Portland Trail Blazers: Chris Broussard’s bold declaration

Longtime NBA Analyst Chris Broussard made a hot take concerning the Portland Trail Blazers that is certain to reverberate throughout Rip City.

Watching the Portland Trail Blazers lose Game 4 of their best-of-seven series against the Los Angeles Lakers was gut-wrenching. It felt as if my insides had been ripped from my body.

Before the game, I knew that it would be a defining moment for the Trail Blazers. After all the hype from Damian Lillard delivering stellar performances during the play-in games and the dramatic fashion in which the Blazers reached the playoffs, I figured there was no way they would lose Game 4. They had fought too hard to get to the playoffs just to let it all slip away so easily.

I was wrong.

What hurt the most was not the fact they lost but how they lost. The Lakers annihilated them in the most pivotal game of the series. What made it worse is that the Blazers looked scared.

Dame and CJ McCollum were demure and Carmelo Anthony could not make a shot. They all looked terrified to go inside the paint and Hassan Whiteside and Jusuf Nurkic looked helpless against Anthony Davis.

After such a loss, it’s natural for fans and the media to point fingers and make excuses. Narratives about trade scenarios, the talent pool of the team, the quality of the coach and health emerge.

For the Blazers, all of those narratives have surfaced this year—except the one about the quality of the coach.

FS1 Analyst Chris Broussard has now brought it to the forefront. On his Fox Sports Radio show “The Odd Couple” with Rob Parker, Broussard said he thought it was time for the Blazers to move on from Head Coach Terry Stotts.

Broussard said that the Blazers are in the same position as the Golden State Warriors in 2014. Like the Blazers, the Warriors had good players at every position but the feeling was “they’re just not good enough.”

Sound familiar?

Broussard said that it was not until they made a coaching switch from former coach Mark Jackson to Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr did the Warriors begin to make history.

Interesting.

Don’t misunderstand me. I love Terry Stotts. Blazers fans and players love Terry Stotts. Damian Lillard has defended his coach on many occasions. Legendary coaches Rick Carlisle and George Karl have lauded Terry Stotts as “classy,” “experienced” and “knowledgeable.”

But is that enough? In his eight seasons as head coach of the Blazers, he has a 20-36 playoff record.

How much longer can the Blazers front office be patient?

Stotts’ magic almost ran out when the Blazers got swept by none other than Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the 2018 playoffs. The Blazers were a three-seed and Pelicans were a six-seed. ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported late Blazers owner Paul Allen called the failure “unacceptable” and came close to firing Stotts.

The sweep last year against the Warriors without NBA superstar Kevin Durant was unacceptable. The way that the Blazers have now been eliminated against the Lakers is unacceptable.

Why would they use the same strategies in Game 4 after two consecutive losses? Why weren’t there any clear adjustments to capitalize on the strengths of the team instead of allowing the Lakers to exploit its weaknesses?

I want answers. I want to know “the why.” I want to be confident we won’t keep seeing the same movie over and over each year—exciting regular season, abysmal postseason—
and wondering when things are going to change.

Haven’t we’ve made enough trades already? Haven’t the basketball gods given us enough breaks?

At some point, the excuses have to stop and there has to be someone willing to step up and say, “No matter what happens, we are going to figure this out and win.”

Is Stotts that person? Broussard doesn’t seem to think so.