Chauncey Needs to Go!

[BNM]

Time to end the Chauncey experiment. He's an absolutely horrible coach. His complete lack on in game adjustments make Nate McMillan look like a creative genius.

The offense is in total disarray. They don't seem to run any sort of offensive sets, the players are confused and out of sync. We go on ridiculously long scoring droughts every game against some of the weakest defenses in the league and commit countless unforced turnovers.

In their last 10 games, POR is 2-8. Only ONE of their opponents were above .500. Based on talent, POR should have been 9-1 in those 10 games, but they repeatedly lost close games to inferior talent.

7 of those 8 loses qualified for what the NBA calls Clutch Time (within 5 points during the last 5 minutes of the game). POR was 0-7 in those games. During Clutch Time, they turned the ball over on 25.5% of their possessions and had a TS% of .358. And this was against some of the worst teams in the league!

We're playing worse than HOU, and we are not a young team deliberately tanking. Our starting lineup is:

Damian Lillard - 32 - 11th NBA Season
Anfernee Simons - 23, 5th NBA Season
Josh Hart - 27, 6th NBA Season
Jerami Grant - 28, 9th NBA Season
Jusuf Nurkic - 28, 9th NBA Season

The last time I saw an offense this unstructured, disorganized, confused and out of sync was when Kevin Pritchard coached the last 27 games of the 2005 season - but that was an intentional tank job. This is a veteran team that is supposedly in win now mode. It is easily the most talented roster POR has had since Aldridge left.

I blame the horrible 4th quarter (and overall) performance in Chauncey. Completely lack of execution with the game on the line AGAINST INFERIOR OPPONENTS. It's not like POR is losing to good teams. They are not. Even that Pritchard coached team managed to win 3 of their last 10 games.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

he deserves more time, its been only half the season

it still blows my mind how good our team looked with ant, hart, little, winslow & nurk, they had 4-game winning streak and they played beautiful bball on both ends of the floor, so they had to shut down nurk first, then ant and ant was much better than he is now, leading role obviously suits him better and chauncey was able to implement his idea on both ends of the floor with these players, they were playing so hard, something we dont see from this team

im willing to give chauncey more time and if we decide to improve the roster, hopefully we get the right pieces

[GEE]

Gotta blame somebody. Hypothetical question... What if Chauncey felt that making Dame the 6th man was the answer(right or wrong) to turning this team around? Would he be able to do that?

Chauncey has bosses and so does Cronin for that matter.

Personally, I think the Jody and the Vulcans are the real problem here. I have a hunch that Cronin and Chauncey are on the same page in regards to the direction they want to take this team, but they only have so much power to make decisions about who plays and who stays.

The military has this thing called the "Chain of Command", and ours has been broken since the days of Zach Randolph and other players having a direct line to Paul Allen. When this happens, it strips Cronin and Chauncey of the power they need, to do their jobs effectively.

Firing Chauncey would change absolutely nothing. It's just not that simple. POWER is the issue.

[BNM]

So, if Chauncey is not the one to blame for going 2-8 against some of the weakest teams in the league, who is??? Given the talent Chauncey has, does anyone really think Jody Allen's or Joe Cronin's fault the Blazers turn the ball over at a ridiculous rate and often go several minutes without scoring.

This team is a train wreck ON THE COURT. It's not a talent issue, it's an execution issue. Honestly, they players look totally lost in Chauncey's "offense". Does anyone remember less talented Stotts' coached teams ever being this totally lost on offense? I sure don't.

They took a risk and hired a guy with ZERO head coaching experience and now we are seeing the result of that lack of experience.

Watch the product on the floor and convince me they are not grossly underachieving for the talent on this roster compared to past Blazers squads and other current teams.

[GEE]

I agree with you BNM that this team, with the talent we have is underachieving. I just don't think the blame lies with Chauncey or Cronin and I thought I explained WHO we should be pointing the finger at. I also feel I clearly pointed out WHY we are seeing the dysfunction. It's the same reason that the Lakers suck, and they have three Star players. LeGM has ruined that franchise for years to come. Dame is acting in the exact same fashion.

Dame, and his POWER to control this teams future, given to him by Jody and the Vulcans, has created a break in the "Chain of Command", stripping Chauncey and Cronin the ability to move off the treadmill. It's a tug of war. I think Dame and the Vulcans care more about getting paid, than they do about winning a title. It's the very reason things are no different now, than they were under Stotts. Changing players, coaches or even the GM isn't going to fix the problem. We've replaced all three, and we are no better for it.

Dame, our PG, still shoots 25 shots per game, and clearly is currently more concerned about his 7th All-Star appearance, than he is with winning and making the players around him better. He's also, as the PG, responsible for running the offense efficiently and not having massive turnovers, and I strongly believe that his extension was done, regardless of how Chauncey and Cronin felt about it.

It's clear to me that Dame, Jody and the Vulcans are to blame, and the team is giving up due to Dame's refusing to sacrifice his personal achievements, accolades and self-glossing for the sake of winning a title. The team as a whole appears tired of his Barry Bonds like behavior and we are all seeing the result on the court.

Need proof... Just look at the recent Twitter post from a couple days ago by the Blazers, where Dame DOLLA is giving one of his inspiring speeches to the whole team with the cameras rolling at their practice. I'm not a body language expert but damn, all of his teammates look sooooo tired of his crap.

[Norm2953]

It'll be interesting to see what Portland does for we're at the half way point of the season.

Team could double down on Dame by trading off all their youth to add veteran pieces for they could
get as high as 5 if they did that or they could start playing all the young players and settle for a
mid-late lottery spot.

I would presume they would dump Chauncey for a Stotts like coach who will get the team into the
playoffs and a first round exit if they opted for the first option. They could keep Chauncey and
settle for the second option which would eventually lead to a Dame trade.

In my mind, they can't keep straggling the fence. The Celtics after failing to win the 2007 draft lottery
despite having the most PP balls, opted for their veteran option and it lead to a title. The veteran
option leads to short term success but come in 2025 and beyond, the team is going to be in the lottery
for the foreseeable future.

[m0ng0]

I say let him grow, learn and improve...George Karl couldn't make this team much better

[monopoman]

Odds are even if he is fired it won't be until the off-season. No NBA team ever really improves from firing a coach mid-season, there also isn't a ton of candidates sitting around that would be a HUGE improvement.

At least if we miss the playoffs this year we have a small shot at getting a top pick, better than having a likely 1st round exit with Stotts.

Anyways I also point out that we were nowhere near as good as our 10-4 start and I think this team is nowhere as bad as their last 15 games. We took a shot at a coach that might have turned out to be great, it didn't work out go figure it's not like we gave up an incredible coach in the process.

[Village Idiot]

It'll be interesting to see how the team plays without Lillard. Hopefully less iso ball and some player and ball movement on offense and more consistent effort. I'm definitely leaning more towards cashing in on Dame and giving Chauncey another year but clearly Billups doesn't call the shots on this team and he has a lot of work to do in managing NBA egos and getting players to play his way.

[Case2012]

I agree with you BNM that this team, with the talent we have is underachieving. I just don't think the blame lies with Chauncey or Cronin and I thought I explained WHO we should be pointing the finger at. I also feel I clearly pointed out WHY we are seeing the dysfunction. It's the same reason that the Lakers suck, and they have three Star players. LeGM has ruined that franchise for years to come. Dame is acting in the exact same fashion.

Dame, and his POWER to control this teams future, given to him by Jody and the Vulcans, has created a break in the "Chain of Command", stripping Chauncey and Cronin the ability to move off the treadmill. It's a tug of war. I think Dame and the Vulcans care more about getting paid, than they do about winning a title. It's the very reason things are no different now, than they were under Stotts. Changing players, coaches or even the GM isn't going to fix the problem. We've replaced all three, and we are no better for it.

Dame, our PG, still shoots 25 shots per game, and clearly is currently more concerned about his 7th All-Star appearance, than he is with winning and making the players around him better. He's also, as the PG, responsible for running the offense efficiently and not having massive turnovers, and I strongly believe that his extension was done, regardless of how Chauncey and Cronin felt about it.

It's clear to me that Dame, Jody and the Vulcans are to blame, and the team is giving up due to Dame's refusing to sacrifice his personal achievements, accolades and self-glossing for the sake of winning a title. The team as a whole appears tired of his Barry Bonds like behavior and we are all seeing the result on the court.

Need proof... Just look at the recent Twitter post from a couple days ago by the Blazers, where Dame DOLLA is giving one of his inspiring speeches to the whole team with the cameras rolling at their practice. I'm not a body language expert but damn, all of his teammates look sooooo tired of his crap.

Is Damian Lillard in the room with us now?

[GEE]

I agree with you BNM that this team, with the talent we have is underachieving. I just don't think the blame lies with Chauncey or Cronin and I thought I explained WHO we should be pointing the finger at. I also feel I clearly pointed out WHY we are seeing the dysfunction. It's the same reason that the Lakers suck, and they have three Star players. LeGM has ruined that franchise for years to come. Dame is acting in the exact same fashion.

Dame, and his POWER to control this teams future, given to him by Jody and the Vulcans, has created a break in the "Chain of Command", stripping Chauncey and Cronin the ability to move off the treadmill. It's a tug of war. I think Dame and the Vulcans care more about getting paid, than they do about winning a title. It's the very reason things are no different now, than they were under Stotts. Changing players, coaches or even the GM isn't going to fix the problem. We've replaced all three, and we are no better for it.

Dame, our PG, still shoots 25 shots per game, and clearly is currently more concerned about his 7th All-Star appearance, than he is with winning and making the players around him better. He's also, as the PG, responsible for running the offense efficiently and not having massive turnovers, and I strongly believe that his extension was done, regardless of how Chauncey and Cronin felt about it.

It's clear to me that Dame, Jody and the Vulcans are to blame, and the team is giving up due to Dame's refusing to sacrifice his personal achievements, accolades and self-glossing for the sake of winning a title. The team as a whole appears tired of his Barry Bonds like behavior and we are all seeing the result on the court.

Need proof... Just look at the recent Twitter post from a couple days ago by the Blazers, where Dame DOLLA is giving one of his inspiring speeches to the whole team with the cameras rolling at their practice. I'm not a body language expert but damn, all of his teammates look sooooo tired of his crap.

Is Damian Lillard in the room with us now?

You contribute nothing to the discussion, as always. Personal attacks are what people like yourself are left with, only because you don't agree with someone, and lack the intelligence to make any sort of sane rebuttal. You are a microcosm of what's wrong people these days. It's also why so few people post on here anymore. You add NOTHING.

[Norm2953]

It'll be interesting to see how the team plays without Lillard. Hopefully less iso ball and some player and ball movement on offense and more consistent effort. I'm definitely leaning more towards cashing in on Dame and giving Chauncey another year but clearly Billups doesn't call the shots on this team and he has a lot of work to do in managing NBA egos and getting players to play his way.

As we saw last season, team is a different team without Dame for an extended period for let's say, Winslow
returns to play PF alongside of Grant, Nurk. Portland with Simons, Hart, GP2 in the back court would be
defensively better with plenty of shots for Ant/Grant. The offense with Winslow/Nurk as facilitators to
the teams two scorers (Grant/Simons) works.

Interesting how the teams recent slide corresponds to Winslow missing the last two weeks due to injury.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I agree with you BNM that this team, with the talent we have is underachieving. I just don't think the blame lies with Chauncey or Cronin and I thought I explained WHO we should be pointing the finger at. I also feel I clearly pointed out WHY we are seeing the dysfunction. It's the same reason that the Lakers suck, and they have three Star players. LeGM has ruined that franchise for years to come. Dame is acting in the exact same fashion.

Dame, and his POWER to control this teams future, given to him by Jody and the Vulcans, has created a break in the "Chain of Command", stripping Chauncey and Cronin the ability to move off the treadmill. It's a tug of war. I think Dame and the Vulcans care more about getting paid, than they do about winning a title. It's the very reason things are no different now, than they were under Stotts. Changing players, coaches or even the GM isn't going to fix the problem. We've replaced all three, and we are no better for it.

Dame, our PG, still shoots 25 shots per game, and clearly is currently more concerned about his 7th All-Star appearance, than he is with winning and making the players around him better. He's also, as the PG, responsible for running the offense efficiently and not having massive turnovers, and I strongly believe that his extension was done, regardless of how Chauncey and Cronin felt about it.

It's clear to me that Dame, Jody and the Vulcans are to blame, and the team is giving up due to Dame's refusing to sacrifice his personal achievements, accolades and self-glossing for the sake of winning a title. The team as a whole appears tired of his Barry Bonds like behavior and we are all seeing the result on the court.

Need proof... Just look at the recent Twitter post from a couple days ago by the Blazers, where Dame DOLLA is giving one of his inspiring speeches to the whole team with the cameras rolling at their practice. I'm not a body language expert but damn, all of his teammates look sooooo tired of his crap.

Is Damian Lillard in the room with us now?

You contribute nothing to the discussion, as always. Personal attacks are what people like yourself are left with, only because you don't agree with someone, and lack the intelligence to make any sort of sane rebuttal. You are a microcosm of what's wrong people these days. It's also why so few people post on here anymore. You add NOTHING.

You two need a room lol. In all seriousness though, you already started a thread to air these grievances against Lillard so lets keep this thread on airing grievances against Billups. When you derail a thread to continue waging your personal war you invite these type replies, neither of which furthers productive discussion.

[monopoman]

It'll be interesting to see how the team plays without Lillard. Hopefully less iso ball and some player and ball movement on offense and more consistent effort. I'm definitely leaning more towards cashing in on Dame and giving Chauncey another year but clearly Billups doesn't call the shots on this team and he has a lot of work to do in managing NBA egos and getting players to play his way.

As we saw last season, team is a different team without Dame for an extended period for let's say, Winslow
returns to play PF alongside of Grant, Nurk. Portland with Simons, Hart, GP2 in the back court would be
defensively better with plenty of shots for Ant/Grant. The offense with Winslow/Nurk as facilitators to
the teams two scorers (Grant/Simons) works.

Interesting how the teams recent slide corresponds to Winslow missing the last two weeks due to injury.

Well the bench is pretty damn bad, so any losses to the bench are felt heavily. In a lot of games the starters are doing a lot of work and then the bench barely chips in, Sharpe is probably the best bench piece currently and he still needs to develop his game more. Another vet or two off the bench even if they were just above average players would be a HUGE help.

**** I would love to give Carmelo another shot right now, he might suck on defense but at least he can hit a shot.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I am no Billups fan. I really can't stand that dumbfounded look he has every time the ref's blow a whistle. I wish we had a more experienced coach, but I don't know who that would be.

[Case2012]

I agree with you BNM that this team, with the talent we have is underachieving. I just don't think the blame lies with Chauncey or Cronin and I thought I explained WHO we should be pointing the finger at. I also feel I clearly pointed out WHY we are seeing the dysfunction. It's the same reason that the Lakers suck, and they have three Star players. LeGM has ruined that franchise for years to come. Dame is acting in the exact same fashion.

Dame, and his POWER to control this teams future, given to him by Jody and the Vulcans, has created a break in the "Chain of Command", stripping Chauncey and Cronin the ability to move off the treadmill. It's a tug of war. I think Dame and the Vulcans care more about getting paid, than they do about winning a title. It's the very reason things are no different now, than they were under Stotts. Changing players, coaches or even the GM isn't going to fix the problem. We've replaced all three, and we are no better for it.

Dame, our PG, still shoots 25 shots per game, and clearly is currently more concerned about his 7th All-Star appearance, than he is with winning and making the players around him better. He's also, as the PG, responsible for running the offense efficiently and not having massive turnovers, and I strongly believe that his extension was done, regardless of how Chauncey and Cronin felt about it.

It's clear to me that Dame, Jody and the Vulcans are to blame, and the team is giving up due to Dame's refusing to sacrifice his personal achievements, accolades and self-glossing for the sake of winning a title. The team as a whole appears tired of his Barry Bonds like behavior and we are all seeing the result on the court.

Need proof... Just look at the recent Twitter post from a couple days ago by the Blazers, where Dame DOLLA is giving one of his inspiring speeches to the whole team with the cameras rolling at their practice. I'm not a body language expert but damn, all of his teammates look sooooo tired of his crap.

Is Damian Lillard in the room with us now?

You contribute nothing to the discussion, as always. Personal attacks are what people like yourself are left with, only because you don't agree with someone, and lack the intelligence to make any sort of sane rebuttal. You are a microcosm of what's wrong people these days. It's also why so few people post on here anymore. You add NOTHING.

I wasn't attacking you, it was a joke. Relax. Just because I'm not in agreement with you about trading Dame doesn't mean I don't contribute to the conversations,I just don't need to reiterate for the 1000x why I don't want to trade Dame. The problem is what it's always been, a bad front office. Dame isn't the problem, it's coaching and management, and to a greater extent ownership. I've elaborated on this several times.

Every post you make is about trading Dame and getting Mark Williams, how is saying the same thing over and over again considered contributing? Do what you want, but I think it's funny, sorry.

[m0ng0]

And you contribute this...speaking of hillarious.

Dame/Payton
Harris/Sharpe/Williams
Grant/Winslow
Randle/Melo
Whiteside/Cousins

[Case2012]

And you contribute this...speaking of hillarious.

Dame/Payton
Harris/Sharpe/Williams
Grant/Winslow
Randle/Melo
Whiteside/Cousins

HAHAherhahahrehrhhahaha

Cute.

[GEE]

Is Damian Lillard in the room with us now?

You contribute nothing to the discussion, as always. Personal attacks are what people like yourself are left with, only because you don't agree with someone, and lack the intelligence to make any sort of sane rebuttal. You are a microcosm of what's wrong people these days. It's also why so few people post on here anymore. You add NOTHING.

You two need a room lol. In all seriousness though, you already started a thread to air these grievances against Lillard so lets keep this thread on airing grievances against Billups. When you derail a thread to continue waging your personal war you invite these type replies, neither of which furthers productive discussion.

Your ability to comprehend the written English language is clearly just as bad as his, Or maybe you simply didn't take the time to actually read what I wrote, and just immediately jumped to that guys defense.

I made no attack on Dame, and nowhere did I suggest trading him in this thread, as suggested! I was responding to BLM, and my comments were very much on point with the discussion, and in no way "derailing".

Your defense, and support of his actions are what IMO are hurting this forum, and scaring more people from voicing their ideas and opinions. It's your job as a moderator to keep things clean, on target and respectful.... regardless of which side of the "Trading Dame" debate you currently sit on. Bullies!!!

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Your ability to comprehend the written English language is clearly just as bad as his, Or maybe you simply didn't take the time to actually read what I wrote, and just immediately jumped to that guys defense.

I made no attack on Dame, and nowhere did I suggest trading him in this thread, as suggested! I was responding to BLM, and my comments were very much on point with the discussion, and in no way "derailing".

Your defense, and support of his actions are what IMO are hurting this forum, and scaring more people from voicing their ideas and opinions. It's your job as a moderator to keep things clean, on target and respectful.... regardless of which side of the "Trading Dame" debate you currently sit on. Bullies!!!

I most definitely did not defend him, I said you bringing complaints from one thread to another is going to invite unproductive replies. Very unproductive because we are still talking about non-Billups stuff.