Chauncey Billups Now Odds-On Favorite To Be Next Coach Fired

[PDXKnight]

LOL!!! Did you just compare Chauncey Billups to Steve Kerr???? Really???

Steve Kerr record through 219 game = 186 - 33
Chauncey Billups record through 219 games = 75 - 144

Kerr knew how to coach on day one and t was obvious. After nearly three seasons, Chauncey still has zero clues what a modern NBA offense looks like. Unfortunately, that is also obvious.

Not defending Chauncey here, but I REALLY hate these type of arguments. It completely ignores the roster makeup and talent.... which has a bigger influence than anything else.

I mean look at how Kerr is doing this season... 500 ball (not exactly 'elite').

What about Pop? Did he forget how to coach? He's gone 67 - 154 the last 3 seasons. He has a worse record than Billups does over that period.

I hate these kind of excuse filled arguments. Chauncey wasn't hired to be a tank commander. He was hired to win with Damian Lillard in his prime. OK, we can play the injury excuse card for year one (we could also play that same excuse for GSW's record this season - which at 29-26 is still better than anything Chauncey has ever done).

Second year starting line up:
Jusuf Nurkic: 13.3ppg, 0.589 TS%
Jerami Grant: 20.5 ppg, 0.606 TS%
Josh Hart: 9.5 ppg, 0.586 TS%
Anfernee Simons: 21.1 ppg, 0.581 TS%
Damian Lillard: 32.2 ppg, 0.645 TS%

Does that look like the starting line up of a lottery team to you? It sure looks like a play off team to me. You have Damian Lillard having the best season of his career, by a wide margin. You have an entire starting five that scores at, or above the league average efficiency, including two additional 20+ ppg scorers.

That was the best pair of starting forwards Lillard played with since Aldridge + Batum.

So what kept that team from making the playoffs? No, it wasn't injuries. They shut down Dame, Ant, Nurk, traded Hart, etc. after it was obvious they wouldn't even sniff the play-in.

The answer: it was Chauncey's complete ineptitude. POR had the talent to regularly have double digit leads at the half, only to lead the league, by a wide margin, in blown second half double digit leads (14 and counting when they decided to shut it down and tank). How does a team with that much offensive talent constantly get out scored by double digits in the second half? Simple, other real NBA coaches coached circles around Chauncey. Make one simple adjustment at the half and Chauncey is clueless how to respond. Time after time after time after time, you could just see those big leads vanish while Chauncey made ZETRO counter adjustments.

POR was consistently a top 3 clutch time team under Stotts and they had Damian Lillard having the best season of his career. Yet, under Chauncey, they couldn't score to save their lives with the game on the line. I have no idea what kind of plays Chauncey was calling, but neither did the players. They consistently turned the ball over and often couldn't even get a shot off before the shot clock expired.

Remember - 14 blown double digit second half leads - WHEN THEY WERE TRYING TO WIN AND MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. They did not start the season with the goal of tanking, but Chauncey is the reason they ended up there. Based on the roster, that team greatly underachieved, and Chauncey was the reason why.

He's also doing a terrible job developing the young talent. The only think he's capable of teaching them is how to lose - a lot.

He was not the right coach for a win now team and he's also not the right coach to develop young players. He simply has no idea how to run a modern NBA offense. POR is dead last in AST/G, 29th in PTS/G and ORtg, 28th in TOV/G and dead last in TS%. Yes they have some young guys, but they also have veterans like Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, Malcom Brogdon and De'Andre Ayton - all proven veterans that have regularly scored at above league average efficiency - until they played for Chauncey.

They have, flat out, the worst offense in the league. No player movement, no ball movement, just endless ISOs that lead to TOVs and low percentage shots. POR gets so few assists, because they don't move the ball - yet they are 28th in TOVs? How is that possible? Chauncey, that's how.

Keep bringing the excuses, but relative to expectations and roster, this team has underachieved every year under Chauncey. No, they didn't have the talent GSW had early in Kerr's coaching career, but Kerr coached that team up from 51 wins and a 1st round exit to 67 wins and an NBA Championship in his first season, with virtually the same roster Mark Jackson had the year before. Kerr consistently coaches his roster up, Chauncey consistently coaches his roster down.

Yeah Chauncey has clearly been a step down from stotts in my eyes. At least stotts teams were somewhat good on offense. Chauncey coaches slow ball and his one credit I've heard anyone give him is a low points allowed which, like nate, doesn't matter much when your pace is close to the gutter

[BNM]

Not defending Chauncey here, but I REALLY hate these type of arguments. It completely ignores the roster makeup and talent.... which has a bigger influence than anything else.

I mean look at how Kerr is doing this season... 500 ball (not exactly 'elite').

What about Pop? Did he forget how to coach? He's gone 67 - 154 the last 3 seasons. He has a worse record than Billups does over that period.

I hate these kind of excuse filled arguments. Chauncey wasn't hired to be a tank commander. He was hired to win with Damian Lillard in his prime. OK, we can play the injury excuse card for year one (we could also play that same excuse for GSW's record this season - which at 29-26 is still better than anything Chauncey has ever done).

Second year starting line up:
Jusuf Nurkic: 13.3ppg, 0.589 TS%
Jerami Grant: 20.5 ppg, 0.606 TS%
Josh Hart: 9.5 ppg, 0.586 TS%
Anfernee Simons: 21.1 ppg, 0.581 TS%
Damian Lillard: 32.2 ppg, 0.645 TS%

Does that look like the starting line up of a lottery team to you? It sure looks like a play off team to me. You have Damian Lillard having the best season of his career, by a wide margin. You have an entire starting five that scores at, or above the league average efficiency, including two additional 20+ ppg scorers.

That was the best pair of starting forwards Lillard played with since Aldridge + Batum.

So what kept that team from making the playoffs? No, it wasn't injuries. They shut down Dame, Ant, Nurk, traded Hart, etc. after it was obvious they wouldn't even sniff the play-in.

The answer: it was Chauncey's complete ineptitude. POR had the talent to regularly have double digit leads at the half, only to lead the league, by a wide margin, in blown second half double digit leads (14 and counting when they decided to shut it down and tank). How does a team with that much offensive talent constantly get out scored by double digits in the second half? Simple, other real NBA coaches coached circles around Chauncey. Make one simple adjustment at the half and Chauncey is clueless how to respond. Time after time after time after time, you could just see those big leads vanish while Chauncey made ZETRO counter adjustments.

POR was consistently a top 3 clutch time team under Stotts and they had Damian Lillard having the best season of his career. Yet, under Chauncey, they couldn't score to save their lives with the game on the line. I have no idea what kind of plays Chauncey was calling, but neither did the players. They consistently turned the ball over and often couldn't even get a shot off before the shot clock expired.

Remember - 14 blown double digit second half leads - WHEN THEY WERE TRYING TO WIN AND MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. They did not start the season with the goal of tanking, but Chauncey is the reason they ended up there. Based on the roster, that team greatly underachieved, and Chauncey was the reason why.

He's also doing a terrible job developing the young talent. The only think he's capable of teaching them is how to lose - a lot.

He was not the right coach for a win now team and he's also not the right coach to develop young players. He simply has no idea how to run a modern NBA offense. POR is dead last in AST/G, 29th in PTS/G and ORtg, 28th in TOV/G and dead last in TS%. Yes they have some young guys, but they also have veterans like Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, Malcom Brogdon and De'Andre Ayton - all proven veterans that have regularly scored at above league average efficiency - until they played for Chauncey.

They have, flat out, the worst offense in the league. No player movement, no ball movement, just endless ISOs that lead to TOVs and low percentage shots. POR gets so few assists, because they don't move the ball - yet they are 28th in TOVs? How is that possible? Chauncey, that's how.

Keep bringing the excuses, but relative to expectations and roster, this team has underachieved every year under Chauncey. No, they didn't have the talent GSW had early in Kerr's coaching career, but Kerr coached that team up from 51 wins and a 1st round exit to 67 wins and an NBA Championship in his first season, with virtually the same roster Mark Jackson had the year before. Kerr consistently coaches his roster up, Chauncey consistently coaches his roster down.

Yeah Chauncey has clearly been a step down from stotts in my eyes. At least stotts teams were somewhat good on offense. Chauncey coaches slow ball and his one credit I've heard anyone give him is a low points allowed which, like nate, doesn't matter much when your pace is close to the gutter

Agreed. Holding the 28th ranked offense to 93 points is pretty meaningless when you only score 80 points on their 28th ranked defense. CHO has the worst net rating in the entire league, but they just beat Portland by 13 in a game where the Blazers had more TOVs than assists.

So come on Chauncey apoligists and tell us again how Chauncey is the victim of a poor roster. Our roster is NOT worse than Charlotte's, but our team is, thanks to our clueless coach.

On the bright side, we just got a game closer to Charlotte for 4th worst record. Chauncey is the ultimate tank commander. Unfortunately, he is also the master of stunting the growth of those lottery picks he helps us get.

[DusterBuster]

Chauncey was absolutely the wrong coach at the time they needed to hit that out of the park. That final year of Dame had talent. I think it’s a little too black and white to say injuries didn’t play a bit of a part, but I absolutely place the brunt of the blame at Chauncey’s feet (and even more blame at Olshey’s feet).

The Blazers needed a veteran coach to run a veteran squad, not a rookie coach who only had a single season coaching experience as a deep bench assistant. The players turned coaches thing works so rarely, it was a stupid path. They arguably would have been better off hiring Jason Kidd, who I think is a **** coach, but at least he had previous coaching experience.

Honestly, that whole coaching search was such a **** show from the jump. If they couldn’t overpay to get a previously experienced HC, then of course you get an assistant under Pop, which would have been Becky Hammond. That was the most non-HC experience candidate and from a great program with proven track record of great assistants becoming great HCs. I partly wonder if some of what made Jody Allen decide to fire Olshey was that he pushed for Billups over Hammond who was reported the candidate Jody really wanted.

At this point, with so little talent on the team, Billups has got the longest of leashes, so I don’t even bother stressing on it. Hopefully whenever it’s clear (again) that he can’t get a good team anywhere, they make the change

[Shem]

LOL!!! Did you just compare Chauncey Billups to Steve Kerr???? Really???

I sure did. Because both had ZERO head coaching experience when they were hired.

Kerr knew how to coach on day one and t was obvious.

Was it? Where did his coaching experience come from before he was hired by the Warriors? Before Kerr was hired, he was a GM of the Suns and a broadcast booth commentator for Turner Sports. When Phil Jackson wanted Kerr to coach the Knicks, all of a sudden the Warriors were interested in him and he chose the Warriors over the Knicks. And from Day 1, he had Curry, Thompson and Green with a few years of NBA experience and gave the Spurs a run for their money in the playoffs.

So no, you're 100% wrong on Kerr! Chauncey on the other hand had been an assistant coach before the Blazers hired him. And you're going to say that he's a bad coach, look at the talent the Blazers have??? Do you really think Kerr could take this current roster to the playoffs? Be real here.

Might I remind you of Gregg Popovich. He must be a bad coach according to your logic. Look at how bad the Spurs have been in recent years. How come he can't coach them into the playoffs???

Sorry, but your argument is 100% trash!!!!

[Shem]

Chauncey was absolutely the wrong coach at the time they needed to hit that out of the park.

It's like people have short memories. In year one of Billups, Dame played 29 games with a messed up stomach that really messed up the team. No coach could have done well with that roster that year based on what was going on with Dame. Not even Popovich. The franchise decided to break up the core and tank the rest of the season. Keep in mind the Blazers tanked after the all star break that year.

In Year 2 of Billups coaching career, the team started off healthy and posted a 10-3 to get the season going. Then the injury bug hit again including Dame who was dealing with a nagging calf injury the rest of the reason. Other key players got hurt like Nurk, Ant and Grant and missed a chunk of games. Eventually the Blazers decided to tank and ended up with the 3rd pick of the draft. No other head coach would have done it differently because the orders upstairs were once it was clear there was not going to be a run, the orders were to tank after the all star break again.

In Year 3 of Billups. It was clear from Day 1 that this was going to be a long year regarding wins and losses. Anyone who thought we were going to make a playoff run (and many thought that believe me) were just delusional. The Spurs have Pop and they're clearly tanking too.

We're a small market team that good free agent is going to sign with us so we have to build via the draft and that means we have to suck a few years to draft high end talent.

And yet people are blaming the clear tanking job which means a lot of losses on the coach.

[Shem]

BREAKING NEWS!!!: We're going to suck again next year too. Just giving you the heads up before you start blaming Chauncey again.

[PDXKnight]

Chauncey was absolutely the wrong coach at the time they needed to hit that out of the park.

It's like people have short memories. In year one of Billups, Dame played 29 games with a messed up stomach that really messed up the team. No coach could have done well with that roster that year based on what was going on with Dame. Not even Popovich. The franchise decided to break up the core and tank the rest of the season. Keep in mind the Blazers tanked after the all star break that year.

In Year 2 of Billups coaching career, the team started off healthy and posted a 10-3 to get the season going. Then the injury bug hit again including Dame who was dealing with a nagging calf injury the rest of the reason. Other key players got hurt like Nurk, Ant and Grant and missed a chunk of games. Eventually the Blazers decided to tank and ended up with the 3rd pick of the draft. No other head coach would have done it differently because the orders upstairs were once it was clear there was not going to be a run, the orders were to tank after the all star break again.

In Year 3 of Billups. It was clear from Day 1 that this was going to be a long year regarding wins and losses. Anyone who thought we were going to make a playoff run (and many thought that believe me) were just delusional. The Spurs have Pop and they're clearly tanking too.

We're a small market team that good free agent is going to sign with us so we have to build via the draft and that means we have to suck a few years to draft high end talent.

And yet people are blaming the clear tanking job which means a lot of losses on the coach.

He hasn't had the best cards no doubt but he hasn't been great at in game adjustments either

[JasonStern]

In Year 2 of Billups coaching career, the team started off healthy and posted a 10-3 to get the season going. Then the injury bug hit again including Dame who was dealing with a nagging calf injury the rest of the reason. Other key players got hurt like Nurk, Ant and Grant and missed a chunk of games. Eventually the Blazers decided to tank and ended up with the 3rd pick of the draft. No other head coach would have done it differently because the orders upstairs were once it was clear there was not going to be a run, the orders were to tank after the all star break again.

I fully believe that Stotts would have got us into the playoffs last season. Probably would have been swept in the first round again. Likely wouldn't have had any difference on Dame wanting out. Very possible that it's better that we didn't - embrace the rebuild instead of wasting Dame's career repeatedly competing for the 8th seed. But Stotts was underrated as a coach.

[Shem]

In Year 2 of Billups coaching career, the team started off healthy and posted a 10-3 to get the season going. Then the injury bug hit again including Dame who was dealing with a nagging calf injury the rest of the reason. Other key players got hurt like Nurk, Ant and Grant and missed a chunk of games. Eventually the Blazers decided to tank and ended up with the 3rd pick of the draft. No other head coach would have done it differently because the orders upstairs were once it was clear there was not going to be a run, the orders were to tank after the all star break again.

I fully believe that Stotts would have got us into the playoffs last season. Probably would have been swept in the first round again. Likely wouldn't have had any difference on Dame wanting out. Very possible that it's better that we didn't - embrace the rebuild instead of wasting Dame's career repeatedly competing for the 8th seed. But Stotts was underrated as a coach.

No, he wouldn't. Because again, management decided to tank after the all star break. It may have caused Stotts to step down or being trooper about it like Popovich is doing in San Antonio.

[JasonStern]

In Year 2 of Billups coaching career, the team started off healthy and posted a 10-3 to get the season going. Then the injury bug hit again including Dame who was dealing with a nagging calf injury the rest of the reason. Other key players got hurt like Nurk, Ant and Grant and missed a chunk of games. Eventually the Blazers decided to tank and ended up with the 3rd pick of the draft. No other head coach would have done it differently because the orders upstairs were once it was clear there was not going to be a run, the orders were to tank after the all star break again.

I fully believe that Stotts would have got us into the playoffs last season. Probably would have been swept in the first round again. Likely wouldn't have had any difference on Dame wanting out. Very possible that it's better that we didn't - embrace the rebuild instead of wasting Dame's career repeatedly competing for the 8th seed. But Stotts was underrated as a coach.

No, he wouldn't. Because again, management decided to tank after the all star break. It may have caused Stotts to step down or being trooper about it like Popovich is doing in San Antonio.

Agree to disagree.

Shem: I don't agree with that!

Stotts did more with less. The Blazers only went full tank mode because the season was lost. Had the Blazers done the correct thing and can Olshey but retain Stotts, I don't think we would have been bad enough to tank. Look at the number of Billups classic 4th quarter double digit games blown last season. Cut those in half, and we're probably a 6th seed at the point where we went full tank mode. And at that point, you don't waste Dame's best statistical year intentionally tanking. Not saying we would have won a single playoff game. But a Dame/Grant/Nurkić/Simons lead team should have been first round fodder - not playing in the Wembanyama sweepstakes.

[Norm2953]

It'd be interesting if management decides a better coach to properly develop Scoot is what is needed
most next season.

The drop in TV ratings and in season ticket renewals might finally motivate an indifferent owner to add
the piece that likely would have more impact more than anyone they would draft in this upcoming draft

[Shem]

The drop in TV ratings and in season ticket renewals might finally motivate an indifferent owner to add
the piece that likely would have more impact more than anyone they would draft in this upcoming draft

Yep that's it! It has NOTHING to do with ROOT Sports being switched to a premium package where you have to pay extra to get the channel unlike previous seasons. Nope... no way!!!

Golly, the propaganda with that talking point and how people bought into it all over social media is mind boggling. Seriously, how do people not realize how making watching Blazer games more expensive has something to do with it?

[Shem]

Stotts did more with less. The Blazers only went full tank mode because the season was lost. Had the Blazers done the correct thing and can Olshey but retain Stotts, I don't think we would have been bad enough to tank. Look at the number of Billups classic 4th quarter double digit games blown last season. Cut those in half, and we're probably a 6th seed at the point where we went full tank mode. And at that point, you don't waste Dame's best statistical year intentionally tanking. Not saying we would have won a single playoff game. But a Dame/Grant/Nurkić/Simons lead team should have been first round fodder - not playing in the Wembanyama sweepstakes.

So you're saying there was no tanking... at all during the last 3 seasons???

Here's a hint: Last year the Blazers were 29-31 at one point and finished 33-49.

[m0ng0]

What if the easier explanation is that Jody is too apathetic to care what happens with the Blazers because it is just one small part of the Paul Alan estate and she has other interests to focus on?

Winner!!!!

[Norm2953]

The drop in TV ratings and in season ticket renewals might finally motivate an indifferent owner to add
the piece that likely would have more impact more than anyone they would draft in this upcoming draft

Yep that's it! It has NOTHING to do with ROOT Sports being switched to a premium package where you have to pay extra to get the channel unlike previous seasons. Nope... no way!!!

Golly, the propaganda with that talking point and how people bought into it all over social media is mind boggling. Seriously, how do people not realize how making watching Blazer games more expensive has something to do with it?

Not really propaganda when the team since 2021 has won 27, 33 and so far 16 games with the likelihood of
not being a playoff team next year, no matter what they do. Would people be watching if all the games were
free?

[Shem]

The drop in TV ratings and in season ticket renewals might finally motivate an indifferent owner to add
the piece that likely would have more impact more than anyone they would draft in this upcoming draft

Yep that's it! It has NOTHING to do with ROOT Sports being switched to a premium package where you have to pay extra to get the channel unlike previous seasons. Nope... no way!!!

Golly, the propaganda with that talking point and how people bought into it all over social media is mind boggling. Seriously, how do people not realize how making watching Blazer games more expensive has something to do with it?

Not really propaganda when the team since 2021 has won 27, 33 and so far 16 games with the likelihood of
not being a playoff team next year, no matter what they do. Would people be watching if all the games were
free?

There are people not watching the games now that would be had that change NOT had happened that post on this forum. DaVoiceMaster is one I can think of offhand. And I've seen plenty of people all over social media that have said the same thing. That has more to do with the massive drop off in ratings than anything.

[JasonStern]

Stotts did more with less. The Blazers only went full tank mode because the season was lost. Had the Blazers done the correct thing and can Olshey but retain Stotts, I don't think we would have been bad enough to tank. Look at the number of Billups classic 4th quarter double digit games blown last season. Cut those in half, and we're probably a 6th seed at the point where we went full tank mode. And at that point, you don't waste Dame's best statistical year intentionally tanking. Not saying we would have won a single playoff game. But a Dame/Grant/Nurkić/Simons lead team should have been first round fodder - not playing in the Wembanyama sweepstakes.

So you're saying there was no tanking... at all during the last 3 seasons???

Here's a hint: Last year the Blazers were 29-31 at one point and finished 33-49.

That's not what I said at all. I drunk post as well, so no offense taken. The last 2 seasons, intentional tanking occurred once the playoffs were out of reach. What I am saying is if the Blazers had retained Stotts as opposed to Olshey throwing him under the bus for bad general management, the Blazers would have been in the playoff hunt the last two seasons. As such, they would not have intentionally tanked. They wouldn't have made any playoff noise, but they would be right there in that 6-8 seed range. Zero chance in Dame's last two seasons, management went out on game one and said "Chauncey! Be a really bad coach!"

[Norm2953]

I do think a coaching change could come if upper management just felt a change is needed to better
develop Sharpe, Scoot and whoever they choose in the 2024 draft.

Losing might even be tolerated for another season if fans could see progress with the team

[Shem]

Stotts did more with less. The Blazers only went full tank mode because the season was lost. Had the Blazers done the correct thing and can Olshey but retain Stotts, I don't think we would have been bad enough to tank. Look at the number of Billups classic 4th quarter double digit games blown last season. Cut those in half, and we're probably a 6th seed at the point where we went full tank mode. And at that point, you don't waste Dame's best statistical year intentionally tanking. Not saying we would have won a single playoff game. But a Dame/Grant/Nurkić/Simons lead team should have been first round fodder - not playing in the Wembanyama sweepstakes.

So you're saying there was no tanking... at all during the last 3 seasons???

Here's a hint: Last year the Blazers were 29-31 at one point and finished 33-49.

That's not what I said at all. I drunk post as well, so no offense taken. The last 2 seasons, intentional tanking occurred once the playoffs were out of reach.

The last play-in team in the west (New Orleans) had a 42-40 record. Now go back to when the Blazers were once at 29-31. They could have gone for it and no your argument doesn't hold how it was out of reach at that point.

However, it would have ended with either a play-in loss or a 1st round exit at best. Management decided it was best to tank for the draft pick thus leading to the 3rd pick of the draft which was a much better outcome in the long run than going for it.

What I am saying is if the Blazers had retained Stotts as opposed to Olshey throwing him under the bus for bad general management, the Blazers would have been in the playoff hunt the last two seasons.

Again after just explaining Year 2 (again) and how they could have gone for it, Year 1 of Billups as coach (explaining it again) Dame was playing with a core stomach issue and only played 29 games and his last game he played that season was in December.

The only argument you have left with Year 1 is how you believe the Blazers could have made the playoffs without Dame since December. So if you really truly still believe your argument, I hope you have a good one for how they could have made it without Dame.

[JasonStern]

The last play-in team in the west (New Orleans) had a 42-40 record. Now go back to when the Blazers were once at 29-31. They could have gone for it and no your argument doesn't hold how it was out of reach at that point.

However, it would have ended with either a play-in loss or a 1st round exit at best. Management decided it was best to tank for the draft pick thus leading to the 3rd pick of the draft which was a much better outcome in the long run than going for it.

And the Blazers at that point had something ridiculous like 8 games where they were leading in the 4th quarter only to choke. Let's say a veteran coach like Stotts corrects half of those games - fairly reasonable. Guy won 402 games as a Blazers coach. Now you're sitting at 33-27. Probably the 6th seed. Passive ownership would be fine with that and not force a tank.

Again, with Stotts that is still a first round fodder team. Especially in a stacked western conference. No argument there. And I understand the logic behind tanking if you know the team won't be remotely competitive.

My entire point is that Chauncey Billups is a terrible coach that is in over his head. Seems like a nice enough guy. It just doesn't translate into winning basketball.

The only argument you have left with Year 1 is how you believe the Blazers could have made the playoffs without Dame since December. So if you really truly still believe your argument, I hope you have a good one for how they could have made it without Dame.

In theory, you rest Dame early. You tread water. Then, you hope a healthy, rested Dame makes a push late in the season. Not sure how realistic that is. I'm fine giving a pass year one. Even the Warriors tanked in 2019-20 despite having an insane salary.

But, the counter-argument for your pro-Chauncey stance is that you had what could possibly be the best season Dame will ever have, solid role players in Grant, Nurkić, and Simons. And you wound up with the #3 pick in the draft and the franchise GOAT PG asking out. How exactly is that good coaching?