By Jordan Long
The Portland Trail Blazers had one of their best seasons in recent memory. They ended up 53-29, 3rd in the Western Conference. In the playoffs they knocked off the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets before being swept in the Western Conference Finals by the Golden State Warriors. It was the 1st time Portland advanced to the Western Conference Finals since 2000. For the historic year, Portland’s front office decided to keep Head Coach Terry Stotts. They agreed to a multiyear extension. The terms weren’t announced.
Stotts has been the Head Coach of Portland since 2012. Portland made the playoffs 6 out of 7 years with Stotts. His regular season record is an impressive 325-249 or a winning percentage of .566.
The regular season success hasn’t carried to the postseason. Before this year, Portland was ousted in the 1st-round 2 times and the 2nd-round twice. Stotts’ record in the postseason for Portland is 20-36, a winning percentage of .357.
Portland knew they wanted to keep Stotts around. Stotts’ coaching was the reason they went all the way to the Western Conference Finals. He made adjustments during games and it sparked them to large runs.
Portland is only going to be better next year under Stotts. They will have their core of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to build a team around. Both of these players are superstars and can score points from anywhere on the floor. Portland may add a few free agents to make this team even more dangerous to have a shot at winning the NBA title.
Portland has the right Head Coach in Stotts. They needed to keep him. The front office knows how valuable he is to the franchise. Stotts is coaching this team to be a title contender for years to come. That could be scary for the rest of the NBA. Portland hopes Stotts is the right coach to bring an NBA title to the city of Portland for the 1st time since 1977. on;\lsdsem
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