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Time to fire Olshey and Stotts?

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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#141 » by DaVoiceMaster » Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:30 pm

What are owners happy with? Expecting a championship every year is unreasonable. Is finishing in the top half of the league by making the playoffs considered good? Making it to the 2nd round? Conference Finals? Making it to the finals once every 10 years?
Where do they draw the line?
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#142 » by JasonStern » Tue Oct 13, 2020 5:58 pm

DaVoiceMaster wrote:What are owners happy with? Expecting a championship every year is unreasonable. Is finishing in the top half of the league by making the playoffs considered good? Making it to the 2nd round? Conference Finals? Making it to the finals once every 10 years?
Where do they draw the line?


At this point, it's likely driven by finances. Blazers bring a lot of goodwill to the community. NBA teams were (at least pre-covid) appreciating assets. Attendance, TV, and merchandise keep everything above water or ideally profitable and Olshey has done his job as far as the suits care.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#143 » by GEE » Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:34 am

YES!!! I think the lovefest between the three amigos in Dame, Stotts and Olshey needs to be broken up. Dame obviously isn't going anywhere, nor should he... Dame is an absolute Cash Cow for the Blazer organization aside from everything else he brings to the team.

That leaves Stotts and Olshey. Considering Olshey is Stott's boss, usually the coach is the first to go, but if Olshey wants to stick with Stotts... then Olshey is the one that needs to go.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#144 » by d-train » Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:34 am

Why are our problems more likely Stotts and/or Olshey than 4 of our starting 5 players out with injury? I'm in favor of anything reasonable that would address an actual problem. I don't mind trading for a player that will plug a hole created by injuries, but I wouldn't mortgage more of our future on this team than has already been done. We may have already invested more in 'win now' players than this team is worth.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#145 » by Epicurus » Fri Jan 29, 2021 9:15 am

I think all NBA coaches whose team is not .666 in winning percentage should be immediately fired, no matter how much injuries have decimated the team. And it should be done prior to the 20th game of the season. This is especially true if the style of play is not congruent with the movie Hoosiers or what was taught by the junior high coaches of the fan base.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#146 » by PDXKnight » Fri Jan 29, 2021 12:18 pm

GEE wrote:YES!!! I think the lovefest between the three amigos in Dame, Stotts and Olshey needs to be broken up. Dame obviously isn't going anywhere, nor should he... Dame is an absolute Cash Cow for the Blazer organization aside from everything else he brings to the team.

That leaves Stotts and Olshey. Considering Olshey is Stott's boss, usually the coach is the first to go, but if Olshey wants to stick with Stotts... then Olshey is the one that needs to go.


I think dame has a couple prime years left but I hope whatever we do maximizes his talent.

Stotts has been a decent coach but every year he uses the injury excuse. Perhaps replace stotts and the medical staff?
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#147 » by Soulyss » Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:02 pm

How can we judge a coach missing 3 starters, and four of your top 7 rotation players? It's a freaking miracle we're 9-8 frankly. I know most of you don't want to hear this, but this rash of injuries are freakish bad luck... broken bones in wrists and non-impact parts of the feet, etc... it's all... frustrating... I am too, but It's not the medical staff... MAYBE it's Stotts, but he's got to roll MELO out there for 30 minutes a night for godsake.

Maybe you can judge Olshey for this, but... we were lauding his off-season in December... Maybe we need to chill a bit.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#148 » by Epicurus » Fri Jan 29, 2021 7:14 pm

Oden2 wrote:
GEE wrote:YES!!! I think the lovefest between the three amigos in Dame, Stotts and Olshey needs to be broken up. Dame obviously isn't going anywhere, nor should he... Dame is an absolute Cash Cow for the Blazer organization aside from everything else he brings to the team.

That leaves Stotts and Olshey. Considering Olshey is Stott's boss, usually the coach is the first to go, but if Olshey wants to stick with Stotts... then Olshey is the one that needs to go.


I think dame has a couple prime years left but I hope whatever we do maximizes his talent.

Stotts has been a decent coach but every year he uses the injury excuse. Perhaps replace stotts and the medical staff?
I don't recall Stotts using injuries as an excuse for team performance..But maybe we have a different definition of " excuse." Let me ask you,when do injuries impact negatively team performance? Certain players, many players? I maintain that team health is a very significant variable to team performance. Do you challenge that claim?

I also believe that Lillard's talent is well maximized (again not sure what the term means, or if maximization of anything is possible). Give him so dependable shooters around him for his 35 minutes and watch those lineups rise in net pluses. Give him a stable and talented backline defense to compensate for his inability to stay in front of drivers and cutters and the defense of his lineups will improve. Ironically, that is what NO thought he was doing, but the shooting additions aren't an improvement thusfar, and the defensive backing has not stayed stable due to health.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#149 » by Epicurus » Fri Jan 29, 2021 7:22 pm

Soulyss wrote:How can we judge a coach missing 3 starters, and four of your top 7 rotation players? It's a freaking miracle we're 9-8 frankly. I know most of you don't want to hear this, but this rash of injuries are freakish bad luck... broken bones in wrists and non-impact parts of the feet, etc... it's all... frustrating... I am too, but It's not the medical staff... MAYBE it's Stotts, but he's got to roll MELO out there for 30 minutes a night for godsake.

Maybe you can judge Olshey for this, but... we were lauding his off-season in December... Maybe we need to chill a bit.
Yes, I would add that the additions to the roster are an improvement over the subtractions from last season's roster, but that is faint praise and the additions have thusfar displayed serious flaws, i.e. shooting. Expectations, as stated from shockjock Barkely et. al., were incredibly overreaches given the additions history and the hopes for full recovery by a couple of returning Blazers, Nurk in particular.

Besides the Blazers being 9-8, other teams expected to be playoff bound are doing worse record wise. I guess if we go onto their threads we will see the same impatience and coach scapegoating.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#150 » by Soulyss » Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:54 pm

Epicurus wrote:
Soulyss wrote:How can we judge a coach missing 3 starters, and four of your top 7 rotation players? It's a freaking miracle we're 9-8 frankly. I know most of you don't want to hear this, but this rash of injuries are freakish bad luck... broken bones in wrists and non-impact parts of the feet, etc... it's all... frustrating... I am too, but It's not the medical staff... MAYBE it's Stotts, but he's got to roll MELO out there for 30 minutes a night for godsake.

Maybe you can judge Olshey for this, but... we were lauding his off-season in December... Maybe we need to chill a bit.
Yes, I would add that the additions to the roster are an improvement over the subtractions from last season's roster, but that is faint praise and the additions have thusfar displayed serious flaws, i.e. shooting. Expectations, as stated from shockjock Barkely et. al., were incredibly overreaches given the additions history and the hopes for full recovery by a couple of returning Blazers, Nurk in particular.

Besides the Blazers being 9-8, other teams expected to be playoff bound are doing worse record wise. I guess if we go onto their threads we will see the same impatience and coach scapegoating.


Honestly DJJ is exactly what I thought he would be... Which is why I was so damn grumpy when we signed him. RoCo has been a disappointment however I fully expect him to rebound to historical norms / track record. The fact is that NO TEAM in this league survives the loss of two of your three best starters, not including time missed by RoCo, Collins, etc... Portland is going to have to try and weather this the best they can until CJ comes back and hope like crazy he can pick up right where he left off.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#151 » by JasonStern » Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:17 am

Even when the Blazers were healthy early in the season, the "new and improved" defense bounced between 26th and 29th in the league. Stotts may get a pass due to injuries, but those kind of numbers still fall on the coaching staff.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#152 » by GEE » Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:39 am

Stotts has again been walloped by the injury bug to his players, making our team have to fight like hell to just make the playoffs. He's just unlucky I guess, cause it feels like every freakin' year we get this. I know our record still looks ok right now and we're in the middle of the 2nd pack in the West, but I think that is in real danger over these next couple weeks, and beyond. Same as last year.

Are injuries just random, or are they preventable to some degree? Are we sustaining more than other teams? I know there have been some medical staffs on other teams that were praised for sustaining the health of their players... Nash & Hill on the Suns come to mind. I think playing style and playing undersized is an obvious no no. I don't know. Just frustrated that it's happening again: bad luck with injuries and bad defense, again. I just want see the Blazers win, but as a fan, it's painful at this point.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#153 » by Epicurus » Sat Jan 30, 2021 2:26 am

Last 4 games ( without Nurk and CJ, and also for a couple Covington): record 1-3, net for starters, 0.5 (15th); net for reserves, -6.5 ( 30th).
Prior: 8-5, net for starters 3.8 (5th); net for reserves,-3.2 (27th). Injuries matter.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#154 » by HoopsFanAZ » Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:41 pm

Part of the equation is playing starters vs. backups.

Aminu was a high quality backup at both 3 and 4 who played 4.
Paired with Harkless who is and was a backup. Neither guy “grew” into a starter with a leap forward.
CJ is a starter who leapt forward ... but like Ginobli should be more impactful off the bench and less a detriment to the defense.
Kanter, backup and he knows it. Can be impactful with matchups as a reserve.
Jones is a backup right now. Energy. Come in and D up the hot shooter. Develop on O.
Hood is a starter whose body/mind hasn’t been there. Decent D, 3’s, size, back to the basket game, functional handles. Not a rock pounding black hole. A good blend of Evan Turner, Mo Harkless, and Carmelo skills ... not a HIGH level starter, but an effective jack of all trades at SF.

Olshey stay. Unlucky with the injuries but mostly strong moves.
Stotts REALLY unlucky with the injuries, but his D doesn’t cut it against contenders and his inability to counter trapping Lillard ... having help come to the ball ... someone else brings it up ... stop bringing defenders with incessant high screens ... inexcusable.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#155 » by Wizenheimer » Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:18 pm

Soulyss wrote:How can we judge a coach missing 3 starters, and four of your top 7 rotation players?


* Portland was 7-5 when Nurkic and CJ went down; one game above .500 and that was during an easy stretch of the schedule. That's a gauge

* Nurkic and Collins are injury prone. Zach may only play half of the games he could have over his 4 year rookie deal. Nurkic has been healthy for two playoff seasons and the Blazers had a 1-8 record in those series. Those are gauges

* RoCo and Jones appear to be every bit as flawed as Aminu and Harkless. None of the four players could ever be considered two-way wings, which is how elite teams are made. We can gauge that

the idea we can't make judgements about this team over the last 4-5 games is loopy. We have plenty of ways to judge the team. The core hasn't changed in 4 years. This is the 6th season of the Dame/CJ team. It's still the same GM and coach now in the 9th season. All that changes is new role players around Olshey's favorite guys. Role players do not alter the trajectory of a team.

the plot is known because we've seen this movie before. Dame will probably get really hot sometime during the season and propel Portland to a playoff spot. Then, the Blazers will meet a better team in the playoffs that will double and trap Dame into oblivion and the Blazers will get stomped. They will end up with no draft pick; and then they will be looking at tough roster choices because of the small margin under the luxury tax because of the Dame/CJ contracts.

and then they'll bring back another version next season....like groundhog day
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#156 » by Epicurus » Sat Jan 30, 2021 11:02 pm

HoopsFanAZ wrote:Part of the equation is playing starters vs. backups.

Aminu was a high quality backup at both 3 and 4 who played 4.
Paired with Harkless who is and was a backup. Neither guy “grew” into a starter with a leap forward.
CJ is a starter who leapt forward ... but like Ginobli should be more impactful off the bench and less a detriment to the defense.
Kanter, backup and he knows it. Can be impactful with matchups as a reserve.
Jones is a backup right now. Energy. Come in and D up the hot shooter. Develop on O.
Hood is a starter whose body/mind hasn’t been there. Decent D, 3’s, size, back to the basket game, functional handles. Not a rock pounding black hole. A good blend of Evan Turner, Mo Harkless, and Carmelo skills ... not a HIGH level starter, but an effective jack of all trades at SF.

Olshey stay. Unlucky with the injuries but mostly strong moves.
Stotts REALLY unlucky with the injuries, but his D doesn’t cut it against contenders and his inability to counter trapping Lillard ... having help come to the ball ... someone else brings it up ... stop bringing defenders with incessant high screens ... inexcusable.
The best counter on a high trap of your prime ball handler is to hit a three point shooter who makes his shot. It is not something mysterious. The second since the trap is high is for your prime ball handler to split the double team and go down the chute. We have seen both, yet the first didn't work well with the iffy distance shooting of AMinu and Harkless, not improvend thusfar by Covington and Jones. Now since on these traps, McC's man stays with him, that leaves our center to be a release man for the prime ball handler. This season that means an out of shape Nurk or the lovable but barely mobile Kanter. See the problem. As far as others brininging it up and initiating the offense. I've seen that several times every game. I have a hunch the opposing coach doesn't mind seeing it also. Through it all, the offense has been top ten and better nearly every, if not every, season. Yes, when teams in playoffs can focus learning the tendency reports on one team, as in playoffs, it gets even more difficult, especially given some, but not all, the talent limitations I have listed.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#157 » by soobias » Sun Jan 31, 2021 4:32 am

Wizenheimer wrote:
Soulyss wrote:How can we judge a coach missing 3 starters, and four of your top 7 rotation players?


* Portland was 7-5 when Nurkic and CJ went down; one game above .500 and that was during an easy stretch of the schedule. That's a gauge

* Nurkic and Collins are injury prone. Zach may only play half of the games he could have over his 4 year rookie deal. Nurkic has been healthy for two playoff seasons and the Blazers had a 1-8 record in those series. Those are gauges

* RoCo and Jones appear to be every bit as flawed as Aminu and Harkless. None of the four players could ever be considered two-way wings, which is how elite teams are made. We can gauge that

the idea we can't make judgements about this team over the last 4-5 games is loopy. We have plenty of ways to judge the team. The core hasn't changed in 4 years. This is the 6th season of the Dame/CJ team. It's still the same GM and coach now in the 9th season. All that changes is new role players around Olshey's favorite guys. Role players do not alter the trajectory of a team.

the plot is known because we've seen this movie before. Dame will probably get really hot sometime during the season and propel Portland to a playoff spot. Then, the Blazers will meet a better team in the playoffs that will double and trap Dame into oblivion and the Blazers will get stomped. They will end up with no draft pick; and then they will be looking at tough roster choices because of the small margin under the luxury tax because of the Dame/CJ contracts.

and then they'll bring back another version next season....like groundhog day










Damnnnnnn!!!!!! wizenheimer, its like you reading my thoughts lol :lol:
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#158 » by HoopsFanAZ » Sat Apr 3, 2021 4:09 am

[Bringing this back to the top.]

I’m not one to call for firings compared to others. And since the summer of too long contracts for marginal starters, Olshey has done much better. HOWEVER ...

1. Trade CJ for Tobias Harris, Middleton or other good sized forward. Add what’s needed. Otherwise, I’m for an Olshey exit.
2. Fire Stotts. Period. His lack of commitment to D sucks. Sucks massive boulders.
3. And get someone who loves defending the rim to go with Nurkic.

Powell is a dude. SG? Yes. SF? Yes. It doesn’t matter. Olshey WON that trade.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#159 » by bigzy » Sat Apr 3, 2021 8:31 pm

Wanting to fire a coach 10 games over.500 at this point in the season is crazy by itself. Wanting to do it when he has played without CJ and Nurk for numerous games and without Zach Collins all year should get you banned from ever talking about the NBA.
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Re: Time to fire Olshey and Stotts? 

Post#160 » by Wizenheimer » Sat Apr 3, 2021 11:16 pm

bigzy wrote:Wanting to fire a coach 10 games over.500 at this point in the season is crazy by itself. Wanting to do it when he has played without CJ and Nurk for numerous games and without Zach Collins all year should get you banned from ever talking about the NBA.


yeah, sure....because all we have to gauge Stotts is the 25 games the Blazers were without CJ and Nurkic. Forget about the 720 games he coached Portland before the injuries and forget about his .344 winning percentage in the playoffs. And forget about how bad his defense is. He gets a pass because CJ was hurt part of this season... :roll:

and LOL about the Zach Collins mention...right, a guy with a PER of 30% below average; a TS mark 22 percentage below average; an anemic rebound rate; a winshare/48 mark only half that of league average; and a -2.6 box plus/minus missing games gives a pass to Stotts too.

Looks like you already 'banned' yourself from critical thinking, and I say that as somebody who has never been a big advocate of firing Stotts...till this season

by the way, the only reason Portland is 10 games over .500 is Lillard and his clutch-time heroics. But it's nothing new for both Olshey and Stotts to draft their way to millions in salary off of Dame's wake

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