Which playoff series do you think we had the better roster and should have won but we didn't?

[SlyPokerDog]

Which playoff series do you think we had the better roster and should have won but we didn't?

Memphis?

New Orleans?

One of the complaints about Stotts is that he hasn't coached a team to the finals but I don't see a finals level roster during his tenure.

What do you think?

 

[Phatguysrule]

Which playoff series do you think we had the better roster and should have won but we didn't?

Memphis?

New Orleans?

One of the complaints about Stotts is that he hasn't coached a team to the finals but I don't see a finals level roster during his tenure.

What do you think?

The only series we were "supposed to win" was New Orleans. But they were only a 6 seed because Davis had been injured so much. He was healthy in the playoffs, and when he was healthy they were one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the league.

Probably should have been better against Memphis, but Aldridge was so checked out that series was over before it started.

 

[wizenheimer]

Which playoff series do you think we had the better roster and should have won but we didn't?

Memphis?

New Orleans?

One of the complaints about Stotts is that he hasn't coached a team to the finals but I don't see a finals level roster during his tenure.

What do you think?

none. Portland may have had better talent (debatable) than the Pelicans, but the Pels roster was better because of how the pieces fit together

Portland's roster construction under Olshey has always been questionable. I know Stotts is in the hot seat, and he certainly deserves that heat, but Olshey is the one who should be accountable for playoff failure, especially if it happens again this season

 

[blazerkor]

Which playoff series do you think we had the better roster and should have won but we didn't?

Memphis?

New Orleans?

One of the complaints about Stotts is that he hasn't coached a team to the finals but I don't see a finals level roster during his tenure.

What do you think?

The answer to this loaded question is a bit nuanced. I think the 2015 roster was better but not without Wes and with LaMarcus playing the way he did (if it was injury or because he was checked out or a combination of both). So the answer to the second part of the question, which series should we have won but didn't is New Orleans in 2018. That team didn't have the excuses the 2015 team did. They got out coached. The Pelicans had a crushing solutions to our strengths and we let them run rampant with theirs.

I have never said that Stotts has had a finals level roster... I want Olshey fired first but make no mistake about it, Stotts should have been fired after that Pelicans series and just like he refuses to get a better fit in return for CJ, Olshey failed to do his job and fire Stotts back then. The fact with Stotts is... no coach in the history of the NBA has been retained for a ninth season in a row with the same team, not having won a conference finals game. Those aren't the kind of records I want my team breaking.

Edit: You know what it is a loaded question and I didn't answer it correctly. Maybe we shouldn't have won against the Pelicans but we sure as shit shouldn't have been swept.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

The answer to this loaded question is a bit nuanced. I think the 2015 roster was better but not without Wes and with LaMarcus playing the way he did (if it was injury or because he was checked out or a combination of both). So the answer to the second part of the question, which series should we have won but didn't is New Orleans in 2018. That team didn't have the excuses the 2015 team did. They got out coached. The Pelicans had a crushing solutions to our strengths and we let them run rampant with theirs.

I have never said that Stotts has had a finals level roster... I want Olshey fired first but make no mistake about it, Stotts should have been fired after that Pelicans series and just like he won't get a better fit in return for CJ, Olshey failed to do his job and fire Stotts back then. The fact with Stotts is... no coach in the history of the NBA has been retained for a ninth season in a row with the same team, not having won a conference finals game. Those aren't the kind of records I want my team breaking.

Edit: You know what it is a loaded question and I didn't answer it correctly. Maybe we shouldn't have won against the Pelicans but we sure as shit shouldn't have been swept.

Quality well thought out answer! I think you answered it just fine.

 

[Minstrel]

Edit: You know what it is a loaded question and I didn't answer it correctly.

You fell right into @SlyPokerDog's trap!

 

[TBpup]

Sometimes it is 'how' you play and not the final result. The problem is, they keep getting swept (or gentleman swept) whether the opponent is better or not.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

The questions in this thread isn't meant to be loaded or in defense of Stotts.

IMO it's talent that wins in the NBA, not coaching. Especially in this current era of super teams. I think the only RECENT example of coaching beating talent is the 2011 Dallas Mavs. But it took those players playing out of their minds to achieve that.

You could argue that Pop's has consistently outcoached talent but even the rosters he's had have had HOF talent.

 

[blazerkor]

Sometimes it is 'how' you play and not the final result. The problem is, they keep getting swept (or gentleman swept) whether the opponent is better or not.

Yeah, like the question about clutch defense in the other thread, the team is not disciplined. They don't put out consistent effort. They give up. That is a problem with coach for sure and most likely personnel as well.

 

[Natebishop3]

Sometimes it is 'how' you play and not the final result. The problem is, they keep getting swept (or gentleman swept) whether the opponent is better or not.

I'm with TB. Not sure if we were necessarily supposed to win those series, but the fact that we were completely embarrassed is the main issue.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

How about examples of players who left Stott's coaching and became better players?

LMA?

Meyers?

Aminu?

Harkless?

GTJ?

Connaughton?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

How about examples of players who left Stott's coaching and became better players?

LMA?

Meyers?

Aminu?

Harkless?

GTJ?

Connaughton?

My answer: Lillard makes the players around him better.

 

[e_blazer]

Pfft. Trick question:

 

[Natebishop3]

How about examples of players who left Stott's coaching and became better players?

LMA?

Meyers?

Aminu?

Harkless?

GTJ?

Connaughton?

Meyers definitely picked up some new lingo after leaving Stotts.

 

[Minstrel]

Meyers definitely picked up some new lingo after leaving Stotts.

Stotts clearly can't teach hate speech at all.

 

[RR7]

Stotts clearly can't teach hate speech at all.

Been saying for years we need a hate speech coach.

 

[stampedehero]

add Plumlee

 

[SlyPokerDog]

add Plumlee

Better after he left Portland?

 

[stampedehero]

Better after he left Portland?

Yea. He has been playing with intensity, lately.

 

[Natebishop3]

Yea. He has been playing with intensity, lately.

I don't think intensity was ever his problem. The dude couldn't hit a jumpshot to save his life.... and from what I can tell, that hasn't changed.

 

[Phatguysrule]

The questions in this thread isn't meant to be loaded or in defense of Stotts.

IMO it's talent that wins in the NBA, not coaching. Especially in this current era of super teams. I think the only RECENT example of coaching beating talent is the 2011 Dallas Mavs. But it took those players playing out of their minds to achieve that.

You could argue that Pop's has consistently outcoached talent but even the rosters he's had have had HOF talent.

It's talent that wins at almost every level. My 5th grade girls won state just before covid-19 shut everything down. We lost 1 game all season and beat the only team we lost to the following day in the championship game.

It's not because I was the best coach in the state at that level.

Talent wins.

Small market teams don't get enough talent to win in the playoffs. All you can hope for is good chemistry, the best talent possible, and a coach who coaches to the strengths of that talent.

Then you hope to get lucky and catch lightning in a bottle.

 

[stampedehero]

I don't think intensity was ever his problem. The dude couldn't hit a jumpshot to save his life.... and from what I can tell, that hasn't changed.

I saw him play in the paint, like some centers do..

 

[Natebishop3]

I saw him play in the paint, like some centers do..

Sure but he had no touch. Not like Kanter who is pretty gifted around the basket and can make a number of different moves to score. Plums was more of a brute dunker.

 

[hoopsjock]

The questions in this thread isn't meant to be loaded or in defense of Stotts.

IMO it's talent that wins in the NBA, not coaching. Especially in this current era of super teams. I think the only RECENT example of coaching beating talent is the 2011 Dallas Mavs. But it took those players playing out of their minds to achieve that.

You could argue that Pop's has consistently outcoached talent but even the rosters he's had have had HOF talent.

Part of my issue is if IMO the coaching was better, we wouldn't have had such tough matchups against the Lakers last year or GS in 2017. On top of that, even if some would argue the Pelicans had a better roster, getting swept in that series without making many adjustments was inexcusable along with dropping the big game 1 against GS in the WCF. Both series I believe were winnable even with the talent disadvantage but at the very least shouldn't have been sweeps.

 

[wizenheimer]

The questions in this thread isn't meant to be loaded or in defense of Stotts.

IMO it's talent that wins in the NBA, not coaching. Especially in this current era of super teams. I think the only RECENT example of coaching beating talent is the 2011 Dallas Mavs. But it took those players playing out of their minds to achieve that.

You could argue that Pop's has consistently outcoached talent but even the rosters he's had have had HOF talent.

I'd say that it's possible the 2014 Blazers/Rockets series saw lesser talent win

 

[julius]

The 1991 series vs the Lakers.

 

[wizenheimer]

The 1991 series vs the Lakers.

I've tried to forget that one....thanks a lot

I still remember: that season, Adelman stubbornly insisted on using a platoon rotation> People were railing against it a lot, and finally with around 20 games left, Adelman started staggering starters and backups. The result was Portland won 17 of 20 and went on a 16 game winning streak to close the season. Blazers won the first two playoff series pretty easily.

then, against the Lakers in game 1, Portland built a 12 point lead at the end of the 3rd Q. Adelman pulled out his platoon rotation again, the lakers scored something like the first 15 points of the 4thQ, and held on to win game 1. Blazers never recovered from that coaching miscalculation. That was the year they won 63 game in the regular season, the only time Portland has cracked that barrier. I think they would have won the championship that year, but that disastrous first 6 minutes of the 4th Q sunk them

 

[julius]

I've tried to forget that one....thanks a lot

I still remember: that season, Adelman stubbornly insisted on using a platoon rotation> People were railing against it a lot, and finally with around 20 games left, Adelman started staggering starters and backups. The result was Portland won 17 of 20 and went on a 16 game winning streak to close the season. Blazers won the first two playoff series pretty easily.

then, against the Lakers in game 1, Portland built a 12 point lead at the end of the 3rd Q. Adelman pulled out his platoon rotation again, the lakers scored something like the first 15 points of the 4thQ, and held on to win game 1. Blazers never recovered from that coaching miscalculation. That was the year they won 63 game in the regular season, the only time Portland has cracked that barrier. I think they would have won the championship that year, but that disastrous first 6 minutes of the 4th Q sunk them

Their series against the Sonics went 5, I wouldn't say that they won that series easily.

Rick, and Rick alone, is why they lost that series. He saw their lead vanish and did nothing. Same thing happened in game 6 against the Bulls.

 

[Hoopguru]

I've tried to forget that one....thanks a lot

I still remember: that season, Adelman stubbornly insisted on using a platoon rotation> People were railing against it a lot, and finally with around 20 games left, Adelman started staggering starters and backups. The result was Portland won 17 of 20 and went on a 16 game winning streak to close the season. Blazers won the first two playoff series pretty easily.

then, against the Lakers in game 1, Portland built a 12 point lead at the end of the 3rd Q. Adelman pulled out his platoon rotation again, the lakers scored something like the first 15 points of the 4thQ, and held on to win game 1. Blazers never recovered from that coaching miscalculation. That was the year they won 63 game in the regular season, the only time Portland has cracked that barrier. I think they would have won the championship that year, but that disastrous first 6 minutes of the 4th Q sunk them

We missed 12 straight shots in the 4th I believe. Offense went south

 

[Minstrel]

The 1991 series vs the Lakers.

1991 is a weird way to say 2000.