Portland Has A New Coach
By Mike Acker
The Portland Trail Blazers have announced that they have hired a new coach. Here’s the part that is a bit shocking, it’s not going to be Kaleb Canales. According to an official press release, Paul Allen has landed on former Dallas Mavericks assistant Terry Stotts.
Like most Blazer fans, I don’t know a whole lot about Stotts. To be fair, I haven’t actually been following the developments in the coaching search all that closely. I basically figured Portland would eventually land on Canales. Not because he was the best coach in the bunch, but because 2012-13 is a season with low to no expectations, or at least it should be.
Giving the job to Canales could have been a win/win for Portland. He isn’t expected to be a championship level coach, so if the team does well he outshines his expectations. If the team does poorly, he can be fired and it doesn’t look like the Blazers are burning through head coaches as the were GMs last year. Basically its the Chad Buchanan scenario all over again. Give him an extended interim period in which he occupies the position until management can wrangle somebody better.
Well apparently that somebody better was Terry Stotts. We’ll all just have to wait and see if management got it right.
Here’s the press release:
"TERRY STOTTS NAMED TRAIL BLAZERS HEAD COACHFormer Dallas assistant becomes 14th coach in team history PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Trail Blazers have named Terry Stotts as the team’s head coach, it was announced today by General Manager Neil Olshey. Stotts becomes the 14th head coach in Trail Blazers history.An 18-year coaching veteran, Stotts most recently served as an assistant coach with Dallas for four seasons from 2008-12. Under head coach Rick Carlisle, Stotts helped lead the Mavericks to the 2011 NBA Championship.“Terry is one of the elite offensive minds in the NBA, has extensive experience with multiple organizations and was instrumental in the Dallas Mavericks winning the 2011 NBA Championship, said Olshey. “He understands the vision for the future of the franchise, appreciates the process involved and will create an environment on the court that will produce championship habits.”Stotts, 54, has twice served as an NBA head coach, with two-year stints in both Milwaukee (2005-07) and Atlanta (2002-04). He has compiled an overall head coaching record of 115-168 (.406).“I’m very pleased to be a part of a great franchise in a beautiful city with such a proud history,” said Stotts. “I look forward to working hard with Neil and our players toward the ultimate goal of bringing another championship to Portland.”During his two seasons with Milwaukee, Stotts guided the Bucks to a 63-83 (.432) mark, including a playoff appearance in 2006. Stotts replaced Lon Kruger as head coach of the Hawks on Dec. 26, 2002, and accumulated a record of 52-85 (.380) in two seasons with Atlanta.In between head coaching positions, Stotts worked as the lead assistant to Mike Montgomery at Golden State during the 2004-05 season.Before becoming a head coach, Stotts served as an assistant under George Karl for 10 years, six with Seattle and four with Milwaukee. Those teams reached the postseason in nine of 10 seasons, including Seattle’s NBA Finals appearance in 1996.A four-year starter at the University of Oklahoma, Stotts was selected by Houston in the second round of the 1980 NBA Draft. He played professionally for several seasons in Europe and with the CBA’s Montana Golden Nuggets, coached by Karl.A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Stotts grew up in Illinois, Wisconsin, Guam and finished high school in Bloomington, Indiana. Stotts is married to his wife, Jan."