The Portland Trail Blazers were the biggest surprise of the season thanks in no small part to head coach Terry Stotts. Portland was predicted to be a bottom-tier lottery team but instead reached the postseason as the sixth seed and has now advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Stotts’ phenomenal work with an almost completely revamped roster after losing four of his five starters from last year was nothing short of amazing. It led to the head coach being voted in second place for the Coach of the Year behind Golden State Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr.
Despite all of that, Stotts’ future with the team is not completely known. His team option has not been picked up and there have been no discussions about a possible extension. According to Sam Amick, however, there is room for optimism:
Speaking of paydays, Portland coach Terry Stotts should be due for one in the not-so-distant future. Yet Stotts, the former head coach in Atlanta and Milwaukee who came to the Blazers in 2012 after four years as a Dallas Mavericks assistant, has a team option on his contract for next season that has yet to be picked up. What’s more, according to a person with knowledge of his situation, he has yet to discuss a possible extension with Blazers management.
The person expressed optimism that a deal will eventually get done, but one never truly knows until it happens. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of that process.
For the most part, this just seems like a timing issue. The Blazers are still battling in the playoffs and it does not make much sense to make the story about their coach’s contract status.
Stotts seems to be well-liked by his players and he has shown himself to be one of the better head coaches in the league. He has not only been sound from a technical standpoint, but he has also worked well in developing younger players and helping them reach some potential.
If and when the Trail Blazers are eliminated from the playoffs, I expect the team to go into talks about an extension right away. Terry Stotts has proven he should be the lead man of the team for a long time.
