Portland Trail Blazers: Best 3 head coach candidates to replace Terry Stotts

After another Portland Trail Blazers postseason comes to an abrupt, heartbreaking end, Coach Terry Stotts now enters the cold world of the NBA job search. This certainly seemed like the end of the Blazers core as we know it, and the head coach is usually the go-to scapegoat for such a perilous situation.

Replacing a head coach is a dangerous move, as it’s never a certainty that the newcomer will be an improvement. Jim Boylen, Lloyd Pierce, and Ryan Saunders were all brought onto their respective teams in hopes that they could cultivate a winning standard. Instead, they were quickly given the boot after disappointing starts.

Neil Olshey and the Blazers brass decided to move on from Stotts, but they now must avoid the usual retreads in the NBA coaching cycle, a tired carousel of mediocrity.

There are certainly more than a few coaches that the Trail Blazers should avoid

While the NBA’s coaching carousel isn’t nearly as biased and cyclical as the NFL’s, there’s always a club or two that decides that their team is the perfect roster for a provenly subpar former coach.

Now that Stotts was shown the door, there’s sure to be a handful of general managers willing to give him another chance with their squads.

Other retreads that may be on a similar hot seat include: Billy Donovan, Stan Van Gundy, Luke Walton, and Scott Brooks.

Some former coaches that teams might coax back onto the bench are: Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Alvin Gentry, and Jason Kidd.

We’ve all but seen the full capabilities of these play-callers, one of which includes the extent of their darkness. None of these options is any guarantee to be an upgrade over Stotts, despite what Damian Lillard may think — we still love you, man.

Now that we’ve reviewed the candidates to avoid, let’s look at some of the best possible applicants.