What will it take for Chauncey to get fired?

[Tince]

You're already incredibly annoying. One of those.

Bottom line, Terry KEPT putting Dame in positions to be trapped. I see you didn't bring up any highlights from the NO series. We played them differently.

I'm sorry I annoy you, that is not my intention. I too have been annoyed by people who pointed out things I was wrong about, so I get the natural reaction. I don't mean for it to be personal though.

I haven't looked up clips from the NOP series and I previously addressed that. I was addressing the part of your post that I knew right away was inaccurate. I was hopeful you'd be willing to respond to facts proving your statement was incorrect instead of trying to shift the focus to a personal insult or redirecting the topic away from where you were sharing inaccurate information.

Stotts was an imperfect coach, coaching an imperfect roster, and therefore the results were, impfect.

 

[BonesJones]

off the blame Stotts topic for a sec..

Billups runs drop zone defense:
In the 21 Blazer victories, opponents averaged a pathetic 27% 3pt shooting.

Billups runs crash offensive glass:
Only the crusty Utah squad gives up more fast break points then Portland.

defensive structure glitches, offensive set liabilities, benching starters, hiring players that fake injuries, topped off with a stack of 10 rookie/sophmore reserves.

Many of this year's Blazer wins have almost been blind luck. Hoping opponents have off nights is not a good formula.
---
it's not all doom & gloom, the Blazers will continue to draft top rookies. The rebuild is proceeding accordingly.

Billups has very high BB IQ. I'm pretty sure Coach can change his schemes as the talent levels improve in Portland.

After preaching aggressive defense and playing the center higher on screens, Billups got a younger, more athletic team and resorted to the most passive scheme possible, which is becoming an even worse option as star guards get better and better at shooting 3s off the dribble. It's very strange to me.

 

[dviss1]

I don't know what "a ton of PnR" means. 10% or 75%? Regardless, I wasn't responding to the teams PnR usage under Stotts tenure, I was responding to a claim we ran "pick and roll after pick and roll" against Golden St when in fact, we did not run PnR the majority of the time. I then provided clips (that I didn't cherry pick) from the game that backed up that was almost zero on-ball Dame PnR actions. So his memory of what happened against Golden St was not accurate, at all, and therefore is not worthy of praise as a strong X's and O's opinion in my eyes.

You should ask Dviss why he is so hung up on Stotts that he is spreading inaccurate information to make him look worse than he was. I agree with you that it is odd for someone to still being doing that years later. It was bad enough when people were doing it while he was the coach, let alone now.

You remind me of why I don't often come here anymore. Your posts read so whiny and pissy... You need to get out of your feelings...

Terry relied on Dame and CJ to do pick and roll, dribble handoff, and 1 on 1 play. We won't even get into his horrible defensive scheme but let's not act like that side of the floor didn't require us to rely on hero ball.

You can include pick and pops with Butters.

But when Dame got trapped, over and over, and over, Terry NEVER adjusted and he is the reason why we lost. I was mainly speaking of the New Orleans series but it applies in both.

NEVER ONCE did I call Terry a bad coach. He was a solid coach who couldn't adjust in the playoffs.

Now quit crying so much. Jesus...

 

[Tince]

I don't believe that's the case at all, especially after rewatching the first half of Game 1. They shouldn't have tried to decrease his usage, they should've tried to manufacture opportunities to attack a defense that wasn't fully set and waiting for him and used his gravity to spring other guys for easy shots just like Golden State does with Steph. Rodney Hood and Seth Curry were too of the best offensive bench pieces in the league. Getting Aminu and Harkless higher-quality shots around the rim wouldn't have been a bad thing considering guys had to take some shots...

Some act like Stotts should be going on year 13 as coach next season. That amount of tenure for a coach without a single conference finals win is unheard of.

I'm sure every coach would like to go back and make adjustments in series they lost. No doubt Portland did things that series that were sub-optimal. The same would be true if Billups ever made a playoff series and the same will be true with our next coach.

There may be someone who believes Stotts should be going on year 13, though I'm not sure who that person is; it's certainly not me.

 

[dviss1]

I'm sorry I annoy you, that is not my intention. I too have been annoyed by people who pointed out things I was wrong about, so I get the natural reaction. I don't mean for it to be personal though.

I haven't looked up clips from the NOP series and I previously addressed that. I was addressing the part of your post that I knew right away was inaccurate. I was hopeful you'd be willing to respond to facts proving your statement was incorrect instead of trying to shift the focus to a personal insult or redirecting the topic away from where you were sharing inaccurate information.

Stotts was an imperfect coach, coaching an imperfect roster, and therefore the results were, impfect.

Nobody likes the actually guy...

 

[BonesJones]

I'm sure every coach would like to go back and make adjustments in series they lost. No doubt Portland did things that series that were sub-optimal. The same would be true if Billups ever made a playoff series and the same will be true with our next coach.

There may be someone who believes Stotts should be going on year 13, though I'm not sure who that person is; it's certainly not me.

Anyone who says we should've kept him. Next season would've been Year 13 for him in Portland.

 

[dviss1]

Getting Aminu and Harkless higher-quality shots around the rim wouldn't have been a bad thing considering guys had to take some shots...

In that season we lost to NO, Nurk had something like 41 of his assists were to Harkless on cuts to the basket. We should have put that on steroids in the playoffs.

 

[Tince]

You remind me of why I don't often come here anymore. Your posts read so whiny and pissy... You need to get out of your feelings...

You can include pick and pops with Butters.

But when Dame got trapped, over and over, and over, Terry NEVER adjusted and he is the reason why we lost. I was mainly speaking of the New Orleans series but it applies in both.

NEVER ONCE did I call Terry a bad coach. He was a solid coach who couldn't adjust in the playoffs.

Now quit crying so much. Jesus...

Again, I don't want to move the focus of this thread away from the facts or spreading of misinformation, and turn it into a personal attack.

The facts continue to be that adjustments were made in the Golden St series. We were not spamming PnR's with Dame at the end of the series. If you go back and watch the games, you will see this to be the case. Because of this, I continue to stand by my original objection to saying we ran "pick and roll after pick and roll" in that series. It's just not accurate. Not sure why you are so resistant to admit it.

 

[Tince]

Anyone who says we should've kept him. Next season would've been Year 13 for him in Portland.

I read it differently than you. As I recall, the dabate back in 2020/21 was if we had the right guy building competitive rosters and Stotts was holding them back or if we rolling out a subpar roster around an All-NBA player and needed to get a GM who could put legit NBA players around Dame; from there we could see if Stotts could coach at a high enough level in the playoffs.

There was a chance that a new (fresh) GM could've came in and put some nice supporting players around Dame and Stotts would've failed. That may have resulted in us firing him in one or two seasons ago and therefore he wouldn't be going on his 13th season. However, in my opinion, we went the wrong direction, and tried to see if a new coach could do better with the Dame/CJ core. I didn't love the Hart/Grant forward combo, but it was better than any forward combo Stotts ever had an opportunity to coach in Dame's prime. Just the thought of giving Stotts a chance to coach a starting lineup that had 5 guys who deserved to be in the league before firing him would've been a decent start.

 

[wizenheimer]

in an attempt to divert the conversation from just-Stotts-all-the-time, I'll point out that that in the 2021-22 season, the season he was fired, Olshey trotted out a opening night roster that had:

6'2 Dame
6'2 Dennis Smith
6'3 CJ
6'3 Powell
6'3 Ant
6'3 McLemore

6'4 Keljin Blevins
6'6 CJ Elleby

that was more than 50% of the opening night roster

that completely idiotic dysfunctional mess was Olshey's idea of doing his job. That's what Stotts had to contend with

 

[Tince]

in an attempt to divert the conversation from just-Stotts-all-the-time, I'll point out that that in the 2021-22 season, the season he was fired, Olshey trotted out a opening night roster that had:

6'2 Dame
6'2 Dennis Smith
6'3 CJ
6'3 Powell
6'3 Ant
6'3 McLemore

6'4 Keljin Blevins
6'6 CJ Elleby

that was more than 50% of the opening night roster

that completely idiotic dysfunctional mess was Olshey's idea of doing his job. That's what Stotts had to contend with

Bingo... the root of the problem was always roster configuration.

 

[Phatguysrule]

I don't know man, they were in Games 2 through 4 of that WCF running a defense they hadn't played all season long. Sometimes I wonder if they would've been better enough at running something other than drop if they had done so earlier that season. Could've tipped the scales in a couple of those games and made it a series.

What's funny is a lot of Chauncey's stuff looks very similar to Stotts'. Tons of drop, not much ball movement, spamming Jerami Grant mid-post isos (just like Carmelo), too much halfcourt and not enough transition offense...

I think that's what Billups knows. I think Stotts was trying to play to the strengths of his roster.

 

[Whyachi]

After preaching aggressive defense and playing the center higher on screens, Billups got a younger, more athletic team and resorted to the most passive scheme possible, which is becoming an even worse option as star guards get better and better at shooting 3s off the dribble. It's very strange to me.

last time Cronin spoke, he said he is happy about 14 times. (Happy with a flawed system and heavy losses?)

Cronin used to play college ball. He's not a "don't know much about the game" GM. He's there at home games watching a system that has little chance to succeed. Which is all part of the larger scope of his new plans. Play as hard as you can, here's your checks, that was a fun loss you guys. Now watch me smile and grab some hot new rookies.

 

[Whyachi]

After preaching aggressive defense and playing the center higher on screens, Billups got a younger, more athletic team and resorted to the most passive scheme possible, which is becoming an even worse option as star guards get better and better at shooting 3s off the dribble. It's very strange to me.

the reporters current narrative is "the Blazers are trying to lose". I'm calling hogwash on this statement.

Sometimes the Blazers will light the place up, but there's still an L attached to the end of games.

Simons drops 40/10, Blazers lose
Grant almost hit 50, Pistons won
Ayton 30 & 20, nope, not good enough
Banton career high numbers, L L L

the Blazers play hard, they are not trying to lose. Coach Billups runs a system that makes winning more complicated. In turn the messy ball helps Cronin look like a champion while drafting the best of the best.

 

[Tince]

the reporters current narrative is "the Blazers are trying to lose". I'm calling hogwash on this statement.

Sometimes the Blazers will light the place up, but there's still an L attached to the end of games.

Simons drops 40/10, Blazers lose
Grant almost hit 50, Pistons won
Ayton 30 & 20, nope, not good enough
Banton career high numbers, L L L

the Blazers play hard, they are not trying to lose. Coach Billups runs a system that makes winning more complicated. In turn the messy ball helps Cronin look like a champion while drafting the best of the best.

I think the Blazers are trying to lose.

 

[Samuel]

in an attempt to divert the conversation from just-Stotts-all-the-time, I'll point out that that in the 2021-22 season, the season he was fired, Olshey trotted out a opening night roster that had:

6'2 Dame
6'2 Dennis Smith
6'3 CJ
6'3 Powell
6'3 Ant
6'3 McLemore

6'4 Keljin Blevins
6'6 CJ Elleby

that was more than 50% of the opening night roster

that completely idiotic dysfunctional mess was Olshey's idea of doing his job. That's what Stotts had to contend with

olshey bad. stotts good, but stale. bad coaching search and follow up hire.

 

[Whyachi]

I think the Blazers are trying to lose.

currently, yes. We're watching 2nd level losing with Ant, Grant, Malcolm on their annual paid vacation.

I'm referring to 1st level losing, when guys had big nights and the team was healthier.

We saw it almost all last season too. ~The opponents just seemed to find ways to win~ Usually from nobody guarding the 3 point line, with occasional Blazer whoopsies and long boards that resulted in easy opponent fast breaks.

It's like a lot of things that didn't work last season, were re-introduced this season.

the Blazers "trying to lose" is a variation of topics. If it's broke, don't fix it. The reward for a busted system is ping pong mania.

 

[wizenheimer]

olshey bad. stotts good, but stale. bad coaching search and follow up hire.

the new coach search was an abortion because Olshey should have been fired first and the new GM should have decided about Stotts. Instead, Olshey was allowed by shitty ownership to deflect from himself and effectively scapegoat Stotts

personally, I was ambivalent about Stotts after the Pels series, but by 2015, I wanted Olshey gone

 

[Whyachi]

that completely idiotic dysfunctional mess was Olshey's idea of doing his job. That's what Stotts had to contend with

Olshey picked Zach Collins at #10, Swanigan #23. why?? because according to the Blazers former GM, the following players stunk:

Jarrett Allen
OG Anunoby
Kyle Kuzma
Josh Hart
Dillon Brooks (arguably stinky)
Malik Monk
Bam Adebayo
Donovan Mitchell

Lillard and Stotts ended up waiting for Zach & Meyers Leonard to develop. A few good years with Nurkic almost redeemed Olshey's pritchslap skills. But some injuries and wonky contracts sent Olshey back to the top of the blame board.

 

[THE HCP]

I run a company that's done a million dollars in brand deals in this calendar year alone. Don't speak on things you dont know, that's foolish.

I love it. He brought out receipts. Never denied the basement though.

 

[dviss1]

Again, I don't want to move the focus of this thread away from the facts or spreading of misinformation, and turn it into a personal attack.

The facts continue to be that adjustments were made in the Golden St series. We were not spamming PnR's with Dame at the end of the series. If you go back and watch the games, you will see this to be the case. Because of this, I continue to stand by my original objection to saying we ran "pick and roll after pick and roll" in that series. It's just not accurate. Not sure why you are so resistant to admit it.

I can say what I want. Terry Stotts is the reason why we lost. Plain and simple. Get over yourself now.

 

[BonesJones]

I love it. He brought out receipts. Never denied the basement though.

I thought living in a basement was a requirement for posting in this forum.

 

[BonesJones]

I think that's what Billups knows. I think Stotts was trying to play to the strengths of his roster.

I wish Stotts wouldn't have played to the strengths of his opponent's rosters.

 

[BonesJones]

I read it differently than you. As I recall, the dabate back in 2020/21 was if we had the right guy building competitive rosters and Stotts was holding them back or if we rolling out a subpar roster around an All-NBA player and needed to get a GM who could put legit NBA players around Dame; from there we could see if Stotts could coach at a high enough level in the playoffs.

There was a chance that a new (fresh) GM could've came in and put some nice supporting players around Dame and Stotts would've failed. That may have resulted in us firing him in one or two seasons ago and therefore he wouldn't be going on his 13th season. However, in my opinion, we went the wrong direction, and tried to see if a new coach could do better with the Dame/CJ core. I didn't love the Hart/Grant forward combo, but it was better than any forward combo Stotts ever had an opportunity to coach in Dame's prime. Just the thought of giving Stotts a chance to coach a starting lineup that had 5 guys who deserved to be in the league before firing him would've been a decent start.

Shaking it up and taking a chance at someone better was what they needed. They were never winning anything without a better playoff coach AND a better roster. Unfortunately, they got neither, and here we are.

I really don't think Hart/Grant was that much better than Aminu and Harkless. As individuals, sure, but Aminu & Harkless's combined defensively versatility and how solid they were on that end made those rosters competitive defensively. Stotts had a better 6th/7th/8th man with Curry/Hood/Collins than last years team had and the Blazers might not have won the first round without Curry nor the 2nd round without Hood.

But this is why I don't like evaluating coaches purely off results. There's a lot of factors there that are all debatable that can be used to talk about a coach positively or negatively.

 

[BonesJones]

in an attempt to divert the conversation from just-Stotts-all-the-time, I'll point out that that in the 2021-22 season, the season he was fired, Olshey trotted out a opening night roster that had:

6'2 Dame
6'2 Dennis Smith
6'3 CJ
6'3 Powell
6'3 Ant
6'3 McLemore

6'4 Keljin Blevins
6'6 CJ Elleby

that was more than 50% of the opening night roster

that completely idiotic dysfunctional mess was Olshey's idea of doing his job. That's what Stotts had to contend with

That was Olshey's mess, but are we sure Cronin doesn't also have the same love for small guards and possibly played a part in those roster constructions? Cronin had 6'4 SF Josh Hart, brought in 6'2 SG/SF Gary Payton II as his biggest FA signing, and then talked about how they needed more size yet drafted 6'3 PG Scoot Henderson to supposedly pair with Dame, Simons, and Sharpe.

I want Alex Sarr. A 7'1 PF/C sounds so nice.

 

[Phatguysrule]

I wish Stotts wouldn't have played to the strengths of his opponent's rosters.

I think he probably would have changed things up if he had enough quality basketball players.

But he was never given that luxury, so we just don't know.

I wish Olshey and Jody would have put him in position to make that choice.

 

[BonesJones]

In that season we lost to NO, Nurk had something like 41 of his assists were to Harkless on cuts to the basket. We should have put that on steroids in the playoffs.

Should've ran more side PnR to force rotations across the key to the roller with Nurk having more of a lane towards the rim instead of having to play in the middle from the arc down. Baffled me why the coaching staff went three straight playoff games with the same issues without adjusting... I get wanting to run PnR but they didn't even mix that up much at all after watching Dame get trapped to death.

 

[BonesJones]

I think he probably would have if he had enough quality basketball players.

But he was never given that luxury, so we just don't know.

I wish we'd have put him in position to make that choice.

He did in Games 2 through 4 of the WCF against GS and it was more effective despite the Blazers not practicing it all season long. The rotations weren't even on time or all that good behind it and it started to get picked apart a bit in 2nd halfs (part of the collapse) but it was still better.

Even if you have a team built to play one way, it always made sense to work on more than just drop during the season so that they'd be ready to guard Steph in the playoffs...

 

[Phatguysrule]

Shaking it up and taking a chance at someone better was what they needed. They were never winning anything without a better playoff coach AND a better roster. Unfortunately, they got neither, and here we are.

I really don't think Hart/Grant was that much better than Aminu and Harkless. As individuals, sure, but Aminu & Harkless's combined defensively versatility and how solid they were on that end made those rosters competitive defensively. Stotts had a better 6th/7th/8th man with Curry/Hood/Collins than last years team had and the Blazers might not have won the first round without Curry nor the 2nd round without Hood.

But this is why I don't like evaluating coaches purely off results. There's a lot of factors there that are all debatable that can be used to talk about a coach positively or negatively.

Getting a worse coach certainly wasn't going to be helpful.

There was absolutely no way Billups was going to be a better coach than Stotts with 1 year of assistant experience. Maybe there was a very slight chance, but what a horrible gamble...

 

[BonesJones]

Getting a worse coach certainly wasn't going to be helpful.

There was absolutely no way Billups was going to be a better coach than Stotts with 1 year of assistant experience. Maybe there was a very slight chance, but what a horrible gamble...

I agree, should've got a better coach.

I bought Billups stock. He said the right things. And given that Kerr had come in with no experience and immediately turned GS into a championship team with a lot of the same stuff I was hoping a new coach would bring Portland, I was optimistic.

I don't think Billups nor his assistants know how to get them to actually execute what they want. The lack of identity on both ends is glaring, because even bad rebuilding teams at least have a specific style of play. Billups seems to have switched up on some of the philosophies he was preaching coming into the job, too.