Olshey

[Epicurus]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

[Roy The Natural]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

Both Olshey and Stotts... Also CJ. Need fresh blood at almost every level.

[d-train]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

Cause of what, a good season of steady positive development. There is nothing wrong with being the cause of solid development. The only thing better is commitment to continuing development.

[trix17]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

Both Olshey and Stotts... Also CJ. Need fresh blood at almost every level.

Bingo. 3 moves need to be made.

[Epicurus]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

Cause of what, a good season of steady positive development. There is nothing wrong with being the cause of solid development. The only thing better is commitment to continuing development.

The front office seems for both good reasons and bad ones to have stripped two 50 plus win teams in nine years. You build from that. U-turns, 2 in 9 years, is not what developing franchises do.

[Epicurus]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

Both Olshey and Stotts... Also CJ. Need fresh blood at almost every level.

Bingo. 3 moves need to be made.

Only if the three moves have a decent chance of improvement.

[Roy The Natural]

Both Olshey and Stotts... Also CJ. Need fresh blood at almost every level.

Bingo. 3 moves need to be made.

Only if the three moves have a decent chance of improvement.

They do. The first 2 are addition by subtraction.

[trix17]

Both Olshey and Stotts... Also CJ. Need fresh blood at almost every level.

Bingo. 3 moves need to be made.

Only if the three moves have a decent chance of improvement.

For sure. But that's kind of obvious. You move them on to upgrade them.

[Epicurus]

Bingo. 3 moves need to be made.

Only if the three moves have a decent chance of improvement.

They do. The first 2 are addition by subtraction.

How does someone not know that additions are also required? Hard to sustain a discussion with such thinking.

[Epicurus]

Bingo. 3 moves need to be made.

Only if the three moves have a decent chance of improvement.

For sure. But that's kind of obvious. You move them on to upgrade them.

Yet the history on the NBA cast doubts on this being obvious. Just look at Stotts coaching career for an example. Bucks replaced him with Larry Krysotviak and things got much worse. Too many replacements of one player with others to failed this obvious test.

[d-train]

Aim at traditional scapegoat or actual cause?

Cause of what, a good season of steady positive development. There is nothing wrong with being the cause of solid development. The only thing better is commitment to continuing development.

The front office seems for both good reasons and bad ones to have stripped two 50 plus win teams in nine years. You build from that. U-turns, 2 in 9 years, is not what developing franchises do.

The coach cut Aminu's role in half before the end of Nuggets series 2019. Cut it even more against Warriors. Harkless had his role cut too. Kanter chose not to re-sign. How is this a problem with management? Management got rid of the players Stotts didn't like and replaced them with better players. Good job by management, and good job by Stotts.

[Roy The Natural]

Only if the three moves have a decent chance of improvement.

They do. The first 2 are addition by subtraction.

How does someone not know that additions are also required? Hard to sustain a discussion with such thinking.

Meh... You and I have never been able to sustain a real discussion anyways. I'd give my 2 year old cat head coaching duties over Stotts. However I despise him as a coach and have for years.

If he's really a good coach, he'll quickly pick up another gig and we don't have to feel to bad for him as a person. At this point though, even if you think he's good, it's best for all parties to get a fresh set of eyes at the helm of this team.

They're on the precipice of a teardown. Overhauling the staff, scheme, and some of the personnel this off-season is a last gasp before such moves. It's time for Stotts to go whether you believe in him or not.

[Epicurus]

Wow, you said "scheme." Ergo you are well informed about NBA coaching and I must abide by such wisdom. lol! It's the natural thing to do.

[Roy The Natural]

Wow, you said "scheme." Ergo you are well informed about NBA coaching and I must abide by such wisdom. lol! It's the natural thing to do.

System... Whatever.. same thing. Offensive system needs a overhaul from the ground up. It doesn't work in the playoffs.

[Moonbeam]

I've been down to fire Olshey for awhile now. I know he's made some crafty moves, but I don't think he's done enough. Continually scrounging for bargain-basement reclamation projects because of poor financial management such as the 2016 offseason has seemed to put a ceiling on Portland's potential.

[Epicurus]

Wow, you said "scheme." Ergo you are well informed about NBA coaching and I must abide by such wisdom. lol! It's the natural thing to do.

System... Whatever.. same thing. Offensive system needs a overhaul from the ground up. It doesn't work in the playoffs.

As of this last game, the Blazers' offensive rating was 122,5, higher than its seasonal average of 117.8. What the hell are you talking about?

[Roy The Natural]

I've been down to fire Olshey for awhile now. I know he's made some crafty moves, but I don't think he's done enough. Continually scrounging for bargain-basement reclamation projects because of poor financial management such as the 2016 offseason has seemed to put a ceiling on Portland's potential.

It doesn't even matter what we think. We all KNOW he's gone. So even if you believe it's unfair, it's irrelevant. It's just a question of who else is going at this point.

[Epicurus]

That's why I offered up this thread, but which you chose to highjack it with your perennial charges about Stotts. Yes, Stotts will be replaced. Yes, that is the fate of head coaches, to be scapegoats. Yes, Stotts has done a good job with the hands he has been dealt. Yes, someone else did the dealing.

[d-train]

I've been down to fire Olshey for awhile now. I know he's made some crafty moves, but I don't think he's done enough. Continually scrounging for bargain-basement reclamation projects because of poor financial management such as the 2016 offseason has seemed to put a ceiling on Portland's potential.

It doesn't even matter what we think. We all KNOW he's gone. So even if you believe it's unfair, it's irrelevant. It's just a question of who else is going at this point.

How do we know he's gone? The only thing we know is groupthink, when it comes to the Blazers is always wrong.

[Moonbeam]

I've been down to fire Olshey for awhile now. I know he's made some crafty moves, but I don't think he's done enough. Continually scrounging for bargain-basement reclamation projects because of poor financial management such as the 2016 offseason has seemed to put a ceiling on Portland's potential.

It doesn't even matter what we think. We all KNOW he's gone. So even if you believe it's unfair, it's irrelevant. It's just a question of who else is going at this point.

I does seem obvious that Stotts will go. I don't think it's unfair per se --- in the other thread I mentioned that for the first time, I'm ok if Stotts is gone. But my personal take on things is that the bigger problem is and always has been Neil Olshey. I'm just a dumb fan, but that's my perception of things.

Olshey came in with a reputation as a high roller who could make big moves needed for Portland to contend. Yet since Aldridge left in 2015, Olshey hasn't been able to find a single All-Star to pair with Lillard. I know that is easier said than done, and he may have believed CJ (or Nurk) could be that player, but Olshey has only managed to bring in complementary pieces and has yet to construct a balanced roster.

Let's look at all of the main players Portland has acquired in Olshey's tenure:

Allen Crabbe
Robin Lopez
CJ McCollum
Thomas Robinson
Mo Williams
Dorell Wright
Arron Afflalo
Steve Blake
Alonzo Gee
Chris Kaman
Al-Farouq Aminu
Pat Connaughton
Ed Davis
Maurice Harkless
Gerald Henderson
Mason Plumlee
Noah Vonleh
Jake Layman
Shabazz Napier
Jusuf Nurkic
Evan Turner
Zach Collins
Seth Curry
Rodney Hood
Enes Kanter
Skal Labissiere
Anfernee Simons
Nik Stauskas
Gary Trent Jr
Carmelo Anthony
Trevor Ariza
Kent Bazemore
Mario Hezonja
Nassir Little
Hassan Whiteside
Robert Covington
Derrick Jones Jr
Norman Powell
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

There are some decent players in this bunch who excel at one or two things. There are plenty of solid rotation players as well. But if the best players he could net in 8 years to pair with Damian Lillard were CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, it's a bit of a disappointing haul. I honestly don't think you form a team with the 14 best versions of any of these players and end up being a legitimate title contender with Dame, and I think it is certainly possible to build a contender with Dame as the best player.