I can not help but wonder what Paul Allen, owner of the Trail Blazers, would think about Tuesday night’s basketball debacle. His beloved NBA team worked out, devised and played out the Chicago Bulls.
Portland fell below .500 for the season.
Does anyone think Paul would be satisfied?
I think Allen may have woken up frustrated today than any fan, ready to do anything about it. Neil Olshey, the general manager, presented a tired schedule for this season. Coach Terry Stotts feels like a good guy who needs a change of scenery. Together they have become an old thing that has been sufficient for the past eight years, but it is not nearly necessary for this future.
Olshey’s new contract runs until 2024. Stotts, the fourth longest-serving coach in the league, was locked up during the summer of 2022. Be sure these two worked together to join Trail Blazers, Inc. too much glue in the wake of Allen’s passing. . They sold the idea that the franchise needed stability, and it probably did, but now the operation feels like it needs a bunch of fresh ideas and new energy.
Food is aging. Fuel expires. So does the basketball industry. Stotts may be ready for another emerging franchise, one that needs an offensive spark. Olshey might be ideal for another NBA city, maybe one with more parking. But the duo currently feel like it’s out of good answers.
Since Christmas, Portland has defeated three former most valuable players – LeBron James, Steph Curry and James Harden. But that follows with a 25-point loss to the Warriors (Curry scored 62 points). Then came the short-handed Bulls, who were left behind by 20 on Tuesday night, but came back to win.
That kind of disappointing swing encompasses the current era of Blazers basketball. Portland is occasional fun, but does not look like a contender. Damian Lillard’s first years are wasted. CJ McCollum also deserves better. I would like to see what this franchise can do with a new coach and GM. Amid the financial uncertainty of a pandemic, I just do not know if Jody Allen will do what her brother possibly did – clean house and give someone else a chance.
I was concerned on Tuesday about Stotts ‘comments after the game, which said:’ Chicago surpassed us. They played harder than us. ”
A big chunk of it lies on you, coach. The benchmarks for this team, in season 9 for Stotts, indicate that defense is still not a high priority. I also wondered for a while if Olshey’s primary focus is not so much on winning games as creating the story about his own performance. He desperately wants to be known as a draft day guru. He identified and identified on Lillard, who has already investigated the franchise, before Olshey was even appointed. But his marginal choices and mistakes often make for too much patience, too many minutes and too much money. Olshey’s vanity hampered the overall effort.
Team President Chris McGowan is a warden. He is smart, smart and respected. The fact that he was promoted to CEO of Vulcan Sports did not surprise anyone who worked closely with him. But the business side of the Blazers has better energy and ideas than the basketball side.
Where is the Blazers’ franchise going?
It has become a fair question for fans to raise. Lillard turns 31 this summer. His salary rises from $ 31.6 million this season to $ 43.8 million next season. McCollum will earn $ 30.8 million next season. There is a solid bill that is payable and just qualifying for the playoffs is no longer good enough.
When Olshey ran back Enes Kanter, Jusuf Nurkic and Carmelo Anthony this season, it felt like it was stuck repeatedly. Stotts has a good offensive mind, but the Blazers allowed the Bulls to score 66 points in the second half on Tuesday. Worst of all, no one was shocked about it.
I expect Portland to still win games in incentive this season. The Blazers will not be boring, but neither will a real threat to win big. Any good GM might consider shaking up the roster with a form-changing trade, but that would mean Olshey admits he was wrong about some of his valued concepts and off-season. Any other coach would not even point a finger at the locker room, but that’s what Stotts actually did.
Allen bought the Blazers in 1988 and kept coach Mike Dunleavy through 296 games. He gave Maurice Cheeks 301 before shooting him. Nate McMillan got 535 games to try and win. Stotts is now on game number 648 – and tel.
Stotts’ playoff record in Portland: 20-36. Same record for Olshey. I would like to see something else soon enough. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Tuesday night’s game and thought, ”What would Paul do? “Because his old basketball franchise has expired, it started with the coach and GM.
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