2018 NBA Playoffs: 5 head coaches who have underperformed

#4 Terry Stotts

Portland Trail Blazers v Brooklyn Nets — The Blazers got swept in the first round

The very fact that the Trail Blazers have been blown right out of the water by the Pelicans in 4 games should be enough to show a disparity in the coaching between the two sides. But the issues with Stotts' coaching go deeper than that.

The Pelicans aggressively double-teamed Damian Lillard for the length of their series and used Holiday to stifle Lillard's shooting from deep. It is okay to let things pass by him for one game, but Stotts never got Lillard playing off the ball as he should have, resulting in the All-Star playing the worst playoff series of his career.

Alvin Gentry did not use these tactics on CJ McCollum, and Stotts should have used this opportunity to shift the responsibility of offensive mainstay from one high-scoring guard to another.

Stotts did not run any plays for Lillard to come off screens or shoot 3s on drive-and-kicks. Such opportunities that he did get were basically in-game improvisations by the players.

Stotts could also have done a lot better than allowing Holiday and Davis to put up gaudy point totals against his team 3 times out of 4 in the series. This Blazers team looks like it has hit a glass ceiling, and the front office might consider blowing up the roster this offseason.

If at all they commit to a rebuild, however, the first move they make should be the firing of the head coach who got swept in the first round despite homecourt advantage.