Portland Trail Blazers: 4 candidates to replace Chauncey Billups

Mike D’Antoni will be mentioned for every NBA job opening until further notice

This suggestion may not come as much as a surprise to anyone who does their best to follow the NBA coaching carousel as it throws people off, who then claw and fight to find their way back on, only to be tossed aside again.

But Mike D’Antoni deserves a look any time a team is looking for a steady and respected presence with a proven track record of success.

Following in the Spoelstra/Riley mode of a marginal player who became a Hall of Fame coach — he was a second-round draft pick and hung on for a few unmemorable NBA seasons before departing for a solid career in Italy — D’Antoni has the credibility and experience to reach into the Portland Trail Blazers’ currently boiling cauldron of underperforming veterans and underused youngsters and make some kind of playoff porridge out of it.

He may not be the most original or most diverse choice, or even the best one, but he would provide some stability to an organization that has been in the spin cycle this season — with the combination of injuries, epically terrible defense, and the Olshey investigation and firing.

A coaching change seems inevitable at this point, and it would behoove the Blazers front office to make it sooner rather than later, for every missed chance at a win is one chip out of Lillard’s resolve to stay in Portland.