In the NBA, you are trying to get from the rookie season of your franchise player to a championship by the time they turn 27. It’s just the rules. For whatever reason, 27 seems to be when young players turn into superstars. It’s not an exact science, but there are plenty of stories to support it.
If that’s the case for Portland, they have a budding star in Scoot Henderson and another in Donovan Clingan. Henderson and Clingon both turned 21 this year, so there is still plenty of time for them to leap to star, superstar, and then to championship winner.
But what’s interesting is that in the history of the Blazers making a run to the NBA Finals, they never did it with the coach who was there when their franchise player joined the team. Bill Walton was drafted in 1974, but Portland didn’t do much winning until Jack Ramsay took over in 1976.
When the Blazers made their Finals runs in 1990 and 1992, their head coach was Rick Adelman. Rick joined the coaching staff in 1983 under Ramsay, the same year they drafted Clyde Drexler. When Ramsay was fired, his replacement was ike Shuler, who retained Adelman. Rick wasn’t the head coach until the 1989 season.
When Damian Lillard took Portland on its first deep playoff run in nearly two decades, it was with the coach who was there on day one. This didn’t derail the train, but it’s interesting that that would have been the first time Portland had a title shot with the original coach of the face of the franchise.
Chauncy Billups has been the head coach during Scoot’s two-year career and during Clingan’s rookie season. He was even the coach when Shaedon Sharpe was drafted three years ago. So the core of this young team is very much Chauncey’s team, even if it’s not the roster he was hired to coach and manage.
Lenny Wilkens took over as Portland’s coach in 1974 and nearly put together two winning seasons before giving way to Dr Jack. It’s possible Chauncey is just holding down the fort until the Dr Jack of this generation shows up.
You might be under the impression that Dr. Jack was an all-time great coach before he arrived in Portland, and you wouldn’t be correct, but you wouldn’t be too far off either. In stops with the Buffalo Braves (later known as the San Diego Clippers) and Philadelphia 76ers, he produced winning teams that fought hard in the playoffs, even if his only championship and Finals appearance came in Portland.
Portland may not need one of the most storied coaches in the league—they need someone who will show this team how to fight. After Terry Stotts was sent away, many thought Chauncey and his championship background would motivate these players, but despite the talent on the roster, the wins have not piled up.
Mike Malone is a name being thrown around, and while I would like to see if he can help Clingan develop the way he assisted in turning Nikola Jokic into an all-time great, I don’t know if he is the right guy for the job.
Steve Kerr had not been a coach before taking over Golden State, but he did a remarkable job replacing a quite successful Mark Jackson. Maybe Portland’s best chance at flipping the script is bringing a young coach to work with their young roster, someone who hasn’t already spent a lot of time trying to shove people when they need to guide them.
One of the names that would be fun to see in Portland is David Adelman, Rick’s son. He has worked on the staff in Minnesota, Orlando, and now Denver, where he is the interim head coach. I’m not sure he can pull off the magic his dad did here, but it would be neat to see that happen.
Leandro Barbosa is another intriguing name; he made a career out of being a nearly unstoppable player when the situation called for it, and I would be curious to see what he can do after working on the staff with Golden State and Sacramento. He knows how to work with young guards, and he knows how to pace the tempo and play half-court basketball or go full speed. He worked with a lot of coaches during his time as a player. I would be very interested to see what he can do with this team and his own system.
Mike Moser is another guy I would like to see get a shot at leading a team. He’s from the area, has coached at Oregon, and worked on the staff with Dallas, Boston, and Houston, so he knows how to work with and develop young players. At 34, he might be too inexperienced to be head coach, but he would be a fun assistant who could take over at a later date.
I think we have been given a peek at the peak of what Chancey can accomplish with this team. He might be able to get them back to the playoffs, but I don’t think his system works with the players he has. If this is the core they are moving forward with, new blood is likely needed to jump-start the process.
This doesn’t mean Billups is a bad coach. What it means is that he was hired to coach a veteran team with championship aspirations, not run a daycare for young, inexperienced players. I think it’s admirable what he’s been able to do with the very different situation he was thrown into, but I also think they should move on before he starts getting in the way of any progress a new coach might have.
I also wouldn’t be opposed to a coach from the college ranks being brought in; sometimes, young coaches with fun and unpredictable concepts are just what a young and tough-to-motivate roster needs to get them running all the time. It would be great to see this team play defense, but first, let’s get them scoring more than the other team and then work on shutting down the other team’s best player. In this league, you aren’t going to stop the superstars, but you better have someone who can make their teammates think twice about passing to that guy.
Bringing in a veteran coach like Malone isn’t a bad idea, I just wonder what you would be getting. I would like to know more about what forced him out of Denver two years after winning a championship, and during a season he had a winning record and his team a lock for the playoffs. There just has to be more to this. Take a look at Milwaukee; they aren’t likely to be competing for a championship this season, and they have Doc Rivers, who is one of the best coaches in the last 20 years, but his system isn’t going to work everywhere. Just because a coach has success in one spot doesn’t mean he will be successful everywhere. Don’t believe me? Check out Malone’s record in Sacramento or his first two seasons in Denver; he might not be a guy who can manage a team with no generational talent.
This team needs a coach who can move the needle from young players to championship contenders in less than six years. Is that guy out there or already here? We’re going to find out.
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