In a fascinating piece released mere minutes before former president and general manager Neil Olshey was fired by the Trail Blazers, Jason Quick of The Athletic details how he views head coach Chauncey Billups as a poor schematic fit with Portland’s flawed roster — constructed by Olshey.
Even before star Damian Lillard was announced as being injured, it was clear that Portland was not functioning as a cohesive unit. Quite the opposite, in fact. Quick writes that the team had grown accustomed to ex-coach Terry Stotts‘ freedom on both ends of the court, and Billups wants to instill more structure and accountability, with a more aggressive defense and more ball movement on offense.
However, Billups’ stern exchanges have seemingly demoralized the group, and Quick asked Billups how he thought it was going over with the players.
“I think pretty good, but at the end of the day, it’s not easy,” Billups said. “It’s not easy all the time to hear when you are not doing what you are supposed to do, especially from the coach. All I care about is I believe we should play one way. I know what wins, I know what’s important. When we don’t do it, obviously I’m going to always bring it to the table, to those players, to those people. And I know it’s not always going to be well received.
“But I know it’s the best thing for the team, it’s the best thing for the player and at the end of the day, if you are mad or upset, if you actually really want to win and be a good teammate, you go home and think about that, look yourself in the mirror, and you are going to realize what I was saying was right, you know? With no agenda at all other than for us to try and get better. So, I can ride with that. That’s just kind of who I was as a player, who I am as a person, and I will be consistent there.”
Quick believes that while it is a talented group of players, the roster that Olshey built doesn’t make sense under Billups. He mentions the fact that the Blazers have three 6’3″ guards (Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Norman Powell) all starting, which leads to them being exploited defensively. Quick also says that Olshey’s infatuation with McCollum and refusal to trade him hurt the team. He thinks a roster shakeup is absolutely necessary in order to break the team out of its early season funk. The Blazers are currently 11-12.
It’s a great article from Quick and worth reading in full for subscribers of The Athletic.
Here’s more from Portland:
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks thinks the Blazers should explore trading Lillard (video link). He believes Lillard may have peaked as a player, pointing to his age (31), huge contract, and the high number of minutes he’s played over the years. Marks thinks it could be worth it to try and extract maximum value for Lillard before it’s too late. However, he acknowledges that the situation will be very tricky for whomever takes over the front office, as Lillard is one of the best players in franchise history.
- John Canzano of The Oregonian is happy the Blazers pulled the plug on the Olshey, and believes that it will galvanize the organization and fan base.
- Bulls general manager Marc Eversley and Knicks general manager Scott Perry are both candidates to replace Olshey as GM, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
- A source tells Quick of The Athletic that Grizzlies VP of basketball affairs Tayshaun Prince, who had previously been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Olshey, is not in the running for the role (Twitter link).
So when does the fire sale start.
Cj to the Cavs. Dame to the Sixers. Nurkic to the Heat. Powell, Simons, Little, Nance…. all gotta go.
Yikes. That would make a lot of other teams’ GMs very happy…Probably need to tweak the roster so that it is more balanced, not entirely nuke it.
Nurk and Rocco are the 2 with expiring contracts
Gotta love how Lillard stayed loyal all these years and never requested a trade, and now fans are thinking about it when the team is struggling and how to extract value from him.
I mean I’m ok if it’s on equal terms, but so much is made about trade demands but never teams searching for a trade on a contract they offered!
3 soft teams are now around 9th seeds
Hawks
Nuggets
Blazers
Soft teams have a lot of tremendous talents and a lot of cotton
Where have you heard fans wanting to extract value for Mr Lillard?
Just making stuff up to talk trash.
RORY SAY YOU CAN POST COMMENT HERENEIN!
When the coach refuses to use certain players on the roster, or correctly put together a modern nba rotation, using those players, not much you can really do
You mean Stotts ?
I mean both
Stotts was really benching guys like DJJr last year for unknown reason.
Billups is benching more the starters but exposing them more to the media for the lack of efforts does not seems to create a team culture also
Billups was one of the smartest and most in-demand guards of his era; I think if he asks his team to try to play a certain way, they should at least give it a try. Portland seems to have a lot of talented athletes but not a good team – part of that is the mental acuity to do what makes sense logically, and part of it is the humility to sacrifice your own glory for the sake of the whole team, the greater goal.
I have never seen this iteration of the Blazers as a “team” in either of those senses, although they have been a very entertaining show to watch on the court. It might be that Stotts’ approach and philosophy de-emphasized those things, harnessing the strongest characteristic of the roster he was given. I suspect, though, that this is a “culture” that has developed over time – one that matches the somewhat laid-back Portland vibe in general.
The results have been middling to average, so at some point you have to just say, time to start over. I think that time is on the horizon, perhaps nearer than they thought before this season started. They probably should do Lillard the favor of trading him somewhere he might have a chance of getting a flag or he stands the chance of becoming something like the NBA’s Ernie Banks.
He was a good player on a great team, but that doesnt mean anything as a head coach. He has no head coaching experience and he has a lot to prove. Hope he can work through it and succeed.
Weird for players to get a new coach but expect to play the same way they did under the coach who just was fired. Be a professional! Sounds like some attitudes need to be shipped out.
Maybe at last the players prefer the Stotts way, even the fans don’t chant for defense … From top to bottom it has been such a familly core franchise for years that every little move is harder to put in place …
Understand that but the USS Stotts has sailed. Some(?) of the players have already given up on Billups? He seems like he would understand how to connect with players didn’t Dame give him his blessing?
This team never played good D and never will, Billups looks like a newschool Thibs or Malone coach (D’antoni was a better target for coaching or a Kerr off assistant coach) with a strong D message that was used as a PR statement by Olshey to calm down a Dame trade. Seems that the owner really wants to compete the Billups way and retool deeply the roster instead of the friendly Olshey trades.
POR is about were I expected them before the season started, I never saw them as a team over .500, at best close to it, which they are, so I don’t see why all the fuss about them underperforming, when they are were they should be!
… I bet you had the Lakers way higher though.
Always Wrong El Don talks nonsense, then gives himself a thumb up. Alrighty then.
Blazers record 2020-21 (42-30)
Tied with 5th seed Mavs.
Again the total disregard for real facts …..
They are underperforming, but it’s still early.
Don’t get why bad coaches and GMs. Just get recycled in NBA. Please take Scot Perry ….
CJ trade will bring back good value.
I bet none of the GM candidates listed get, or accept the job
Portland is on the right track, Billups isn’t a bad coach, but not a good coach for Lillard’s style
Lillard is awful on defense, and making him accountable defensively is not going to be an overnight metamorphosis
Lottery, and lots of injuries to blame it on is Portland’s best bet
Fire everyone, Billups too, start new next season, hopefully Lillard will stay
Lilliard is just not a championship type of player. He’s probably someone like Melo. Yes, Dame is more clutch than Melo, much better teammate, and better leadership, but he’s just more of an offensive player like Melo.
I disagree somewhat
He is big enough to play the 2, can, and should on the right team
Pair Lillard next to Billups in his prime? Or even Jrue Holiday now
Stotts, Portland, and Olshey had exactly the opposite with Lillard/Mccollum pairing
McCollum is a better PG than he is given credit for, and could have used a more true PG as his running mate also, for his development
Letting his 1st PnR buddy Aldridge leave was the first of many mistakes for building a team around Lillard
Lillard is pretty elite in my opinion, with the right system, and coach
Lillard would thrive in NY under Thibodeau, and that system because it was built for a scorer like him, doesn’t need to be the primary distributor
He is better than Walker defensively…
For Thibs Walker and Dame are small not good on D combo guards
Disagree
Walker is way worse, and before the games added up, NY was scoring early on in the season
“small”??? When was that an NBA make or break indicator?
What matters is skill-set, and athleticism
Lillard has tons of it, Walker has none after 5 games into the season
NY was rolling until walker slowed down again a few games in, like he did the last 2 seasons
Portland is not gonna bargain shop Lillard because idiots watch too much ESPN
Chill that was a Thibs hot Take, who explaïned in the media that Kemba was out because he wants to play a bigger backcourt .,. Anyway Thibs would be as critical as Billups is, if he was coaching the Blazers defense
Thibs would never be the coach of a roster constructed like Portland if he was the guy also, he wouldn’t have accepted it in August, unless it was 20 years ago, and he is an ass’t to Doc Rivers
The words defensively accountable are fine, but Portlands players are accountable, they just are not good defensive players
Its a ridiculous argument, Billups was a terrible hire, he is the wrong coach for the job & roster
Billups needs to win with what he has, and is forcing his nonsense to sacrifice wins because its all he knows? Tearing down the team publicly for his current losing way?
Coaches should adapt too, and criticism is fine, and this is beyond that
Billups should be walking softer, he is the newcomer, Stotts wasn’t bad, Olshey was
All wrong, start to finish, and there is no defense for it
Who should Olshey have hired so..?
Olshey should not have hired anybody
After 10 years, I doubt there is much left in terms of Executive leadership in Portland
Attracting a high caliber coach in late August with a set in stone roster, (for the most part) was not honey-comb in a bears den
Honestly I would have fired Olshey long ago, from the start. There were other good candidates, and he has blown so many drafts, and is not creative with personnel
I imagine its because he is an a**hole, and nobody likes dealing with his ego & narcissicism, so they fleece him most of the time
Billups was passed on many times, and would have landed somewhere, but to not give the personnel required to run Billups’ system from the beginning, and then ram his system home,(with public comments that could only lower player values) all the way to the lottery is not very sensical, or shrewd if trying to set up a blockbuster roster explosion…
I’d have kept Stotts if I was Olshey
I agree. Lillard said this team can’t win where their at. The coach can’t change the players, but can change the attitude. On the other hand, the chemistry on this team is strong. Seems the coach is sacrificing thst chemistry to force improvement on defense. Big gamble. He may be over rotating.
Just trade Dame for Simmons already.
McCollum, Covington
4
Simmon, Milton
About the same reality…
Not easy to come in a s a rookie coach. Then expect players to change their ways. Unfortunately pre season was not long. But that’s where you win the team over to some change. Blazers are still short on depth to be a serious contender. That’s why I say move CJ. This team will not win anything in Dames time here. Unless they make a move. It’s either that or redo team by trading Dillard. Collins not working out was big loss and set back imo. Hawks have Collins, Huerter, Cam >> for
CJ ….. makes Hawks real contender imo. And give Blazers hope and much more depth.
Blazers preSeason was a joke, after a quarter season the all franchise is a mess and the new rookie coach has no accountability leverage, the probable next GM names sound dramatic to retool this franchise … Epic collapsing episode ends with Lillard trade demand after seating out the rest of this season.