Power ranking NBA head coaches: 2015-16 season
By John Buhler
14. Terry Stotts, Portland Trail Blazers
Terry Stotts‘ first two head coaching gigs were especially bad. He lasted only two years in both Atlanta and in Milwaukee. However it all seemed to change for him in the positive when he became a part of Rick Carlisle’s staff in Dallas in 2008-09.
Stotts picked Carlisle’s brain and became indoctrinated in the analytics movement that had become part of the Dallas Mavericks organization around that time. He was part of the 2010-11 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks staff.
When it came time for Terry Stotts to give head coaching another go-around, this time with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2012-13, he was ready to make a splash in the Rose City. Stotts’ Blazers made the Western Conference Playoffs the last two years under Stotts’ watch and the strong play of point guard Damian Lillard and former power forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
Stotts had his Blazers in the playoff mix and in conversations about title contention with back-to-back 50 win seasons in Portland. Though Portland has scuffled a bit (5-9) in 2015-16 without Aldridge, Stotts continues to use his knowledge of analytics to his advantage in this new era of Blazers basketball, centered around Lillard as the lone superstar. He’s not the best head coach, but Terry Stotts has done a respectable job bringing relevancy to the Pacific Northwest’s lone NBA franchise.
Next: 13. Dave Joerger