By Jordan Long
The Portland Trailblazers are 36-29, 7th in the Western Conference. If play were to stop right now, Portland would be in the play-in tournament. They are 1 game out of the 6th seed held by the L.A. Lakers. Portland will look to improve on their record tonight when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers. Rumors are that unless Portland makes a deep playoff run, they will fire Head Coach Terry Stotts.
Stotts has been Portland’s coach since the start of the 2012-2013 season. Stotts’ record, including this year, in Portland is 396-316, a winning percentage of .555. Portland has advanced to the playoffs every year under him except for 2012. Portland is still going to end up in the postseason, even if it is the play-in tournament.
In the playoffs, they saw their season end in the first round from 2014 to 2018. In 2019, Stotts coached them to the Western Conference Finals. There they were swept by Golden State. Last year it was another first-round exit. They were swept by the L.A. Lakers in the bubble.
This season is another winning year but isn’t good enough. Portland wants to see this team make a deep run in the postseason which is probably not going to happen. Even if they survive the play-in tournament, they will face either the Phoenix Suns or the Utah Jazz. Both of these teams are better and have a deeper roster than Portland. Whenever the season ends, Stotts is probably going to be fired.
Stotts shouldn’t be let go if that happens. His body of work shows what kind of coach he is. He has been able to turn Portland into a winner. It hasn’t ended with an NBA title, but being in the playoffs shows they are a winning organization. It would be the wrong decision.
Rumors are they could replace Stotts with Los Angeles Lakers’ assistant Jason Kidd, Interim Head Coach of the Atlanta Hawks Nate McMillan, or Los Angeles Clippers’ assistant Chauncey Billups. Jason Kidd and Nate McMillan are the two that make sense.
Kidd would bring in 5 years of NBA Head Coaching experience. He coached for the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. He was with Brooklyn in 2014. From the start of the 2014 season until 45 games into the 2018 season Kidd was in Milwaukee. During that time, his teams made the postseason 3 times. The furthest they went was the 2nd round with the Nets in 2014. He knows how to help a team win. He could make sense with Portland.
McMillan has more knowledge of being an NBA Head Coach at the NBA level. He would bring in 16 years of NBA skill assuming the Atlanta Hawks don’t bring him back. McMillan is 29-20 after the Hawks let go of Llyod Pierce 34 games into the year. At the time the Hawks were 14-20. McMillan has turned things around for the Hawks. They are now 36-30 and are currently the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference. McMillan could stay there since he has done a great job.
If the Hawks don’t keep McMillan, his name should be on the top of the list for Portland. In his career, McMillan’s overall record is 681-597, a winning percentage of .533. His teams made the playoffs 9 times and it’s most likely going to be 10 this year. He would be the better candidate over Kidd.
Billups doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. His understanding of the game is mostly from when he played in the NBA from 1997 to 2014. Billups is in his first year as the Clippers’ assistant coach and is learning how to coach at the NBA level.
Portland will do what they feel is best once the season is over. Portland is leaning towards letting Stotts go but things can change. Portland will let the season play out and then make a decision. The writing is on the wall for Stotts that changes are coming.
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