Sources: Raptors 905 to name Jerry Stackhouse head coach
League sources have informed Upside & Motor that the Raptors 905 are expected to name Jerry Stackhouse as their new head coach for the 2016-17 season. The 905 are the D-League affiliate of the Toronto Raptors and were an expansion team last season.
Stackhouse was an assistant coach under Dwane Casey this past season with the Toronto Raptors. Jesse Mermuys left the 905 after one season at the helm to take an assistant coach position with the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving a vacancy in Mississauga.
Stackhouse played his college ball at the University of North Carolina and was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. The now 41-year-old retired shooting guard played a total of 970 games in The Association for eight teams before hanging up the laces following the 2012-13 campaign with the Brooklyn Nets.
Since that time Stackhouse started up his own AAU team in the Atlanta, Georgia area and even coached this year’s No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram during that time. Just recently at the Las Vegas Summer League, Stackhouse had the opportunity to coach the Toronto Raptors and described it as, “a lot more pressure-filled than AAU” according to the Toronto Sun.
The Toronto Raptors used their expansion D-League team a lot last season as Anthony Bennett, Bruno Caboclo, Delon Wright, Lucas Nogueira and Norman Powell combined for 77 games played in Mississauga.
Stackhouse will now have ample opportunity to help develop young players, including those on the Raptors’ roster, for future chances in the NBA. He played 18 seasons in the NBA, so he certainly knows the ins and outs, and what it takes to be a professional. Now we get to find out if he’s able to effectively pass that knowledge on to the next generation of upon us.