Portland Trail Blazers: Neil Olshey should accept some blame
After the Portland Trail Blazers fired Terry Stotts, GM Neil Olshey met with the media. He explained that it wasn’t the roster that caused Portland’s first-round exit. It was due to coach Terry Stotts and the team’s poor defense.
Neil Olshey took to the media to explain that the Blazers players were not to blame for their first-round exits. If the team wasn’t the blame, then it was Stotts’ coaching. Maybe it could be that the players around Damian Lillard weren’t good enough. If that’s the case, then the blame falls directly on Olshey’s shoulders. Truthfully the Blazers are always getting to the playoffs. It’s what they do/don’t do when they get there that’s the problem. In his post-Stotts presser, Olshey expressed his beliefs about the team and how the next coach should run things.
Olshey’s explanations
Not the roster
Olshey said the Blazers roster was not to blame for Portland’s early out. He handed the keys to his Ferrari to Stotts, and the coach couldn’t get it done with all that horsepower. Of course, he didn’t mention anything about the Blazers’ lack of size and lack of a power forward.
“the first round loss and the defensive rating at 29 was not a product of the roster.”
If it wasn’t a roster problem, that means that head coach Terry Stotts knowingly kept the best defensive players off the court and purposely allowed the Portland Trail Blazers to lose in the first round.
Before we condemn the man, let’s look at the players Stotts purposely left on the bench.
- Derrick Jones, Jr. – was one of the 2020 offseason winners who played only two of the offseason games.
- T. J. Leaf played an average of 2.3 minutes over three games. He’s not a difference-maker.
- Keljin Blevins played in two games.
- Harry Giles III, a fan favorite during the regular season, played in one game this postseason.
- C.J. Elleby was another overlooked defensive gem. He played in only two games.
We can see that keeping these five on the bench is definitely not why Portland lost in Round 1. Truthfully, the word “defense” doesn’t readily come to mind when you think of the Blazers. That’s interesting because his first interview was with Mike D’Antoni, a coach known for his run and gun style.