defined than it clearly is now. Patience is tough when you have high expectations, but now is the time for it. As long as we are hovering around .500 come February, we'll be golden with our easy schedule to finish the season.

Our unexpected success last season has really warped some people's sense of timeline. Nobody would have been pissed if this team was sitting at .500 a year ago. We exceeded expectations last year and now some people were expecting an elite team this season.

You are 100% right. This past summer was all about retaining and acquiring trade chips. Even if Evan Turner doesn't work out, he's on a reasonable contract and he has value around the league. We had the cap space and we had to use it or it would have gone away.

Crabbe, Harkless, and Leonard are all young and possess desirable skill sets.

I believe it's not a matter of "if" there will be a trade, but "when" there will be a trade.

 

[illmatic99]

Our unexpected success last season has really warped some people's sense of timeline. Nobody would have been pissed if this team was sitting at .500 a year ago. We exceeded expectations last year and now some people were expecting an elite team this season.

You are 100% right. This past summer was all about retaining and acquiring trade chips. Even if Evan Turner doesn't work out, he's on a reasonable contract and he has value around the league. We had the cap space and we had to use it or it would have gone away.

Crabbe, Harkless, and Leonard are all young and possess desirable skill sets.

I believe it's not a matter of "if" there will be a trade, but "when" there will be a trade.

Still, I get the frustration. There are three games I can remember that we literally gave away at PHX, at NOP, and last night. We should be 15-9. But these things usually have a way of balancing out. MEM is not gonna be perfect in games decided by 5 pts or less by the end of the season.

 

[Natebishop3]

Still, I get the frustration. There are three games I can remember that we literally gave away at PHX, at NOP, and last night. We should be 15-9. But these things usually have a way of balancing out. MEM is not gonna be perfect in games decided by 5 pts or less by the end of the season.

We need a big... desperately. Gasol torched us. Neil knows this. I'm hopeful something will get done, but it might not be during the season. It might be next summer when some people become more tradeable.

 

[Strenuus]

Olshey has only overpaid two players, and while I'm not thrilled with them, neither Turner nor Crabbe are scrubs. Scrubs are the players we lost to last night.

Meyers is massively overpaid. So, three.

 

[Natebishop3]

Meyers is massively overpaid. So, three.

Hopefully someone doesn't realize that and we can dump him.

 

[blue9]

Meyers is massively overpaid. So, three.

Disagree. $10M/year is not "massively overpaid". At least not in this case. Perhaps Ezeli is massively overpaid though. So in the end, you're right - three.

 

[Strenuus]

Disagree. $10M/year is not "massively overpaid". At least not in this case. Perhaps Ezeli is massively overpaid though. So in the end, you're right - three.

Disagree. Meyers is not worth that money.

 

[tlongII]

Olshey has only overpaid two players, and while I'm not thrilled with them, neither Turner nor Crabbe are scrubs. Scrubs are the players we lost to last night.

Turner is massively overpaid and in my opinion Crabbe is a scrub. I would argue that Meyers and Aminu are overpaid as well.

 

[Denny Crane]

I blame @HCP

 

[tlongII]

I think a lot of the blame should go to HCP. He is clearly not doing a good job of filming player errors. They would be reviewing and correcting their errors if he was.

 

[Chris Craig]

I think there is enough blame to go around. But, I am going to wait before I start tossing angry profanities. I am starting to scratch my head though.

 

[Denny Crane]

I think a lot of the blame should go to HCP. He is clearly not doing a good job of filming player errors. They would be reviewing and correcting their errors if he was.

I think he whispers negative nelllie comments in the players' ears while washing their cars.

 

[riverman]

I blame Blazer bashers for our middle of the pack season.......! The Blazers are the Bernie Sanders of the NBA whenever they lose...someone will blame someone else. Olshey has enough info that he needs to make a move....I think he knows that.

 

[TBpup]

We lost by two points on the second of a back to back and we didn't have Harkless.

True but they were missing 3 of their top 6 and 4 of their top 8. They started an all-rookie backcourt. Yes, having Mo out hurt us but they were Gasol and 3-4 guys who wouldn't start for anyone else in the league at this point.

So Stotts gets blamed for not encouraging Layman/Vonleh when they makes shots and apparently destroying their confidence. But when he apparently says the same to Rouq to build up his confidence last night, everyone loses their shit.

You guys need to stay at least consistent with your blaming narrative.

Layman can shoot, Aminu can't.....that is one big difference.

 

[Boob-No-More]

sure the players get some blame, but if they are shitty defenders to start with you can only do so much

Didn't we pretty much have the same players last year? The only change in our top 10 rotation players was Evan Turner in, Gerald Henderson out.

We weren't great defensively last season, but after a slow start, we were above league average for the second half and finished the season with the 19th rated defense.

Right now, with basically the same roster, we are dead last, 30th out of 30 in both DRtg and ESPN's DEF EFF.

Last year, our DRtg was 108.67. It's currently 112.68. That 4 point drop is the difference between a middle of the pack defensive team to being the worst in the league.

The swap of Evan Turner for Gerald Henderson does not come close to accounting for that difference. So, what that tells me is the players on this roster are collectively capable of playing average defense, they did it last year, but they aren't doing it this year.

Same roster (pretty much), same GM, same coach, same system.

While I agree we have some roster imbalances and need to make a trade, in this case, given how the team preformed on defense last year, I'd say the GM is the least culpable. Either our guys, some of whom got paid handsomely, aren't putting in the same effort on the defensive end as they did last year, or the rest of the league has found a way to completely exploit our defensive system, and that's on the coach.

So, if were going to assign blame, I'd go in the following order:

Players
Coach
GM

BNM (not part of the list)

 

[gatorpops]

Has anyone considered that the players are thinking tht they are maybe going to be traded or that their buddys are?

 

[riverman]

Has anyone considered that the players are thinking tht they are maybe going to be traded or that their buddys are?

I mentioned that once..if a guy is getting shopped, he often starts mailing it in or gets in a funk..I suspect all our bigs have been dealing with something like that.

 

[KingSpeed]

We lost by two points on the second of a back to back and we didn't have Harkless.

And a questionable call decided the game.

Turner is massively overpaid and in my opinion Crabbe is a scrub. I would argue that Meyers and Aminu are overpaid as well.

Crabbe has been playing great lately. Wrong time to call him a scrub.

True but they were missing 3 of their top 6 and 4 of their top 8. They started an all-rookie backcourt. Yes, having Mo out hurt us but they were Gasol and 3-4 guys who wouldn't start for anyone else in the league at this point.



Layman can shoot, Aminu can't.....that is one big difference.

Layman has missed 11 of his last 12 threes.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I thought the team overachieved last year and was only in the second round because of a rash of bad luck for the Clippers. The problem? Olshey paid premium prices this summer for a lot of average talent as if it was a true conference title contender.

Is Stotts to blame because he doesn't demand accountability on defense? Maybe a little. Is Olshey at fault for overpaying guys and not balancing the roster? Yeah, a little bit. And are the players to blame for not playing with the same sense of urgency? Yes.

This team's issues are on a lot of people. Not a lot of natural defenders, no rim protection, poor defense from the guard positions, poor communication, and a front-court full of JAGs (just a guy) outside of Harkless.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Crabbe has been playing great lately. Wrong time to call him a scrub.

Interesting definition of great. Crabbe has been playing better, but he was 0-5 in the second half against CHI and 2-9 last night. He's still wildly inconsistent. When he plays well (or as you call it, great) it's still a pleasant surprise, not something we've come to depend on.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

Has anyone considered that the players are thinking tht they are maybe going to be traded or that their buddys are?

Yep, but then I remembered they are gown men that get paid tens of millions of dollars to do their job. Time to suck it up and earn those eight figure paychecks.

BNM

 

[riverman]

I think it's simple...we didn't improve defensively....the bench has really underachieved early in the season and we let teams build leads that we tried to shoot out of with 3ptrs. More often than not...we didn't make enough of them. We've had some ugly qtrs. of play and some great ones....now sitting at 500 early in Dec.....Stotts teams are usually better as the season goes on. Hopefully it starts clicking and the second half of the season will balance things out. As constructed, we're not good enough in my view...I think Olshey probably feels the same way

 

[Strenuus]

Interesting definition of great. Crabbe has been playing better, but he was 0-5 in the second half against CHI and 2-9 last night. He's still wildly inconsistent. When he plays well (or as you call it, great) it's still a pleasant surprise, not something we've come to depend on.

BNM

NicoAllen BatCrabbe!

 

[Boob-No-More]

NicoAllen BatCrabbe!

If only. When Nic wasn't hitting his shot, at least he brought other things to the table (rebounding and passing). When Crabbe isn't making his shots, he's dead wood.

BNM