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Blazers coach Terry Stotts in conversation for NBA’s Coach of the Year Award

Matt George Moore|
PHOENIX, AZ - OCTOBER 18: Head coach Terry Stotts of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts during the first half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on October 18, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ - OCTOBER 18: Head coach Terry Stotts of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts during the first half of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on October 18, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

It might surprise Rip City to learn that only two coaches in Portland Trail Blazers history have won the NBA’s Coach of the Year Award. Terry Stotts could become the third to snag the Red Auerbach Trophy.

Quick: Name the two Trail Blazers coaches who won the NBA’s Coach of the Year Award. (No cheating!)

If you said Mike Schuler and Mike Dunleavy — well, you probably cheated. But we won’t hold it against you.

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Schuler, Dunleavy and the Trail Blazers

Schuler won the award after the 1986-1987 season.

The Blazers won 49 games that year, finishing second in the NBA’s Pacific Division behind the Los Angeles Lakers.

Portland was the third seed in the playoffs in 1987, but they lost in the first-round, three games to one to the Houston Rockets.

Dunleavy won the Coach of the Year Award after the 1998-1999 season.

The Blazers finished that lockout-shortened season with a record of 35-15 — good enough for first place in the Pacific Division.

Portland made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals that season, only to get swept by the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs. (Check out the scores during that series; what an offensive snooze-fest.)

Stotts and the Trail Blazers

Stotts, in his sixth season with the Trail Blazers, is the third-winningest coach in franchise history.

And this season may be his best coaching job yet. He’s put together an effective-enough offense from a roster that doesn’t feature much firepower beyond Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. He’s nurtured rising stars Maurice Harkless, Jusuf Nurkic and rookie Zach Collins. And the Blazers defense is one of the best in the league.

Stotts has the Blazers at 44-26 — third in the crowded, ultra-competitive Western Conference. And they’ve won 13 games in a row — already one of the longest win streaks in franchise history.

Oh yeah — and the players love him.

As The Portland Tribune’s Kerry Eggers reports, Lillard especially appreciates Stotts.

“Every guy who has come through here, they play under him and they have career years because of the freedom he allows you to have,” Lillard said. “The level of comfort he gives guys to be themselves is a great trait to have as a coach.”

The Competition

My guess is that Stotts’ competition for the Red Auerbach Trophy are Houston’s Mike D’Antoni and the Toronto Raptors’ Dwane Casey. And if I had any money, it would be on Casey to win the award. Other contenders for Coach of the Year: Boston’s Brad Stevens and Indiana’s Nate McMillan.

But all eyes in Rip City are on Terry Stotts; his players love him, Portlanders love him, and he’s certainly more than deserving of serious consideration as Coach of the Year.

Next: Where does the current win streak rank in franchise history?

As the Blazers prep to face D’Antoni’s Rockets Tuesday, the minds of the players and Stotts are almost certainly not on winning streaks or NBA awards, but on winning this one game.

And the next.

And then the next.

The Blazers have done that, especially since Jan. 1. It’s that consistency that has Stotts in the Coach of the Year conversation in the first place.