Who's most to blame?

[Rastapopoulos]

Whom do you blame most for our current malaise?

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

It's a mix of coaching and front office.

Stotts isn't making anyone better (in fact seems like players are better when they leave our team), and Olshey is giving him players that would work really well... if it was 1995.

 

[BrunoSOC]

Stotts will be fired this season, is a little he's fault, the team is limited but our offensive game is trash.

 

[santeesioux]

Both Stotts and Olshey equally, but Stotts will be gone sooner, Olshey will get another summer to fuck shit up.

 

[jlprk]

Why do the moderators always escape blame? It's not all on Denny.

 

[Blazinaway]

Both Stotts and Olshey equally, but Stotts will be gone sooner, Olshey will get another summer to fuck shit up.

Its on both of them but yeah, Stotts likely goes first, did we ever double team Beal tonight when he goes off for 51?

 

[RR7]

It's a mix of coaching and front office.

Stotts isn't making anyone better (in fact seems like players are better when they leave our team), .

JJ Hickson came in and put up 13 and 10 under Stotts, and had many in here discussing him over Aldridge. Hickson is in China the past 2 years. Still only 29.

Robin Lopez had arguably his best season in Portland of his career. Still good. But not what he was under Stotts.

Crabbe hasn't improved in his first season away from Stotts.

Batum hasn't been any better.

Mason Plumlee easily had the 2 best years of his career so far under Stotts.

Harkless?

Napier?

Who left and became so much better? At the fault of Stotts

 

[GrandJury]

Well Stotts is def gone he already past the average coaching expiration date.

Seriously almost 7 years on one team with no championship or even a finals appearance SHIT even a WCF appearance is EXTREMELY rare.

Stotts is def gone. It was a decent run have a nice life

 

[Boise Blazer]

I guess I don't understand how in the span of one year we went from a good offensive team to trash offensively. Like completely night and day.

 

[handiman]

JJ Hickson came in and put up 13 and 10 under Stotts, and had many in here discussing him over Aldridge. Hickson is in China the past 2 years. Still only 29.

Robin Lopez had arguably his best season in Portland of his career. Still good. But not what he was under Stotts.

Crabbe hasn't improved in his first season away from Stotts.

Batum hasn't been any better.

Mason Plumlee easily had the 2 best years of his career so far under Stotts.

Harkless?

Napier?

Who left and became so much better? At the fault of Stotts

Will Barton or Patty Mills, maybe? Can't remember if Patty was before Stotts...

I agree with the premise, though, Stotts has generally made lemonade out of relative lemons.

 

[craigehlo]

Olshay, but it's a moot point. We have to play with the dudes we have. Stotts is clearly the wrong coach for the assembled team.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Olshey made the basketball equivalent of a peanut butter and sardines sandwich when he put this roster together and paired it with a Stott's offense. The shame is that Stott's offense wasn't really the problem in the past when he had guys to space the floor, it was the fucking god-awful defense that drove me insane. They finally got the defense (kinda) sorted out, but the offense is in the crapper because the spacing is all fucked up, and Nurkic is kind of playing like a spaz which seems to encourage even more hero ball from Damian and CJ.

It's 75% Olshey, but 15% Stotts for showing that he can't build a system around his personnel. The other 10%? I dunno spread it around amongst the players however you see fit. Add it all together and it's a 110% a shit-show (the extra 10% is because they've found new ways to suck I didn't even think was possible at home).

 

[Nikolokolus]

I guess I don't understand how in the span of one year we went from a good offensive team to trash offensively. Like completely night and day.

Guys moved the ball and they were getting actual production out of guys like Harkless, Aminu, Crabbe shooting the ball which opened up the floor.

 

[Haakzilla]

Willie Taggart

 

[julius]

Part of me wonders if there is some kind of fissure between players, or if there are different "camps". I.e., a group that likes Damian and a group that likes CJ.

CJ has been a disappointment this year, more so than anyone else not named Maurice or Meyers.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I've been thinking about this some more . . .

Spoiler: Who's to blame?

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Clearly, my youngest daughter is.

I dunno what she did to the game ball when she delivered it to the officials, but Portland struggled to hang on to it, and they lacked energy and hustle.

 

[TBpup]

Clearly Olshey has put together a roster that has holes in it. However, this team still has Dame, CJ, and Nurkic, and yet got torched by a single player in the last 2 games at home, both of which were coming off the 2nd night of a back-to-back.
If you can't get that talent with those 3 players to out play a single player and an their out matched roster, then I'm putting that squarely at the feet of Stotts.

 

[Five Second Violation]

Olshey deserves the bulk of it. Not having a better contingency plan for the disastrous 2015 offseason and then somehow managing to have an even worse offseason the following summer and giving out not just one but several of the worst deals in the NBA. It's a fatally flawed roster and I question if there is a "right coach" for it.

Olshey needs to go first, and then the other chips can fall into place. Stotts and most all of the players I am fairly ambivalent about. A shake-up of some sort is necessary, but we need a new guy steering the wheel before that can happen.

 

[tester551]

Olshey deserves the bulk of it. Not having a better contingency plan for the disastrous 2015 offseason and then somehow managing to have an even worse offseason the following summer and giving out not just one but several of the worst deals in the NBA. It's a fatally flawed roster and I question if there is a "right coach" for it.

Olshey needs to go first, and then the other chips can fall into place. Stotts and most all of the players I am fairly ambivalent about. A shake-up of some sort is necessary, but we need a new guy steering the wheel before that can happen.

Although I agree with a lot of what you said, it's much easier to replace Stotts as step #1 to confirm how deep rooted the issues are & to confirm that this roster can not work.

 

[ripcityboy]

My sophomore college music production teacher.

 

[Five Second Violation]

Although I agree with a lot of what you said, it's much easier to replace Stotts as step #1 to confirm how deep rooted the issues are & to confirm that this roster can not work.

It's definitely easier to imagine a head coach getting replaced midseason than a GM, as they are both convenient scapegoats and more in supply. But I feel that it would simply be putting a different shade of lipstick on the same pig, and that's not what we need. We need someone to just take that pig out and make some bacon. And I simply don't trust Olshey to make the bacon.

 

[ripcityboy]

It's definitely easier to imagine a head coach getting replaced midseason than a GM, as they are both convenient scapegoats and more in supply. But I feel that it would simply be putting a different shade of lipstick on the same pig, and that's not what we need. We need someone to just take that pig out and make some bacon. And I simply don't trust Olshey to make the bacon.

 

[Drttimmy]

Paul Allen. The standing orders are to "reload" on the fly. Or, rather, invent a new way for a small market team to compete for a championship without tanking or fully committing to a youth movement. I'm not sure it's ever been done? Whitsitt came close, but he had the gift of Sabonis, and still, ultimately, came up short. From my POV, the standing orders are insane. The Einstein definition. We continue to collect what crumbs can be had on the tier 3 free agent market, attempt to make rotation players out of 2nd rounders, make the occasional tier 3 player trade in hopes of getting a tier 2 player in return. Nibble, nibble, nibble. Work up to the 5th or maybe 4th seed. Watch a player go down or a player move on. Drop to borderline lottery. Scrape for crumbs, play hard. Get that 8th seed. Make hollow promises, sell false hope. Work up to that 4th seed, then crumble again. Welcome our newest star! He's going to be good, just wait and see. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Change the standing orders. Allen, should take the handcuffs off Olshey, tell him he wants to win a championship and then get out of the way. He'll either succeed or fail, but at least he can truly try. Right now, the only thing we're trying to do, is remain middling.

 

[Sinobas]

We haven't even seen evidence that this team is underachiving. This core has been a .500 team the last 2 years, they look good at times, crappy at times, mediocre at others, but that's not uncommon for .500 pro teams.

The core just isn't good. I think some fans are expecting them to play up to their contracts, but Hark was a castoff, Aminu was a backup, Nurk was a backup on a crappy team, turner was a backup...CJ McCollum should be more like a Jamal Crawford 6th man...that's his talent level.

 

[illmatic99]

I think it's even on Olshey, the players, and Stotts.

Neil put a shit team together full of mediocre talent.
There are guys who play like they don't give a shit (you get paid 8 figures, at least pretend), or incredibly selfishly.
Stotts is too rigid in his strategy. Change it up, man. If you step back and think, this is the same defense that he tried to play in 2013 with Rolo/Nic/Wes. Personnel has changed, the league has changed. Why haven't you?

Man this is depressing.

Why is PA held at fault? He's thrown around cash for 30 yrs for his hobby, in this weak market where he won't ever see the returns on his investment like some of his peers do. I don't think you guys realize how rare it is to have an owner shell out 100 mil year after year for his players and still go out and spend the max possible for draft picks.

 

[illmatic99]

Paul Allen. The standing orders are to "reload" on the fly. Or, rather, invent a new way for a small market team to compete for a championship without tanking or fully committing to a youth movement. I'm not sure it's ever been done? Whitsitt came close, but he had the gift of Sabonis, and still, ultimately, came up short. From my POV, the standing orders are insane. The Einstein definition. We continue to collect what crumbs can be had on the tier 3 free agent market, attempt to make rotation players out of 2nd rounders, make the occasional tier 3 player trade in hopes of getting a tier 2 player in return. Nibble, nibble, nibble. Work up to the 5th or maybe 4th seed. Watch a player go down or a player move on. Drop to borderline lottery. Scrape for crumbs, play hard. Get that 8th seed. Make hollow promises, sell false hope. Work up to that 4th seed, then crumble again. Welcome our newest star! He's going to be good, just wait and see. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Change the standing orders. Allen, should take the handcuffs off Olshey, tell him he wants to win a championship and then get out of the way. He'll either succeed or fail, but at least he can truly try. Right now, the only thing we're trying to do, is remain middling.

What are these standing orders you speak of?

 

[Sinobas]

I think part of the problem, is how this team has peaked at the end of the season each of the last 2 years. It's given the Blazer brass an inflated view of how good they are.

 

[TBpup]

I think part of the problem, is how this team has peaked at the end of the season each of the last 2 years. It's given the Blazer brass an inflated view of how good they are.

But they have to have seen how they peaked with a softer schedule at the end, right? This year they started a soft part of the schedule and didn't take advantage. Not only that, they got breaks of playing so many teams without some of their top player(s) and still lost games to TOR, BRK, NOP, WAS etc. Now they have lost 3 in a row at home after a winning road trip of lackluster performances against undermanned squads.

Welcome HOU....GSW. If for some reason they even manage to win one of these games, while I will be happy with the win, will be just as frustrated with the roller coaster effort that would show what they can do if they put their minds to it.

 

[GrandJury]

I guess I don't understand how in the span of one year we went from a good offensive team to trash offensively. Like completely night and day.

Maybe Crabbe ? That’s the only huge difference from last year that we lost

He was the 3rd best 3point shooter