Terry Stotts Opens Up on Full 48 Podcast about 2016-17 Season
On social media
Beck:
"“We have concluded that Terry Stotts, while not an active social media user, is a Twitter-lurker, because we have both at times gotten a quick sly note from you after we maybe acted out a little bit on Twitter.”"
Stotts:
"“Damian [Lillard] told me early on that I’m considered a ‘Twatcher’…I like to keep up with things—my players, friends, family, media-types, and I think it’s good to be informed.”"
On the difference of this year to last
Brenner:
"“Obviously you guys, your season ended a little earlier than you would have liked…why was it a bit of a tougher year, why the sort of seeming step back from the way you left things last season?”"
Stotts:
"“Over 82 games, it’s probably not one thing. We were a little slow out of the gates, even though we started 7-4, we didn’t start off the way we would have liked…the first 30 games we were the worst defensive team in the league, we had some injuries early where as last year we had a relatively injury-free season.”"
On the big contracts
Stotts:
"I know people point to the contracts that were given out, and whether consciously or subconsciously, we didn’t have the edge that we had at the end of the season. All the guys are good guys, good workers, I don’t think the money went to their heads. But maybe the sense of urgency that we had to finish off that previous season, maybe we thought it was a little easier than what it really was.”"
On Jusuf Nurkić
Beck:
"At the time that you guys made that deal with Denver, Plumlee for Nurkić, it looked like a bit of a wash. They were different guys at more-or-less the same position…I don’t think most of us saw that as like ‘okay there’s the missing the piece,’ and maybe he’s not, and I don’t wanna overstate his impact, but Nurkić had a pretty nice run with you guys. If not for the injury, who knows what we would have seen him do in the playoffs…what did you guys know about Nurkić before you got him that made you so confident in that deal, and how well do think he’s going to fit going forward — have you solved, have you resolved that spot in that starting lineup?”"
Stotts:
"“I think the last month and a half really showed what an integral part he is going to be for our future. Everybody played well when he was on the court, he made players better…there were so many positives about Mason that it was tough to let him go. But, I think the thinking going forward was one is, Mason was going to become a restricted free agent; Jusuf was 22 years old, Mason was 27 years old, so there was financial implications, there was age implications…[Nurk] is very agile, he’s a better passer than we expected, he’s a better shooter than we expected…and defensively, he is a big presence in the lane…Jusuf, although he is very athletic and nimble, he has a presence, has an ability to block shots and get rebound in ways that Mason was not able to.”"
This was all within the first 10 minutes, too. Besides Jusuf Nurkić, Stotts talks about his coaching journey and old playing days.
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