Fire Terry Stotts?

[DaVoiceMaster]

I understand he wasn't working with a full roster, but this team was horrible this season defensively. Ranked 27th in DRTG, and while the offense was number 10, they were at the bottom of the league in assists. As a Dame fan I tried watching a bunch of their games, and while yes they didn't have great defensive personnel... they didn't even seem to have a defensive system at all. Rotations were poor, effort was poor, and I think that that's a reflection of poor coaching.

On offense, it felt like they were Iso-heavy and being carried by Dame with poor ball movement and no system... imo another reflection of poor coaching. If I'm wrong about their play correct me, but IMO they've always been a limited team with the way that they play. They remind me of the Dwayne Casey Raptors, iso heavy with good offensive players, but not a winning system.

Terry Stotts is a good coach imo. Ik he's been good with the Blazers, the team loves him and his job is probably safe for atleast 1 more yr. But I think like many 'good' teams before them they need to make a coaching change to have a chance to reach that next level. Casey, Mark Jackson, SVG all good coaches but their teams took off when they finally changed things up, and I think unless there's a strong resurgence where they make it back into the playoffs and play WELL in the first round, the Blazers should consider looking for a new coach this offseason, regardless of the injuries.

Defensively last season - Nukic and Collins injured and missed the season (to this point). Hood injured and missed most of the season. Turner, Leonard, and Harkless traded. Aminu let go. That's their top 6 (excluding Leonard) defensive players last season. if anyone expected to see a defensive minded team this year, then you don't know much about defense. Sure they added Whiteside and Bazemore, but Whiteside only rebounds and blocks a few shots. He doesn't really change anything and Bazemore tried to defend the entire court, leaving his man wide open. Then the Blazers added Melo who is a defensive genius!

Offensively, what did you expect from the Blazers? They only have Lillard and CJ. I don't know what else you expected after looking at the roster? Trent Jr was a bright spot this season.

[Metallikid]

IDK about Stotts but whenever Dame finally gives up on the Blazers and leaves in free agency that's when we're gonna get a new contender on the scene.

dame will be 35yo when his next contract expires

that boy is loyal as they come

He is very loyal, but I don't believe we are in an era anymore where an All-NBA calibre player is willing to retire with one franchise if they aren't a legitimate contender for that player's entire prime.

[illuminati666]

Did last season and the Blazers making the conference finals without Nurkic not happen? You can't fire a coach that over delivers like that.

Is no one in this thread aware that the Blazers were decimated by injuries this season? 21 starting line-ups in 66 games? Skal Labissiere, Anthony Tolliver, Caleb Swanigan, Mario Hezonja, Nassir Little and Wenyen Gabriel all started games for the Blazers this season for christsakes.

Nothing made me appreciate Mo and Aminu more than watching Hezonja all season.

Damn that guy is terrible.

Ya I remember making a post about how losing Aminu would hurt and I rmbr Blazers fans not agreeing, saying he struggled in the playoffs and he wasn't that big of a loss.... turns out he sure was

[illuminati666]

Should've fired him after they got swept in the first round as the 3rd seed by the Pelicans. I don't know how he survived that.

Actually, sticking with everyone after that embarrassing sweep was a good move. They made it to the WCF the following year. That's an excellent example of improving without overreacting. Instead of firing everyone, why not learn from it? Together.

So you underachieved one year and overachieved the next. What did that organization learn? At some point you have to try a new direction. They made it to the WCF on frankly Cinderella play from CJ and Dame being awesome. But we already know that Dame and CJ can go off in this scheme. There were talks of trading CJ the following season, but imo you don't make a significant trade like that until you try a coaching change.

I 100% agree with this. Is Stotts just uncritisizable bc of one playoff run where CJ had to save their butts in that Nuggets game 7. The system they have right now just isn't a championship system, even when they get Nurk and Collins back. Sure the FO could've been better, but looking forward I don't see how much more they could improve this team. Trading CJ would be a start IMO.

[Curmudgeon]

LOL. Fire Stotts and hire...who?

[JRoy]

Did last season and the Blazers making the conference finals without Nurkic not happen? You can't fire a coach that over delivers like that.

Is no one in this thread aware that the Blazers were decimated by injuries this season? 21 starting line-ups in 66 games? Skal Labissiere, Anthony Tolliver, Caleb Swanigan, Mario Hezonja, Nassir Little and Wenyen Gabriel all started games for the Blazers this season for christsakes.

Nothing made me appreciate Mo and Aminu more than watching Hezonja all season.

Damn that guy is terrible.

Ya I remember making a post about how losing Aminu would hurt and I rmbr Blazers fans not agreeing, saying he struggled in the playoffs and he wasn't that big of a loss.... turns out he sure was

Aminu’s lack of any consistent offense made it easy for the defense to cheat off him in the playoffs. His d and rebounding were always helpful.

Hezonja on the other hand, is terrible at everything.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I wanted Aminu gone!!! That guy pissed me off every time he dribbled the ball. For some reason, he thought he was a PG and ALWAYS turned the ball over. His shot was horribly inconsistent. Harkless wasn't a great offensive player, but he provided more offensive capability than Aminu. He would always cut to the basket. He could post up smaller players, etc. I would actually like to see Harkless back on the Blazers roster. I was ready for Turner to go though. He did okay off the bench, but meh. Leonard, as much as I hated watching him on the court, I would take him back in a heartbeat as a third center. The guy is a great teammate, fabulous cheerleader, and just a nice human being. So long as I do not have to see him play long stretches, I'm okay with him. If the Blazers have a big lead, put him in for some comedy relief.