Terry Stotts is expected to remain the Trail Blazers‘ head coach for the rest of this season, but the team will likely take a “long, hard look” at Stotts’ performance this offseason, Jason Quick writes for The Athletic.
Stotts, who took the reins in Portland way back in 2012, has led the Blazers to a 392-312 (.557) record since then and is on track to make the postseason for an eighth consecutive year. This year’s team is 32-24, two games ahead of Dallas for the No. 6 seed in the West.
However, as Quick explains, Portland’s inability to improve on defense is a concern, especially since the front office has added several players – including Robert Covington, Derrick Jones, Norman Powell, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson – viewed as upgrades on that side of the ball. The Blazers currently rank 29th out of 30 teams with a 115.9 defensive rating.
This year’s Blazers have also shown a “staggering lack of fight” against some contenders, according to Quick, who notes that the club has a 1-8 record against the top five teams in the West. Quick observes that the team has had a few frustratingly flat performance as of late, with Stotts making some curious rotation decisions, such as holding out a healthy Jones for the entirety of Sunday’s loss in Charlotte.
Portland’s record this season has been buoyed by a 22-8 showing in “clutch” games (games whose scores are within five points at any time in the last five minutes), which can be attributed in no small part to Damian Lillard‘s heroics. The Blazers have a negative overall net rating, which is rare for a team eight games over .500.
As Quick writes, it’s not a question of whether the Blazers believe Stotts is a good coach — they wouldn’t have stuck with him this long if they didn’t think so. However, the front office will have to determine if he’s capable of getting more out of a team that has championship aspirations.
Stotts has one year and $7MM left on his contract after this season, according to Quick.
Over Stotts entire career he has averaged the bottom 15% defensive teams in the league. Never has there been a nba team thats won a championship with that poor of defensive coaching. Its a problem. On Offense its all iso ball, one and done. No ball movement. Without Dame he looks Bad!
Ok but to be fair they just added RHJ and Powell over the last month – and Covington’s rep on defense exceeds what on-off numbers would say.
But even still – you can add “switchy” defensive players like the above noted wings, but it doesn’t change the fact they have McCollum and Lillard who are undersized and Nurkic and Kanter who are loafs.
NBA offense is about finding the weakest link and they still have four of them in their rotation, and 3/4 pretty much need to play big minutes for them every game.
Maybe firing Stotts will light a fire or something. But this roster is built in a way that makes it bad defensively almost by default, IMO.
This is the truth, but the front office will not likely fire itself.
You’re wrong about Jusuf Nurkic & Enes Kanter both are very solid centers who average a Double Double Jusuf Nurkic is one of 11 players to get the 5 x 5 with this line 24 Points 23 Rebounds 7 Steals 5 Assist & 5 Blocks & the 1st Player in NBA History to accomplish the 5 x 5 with more than 20 points & more than 20 rebounds. Enes Kanter is also a rebounding machine with the ability to be effective on the offensive end of the court
Maybe so, but they can be called loafers too. Gd posts by B69 & s4. It is not automatic that your designated rim protector can waive his arms or place his feet accurately in defense.
I have often criticized GM Olshey. Things might have gone differently if Evan Turner was never overpaid in 2016. There has never been enough to spend on forwards. After that, wing-based setups became what drove winning. Teases have been drafted lately (Simon).
Evan Turner was very inconsistent & was injury prone. OH YEAH Nurk & Kanter are not loafs & they often beat their counterparts down the court
“Loafs” not in the sense they have no value, just in the sense they’re slow, which puts them at risk in P&R situations, which hurts *team* defense.
Issue is really compounding slow bigs with small guards in a team D scheme, not the players in a vacuum.
Terry Stotts is not a defensive Coach & that’s why his teams are usually rated in the middle of the pack or at the bottom of the pack & Nurk gives the Blazers something that most NBA Teams don’t have & that is a big man who can dominate down low. As for the Defensive end of the Court for the Blazers you can’t blame Nurk or Kanter for the other players playing lousy defense
Stotts is a better coach than Doc Rivers based on Rivers performance in the West
Rivers did have much better team than Stotts
Stotts has much better playoffs success
stotts is good but this feels like a Mark Jackson situation where he motivates them to the playoffs but it takes a Steve Kerr type to teach them how to actually win
He’ll be Orlando’s coach next season
This Portland team should be higher in the standings, and they certainly need to do something before Dame begins to decline.
Stotts is a good coach but definitely not a championship one.
Okay, who would you suggest they hire as a championship coach?
Becky hammon, tim duncan, david vanderpool to name a few potential new blazer head coach options off the top.
None of those names have won an NBA championship as a Coach.
Terry Stotts has never won a Championship as a Head Coach in the NBA & the only NBA Championship he has been a part of he was riding Rick Carlisle’s bench as an assistant
So you’re going to hire a coach to learn on the job and expect a championship? I respect your opinion.., I just don’t agree.
Probably fair.
But I also think it’s fair to say he doesn’t have a championship level roster to coach either.
they have been playing worse when CJ came back. he’s a glorified 6th man & chucks so many shots
I wouldn’t classify CJ as a chucker – his shooting % justifies taking more shots – career 45% and 39.7%. He is NOT a defender though. He does get some swipes, but he’s never been a great defender.
If they retain Powell, they should look to move CJ. Tho, Powell’s d hasn’t been much better. And Simons needs to take the next step.
Nurkic’s injuries and Collins being a bust have been their biggest issues.
Fully healthy squad, still not enough fire power/star power to overcome a healthy LAL.
They got rid of a couple peices that got them to the WCF a couple years ago & they recently just required a couple defensive minded players in the past month yet it’s the coaches fault ? They need to choose between nurkic or kanter and find a mobile, defensive minded center, who can also roll to put pressure on the rim.
I agree with you … GM shiuld Trade Nurkic and get Daniel Theis or Mitchell Robinson to play switch D
Bulls will try hard to keep Theis, he has fit perfectly in Chicago.
Agreed. I mean Kanter is basically unplayable when it counts because he’s so bad on D.
But at least he’s just a rotation guy. Building a team around CJ, Dame, and Nurkic makes it almost impossible to put together a championship caliber defense.
And that’s no knock on them. Esp CJ and Dame – they’re more than worth it offensively. The problem is they’re just not the best fit together if you’re trying to win a ring
Some of the players named aren’t exactly dominant defensive guys. They are good, but Covington isn’t a great defender in terms of on ball play. Hollis-Jefferson was on the open market a lot of the year.
If he eats a big bowl of Portland chili you know the toilet seat is gonna be hot!
‘Bout time!
When he puts Nurkic as starter ahead of Whiteside… well gettin’ fired is the only possible outcome, right?
I saw a graphic during a game that put Lilliard #1 in “clutch” scoring at 5 .0. (scoring with less than five minutes left and five points separating). SGA #2, Lebron #5. He does great things late in games.
I think Lilliard would be the inventor of the extra-deep three if Curry wasn’t.
I also think Lilliard has advocated for keeping CJ Mccollum and that has kept them from gearing up adequately for a title. CJM is splendid, more fun to watch really, but is just a junior DL on this team. Would like to see him be the backcourt leader somewhere.
Always this retort around, “Portland should be able to keep their guards if they want”. Like the city has an unfair allotment of guards for it’s size. Not helpful (or true).
Not every idea can or should be repurposed for victimization use.
Whoever has been pushing that, has not been helpful. It does not sound like Stotts or Olshey or Mccollum.
The last 50 seconds of last night’s game vs the Clippers was awful. Portland gets the rebound with 55 seconds left and up by 3. Why does McCollum shoot with 40 seconds left on the clock and his team in not particularly good position to get back on defense? Offensive firepower doesn’t win the game when your up by 3 with 55 seconds left. Clock management and smart play wins the game. The winning play for Portland is to hold the ball as long as possible unless an open layup appears. They don’t need an early in the shot clock 3 to go up by 6. Going up by 5 with under 40 seconds left in the game essentially ensures a victory. If Portland held the ball and got a shot clock violation, they could have set their defense with Clippers taking possession with 31 seconds left in the game and down by 3…unless Clippers hit a quick 3, there’s almost no way to lose the game…after 7 seconds, the game clock would be under 24, and Clippers would be forced to foul if they were still down. Basically, the plan up by 3 with 55 seconds left is have all your players go back on defense and take a desperation heave with 31 seconds left on the clock..by the time the clippers coral the rebound and bring the ball up court they’ll be like 26 seconds left on the clock…you can give up an easy layup and still be up 1 inbounding the ball with less than 24 seconds left on the game clock and your odds of winning the game are super high.