At 10-27 this season, the Portland Trail Blazers have the second-worst record in the Western Conference. This offseason, the team parted ways with Damian Lillard. Portland traded him in a blockbuster three-team deal with the Suns. The Trail Blazers got back some veteran help in a few trades they made. However, it has not translated to consistent wins in 2023-24.
On Thursday night, the Blazers lost 139-77 to the Thunder. Portland shot a horrific (.277) percent from the field as a team and just could not make shots. That loss is the fifth-largest margin of victory in league history. A historic win for Oklahoma City and a loss that the Blazers will try and forget. Head coach Chauncey Billups said his team has “no resistance” on the defensive end vs. the Thunder.
Will the Trail Blazers be able to recover from a 62-point loss to the Thunder?
Chauncey Billups isn’t a good coach. To the reporters bending themselves in pretzels to blame EVERYTHING else except his coaching: you can stop now. There are younger teams with better records and more cohesion and identity as a team. Billups is bad. It’s okay.
— Brandon Goldner (@GoldnerPDX) January 10, 2024
After their historic loss to the Thunder, Trail Blazers fans were not happy with their head coach on social media. Portland fans are calling for Billups to be fired. The 47-year-old head coach is in his third season with the Blazers. He’s gone 70-131 in 201 games. Billups has yet to make the playoffs with Portland and he’s certainly on the hot seat after last night’s loss.
Addressing the media after the game, Billups did not have a lot to say about his coaching effort that night. Instead, he was quick to throw the blame on the players’ ability to not make shots consistently or get stops defensively. He called it the “perfect storm” against them and the game was essentially over at halftime. Portland was down 75-39. Billups took his starters out mid-way through the third quarter and ultimately just accepted defeat. That doesn’t sit well with Blazers fans.
How did Chauncey Billups land a head coaching job. How were the Cavs interested in making him the head of basketball ops 5 years ago. This guy might be the most incompetent coach in the league
— Jake Anderson (@jake_anderson44) January 12, 2024
In three seasons as head coach, Billups’ best record was last year when the team went 33-49. In his first season, the Blazers were 27-55. At 10-27 to start 2023-24, Portland cannot be happy with the direction in which the franchise is headed. It might be time to pull the plug on Billups and search for a new head coach. That feels like something that needs to happen if the Blazers want a chance at moving forward. Righ now, Billups simply is not getting it done as head coach. They can only let this last so much longer before a chang is made.
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