Stotts finds a job!

[EastSideBucksFan]

The Bucks should get some money back I believe

RealGM Staff Report -
Terry Stotts, who spent four seasons as an NBA head coach with the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks , today was named the NBA Development League

[schweig]

Good for him, and that should be a nice change of pace from the his last couple of opportunities. I wonder if he'll work out of NY or spend a lot of time traveling around to Tulsa and Alberquerque.

[Bucks_Revenge]

good for him ....he is a great offensive mind but was better suited to be an assistant coach....hope this new job does well..

[Chuck Diesel]

The D-league moved their headquarters from North Carolina to New York, so I would assume that

[REDDzone]

Well the Bucks at times play like a D-League team, so maybe we can get Stotts to come in and teach us how to play some offense?

[GrandAdmiralDan]

Yes, good for him. I agree.

Having him "provide insight into improving their skills in order for them to elevate to the NBA." is a bit interesting considering his limited success (to put it kindly) as a head coach. I suppose his insight would still be valuable as someone who has been a head coach with two franchises (dysfunctional as they each may be).

I am just picturing him holding some workshop for NBADL coaches on how to survive office politics within an NBA franchise. "You might find yourself dealing with a GM who is very likable who you think is on your side and trying to help you succeed. Trust no one! He could very well be running a behind the scenes campaign to try and get permission to fire you!"

But in all seriousness, the overwhelming majority of coaches currently in the NBADL ranks will never ascend to the rank of NBA Head Coach. But a number of them will go on to become an NBA Assistant Coach, a job that Stotts definitely excelled at and was basically regarded as somewhere in the top 5 of Assistant Coaches over the last two decades. So with that in mind, this does make a great deal of sense.

[WRau1]

At least Stotts knew what kind of team we were and tried to play to our strength.

[Newz]

At least Stotts knew what kind of team we were and tried to play to our strength.

Stotts > Larry K

[BrewCityBBQ]

Karl > Porter > Stotts > Larry K

Now think about that for a second.

[emunney]

Congrats to TS and good luck. Sounds like an interesting position.

[stellation]

It sounds like it could actually be a fun position for Terry, and well suited to his strengths. Good luck to him.

[rilamann]

Congrats to Stotts,I think Stotts will eventually get another crack at coaching in the NBA but this aint a bad gig for now.

Maybe this aint the right thread but I'll eat some crow for putting so much blame on Stotts last year.

My opinion on Stotts as an NBA head coach is that I think he would be great with a vetran team that didn't have ''motivational issues'' when it comes to playing hard and playing with effort every night.

I'll never forget when I went to the Bucks open scrimmage in 1999 right after the lock out.Im sure some of you guys remember that was before any pre-season games and it was the first oppritunity us Bucks fans had to see the ''Karl coached Bucks'' and everyone was realy hyped up.

I ended up sitting in the 2nd row right behind the bench where Stotts was coaching the green or white squad I don't remember but I do remember comming away very impressed with Stotts coaching ability seeing it up close,Stotts had a coaching ''presence'' about himself that was realy impressive.

I came away thinking ''wow Stotts appears to be 10x better of a coach than Chris Ford & Mike Dunleavy and Stotts is only the assistant.

When we wernt saying nice things about Stotts last year that day back in 1999 when I came away impressed was always in my gut,looking at this Bucks team this season maybe I should have stuck with my gut.

Just wnated to share that story and eat my crow,good luck to Stotts.

[bigzy]

Good for him, and that should be a nice change of pace from the his last couple of opportunities. I wonder if he'll work out of NY or spend a lot of time traveling around to Tulsa and Alberquerque.

He will spend a lot of time traveling to NBDL cities, sounds like fun to me spending time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota or whereever. :)

[MickeyDavis]

Once you've been in Milwaukee the NBDL cities don't seem too bad.

[bigzy]

Once you've been in Milwaukee the NBDL cities don't seem too bad.

Actually he loved Milwaukee, but if I was him I would still be relaxing in Florida.

[bigzy]

Maybe he will run into Jarred Reiner in his travels.

[Nowak008]

Maybe he will run into his son, Jarred Reiner, in his travels.

Fixed.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

Congrats to Stotts,I think Stotts will eventually get another crack at coaching in the NBA but this aint a bad gig for now.

No team is interested in giving Stotts another shot by hiring him outright as their Head Coach. It doesn't even matter how he does with this new NBADL assignment. That direct path to being a head coach is closed for Stotts. However, there IS still a path to being a head coach that Stotts can follow. Like many things in the NBA, it will be about being in the right place at the right time. There will be teams interested in hiring Stotts as an Assistant Coach at some point. Phoenix even already briefly considered it but ultimately decided against it. Anyway, if Stotts can either land a Lead Assistant job or land a 2nd chair Assistant Coach position and then get promoted to Lead Assistant after the incumbent Lead Assistant leaves for another team, then Stotts will be in position to get one more chance at becoming a Head Coach. The Head Coach of his team will need to be fired at some point during the season, meaning Stotts takes over as Interim Head Coach. Then, if he impresses the GM/owner with how he finishes out that season, they might let him stay in that role and give him a contract to be the actual Head Coach.

The above isn't some situation unique to Stotts in recent NBA history either. That's pretty normal for those with circumstances similar to Stotts. And many NBA people I've spoken with share that analysis.

So he does still have a chance to get back to being a head coach in this league. I don't think I'd put money on all of that happening, nor would I advise him to do that (better to try and get a Lead Assistant position and not accept any promotion past that, since he is excellent at that position). But if he REALLY wants to be a Head Coach again, that is ultimately a possibility.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

whoa i cant read nvm

[Epicurus]

Or there is the route taken by George Karl whose first 3.5 years of head coaching came with a low winning percentage. Karl went into the CBA for a couple of years and produced incredible winning percentages there, particularly with the Albany Patroons (sp). That apparently to the basketball gods appeased the low winning percentages at his two stops in the NBA previously as head coach. With Seattle Karl's teams won big and even sufficiently to ignore the rather mediocre record with Milwaukee later and hence his employment on his terms in Denver.

The simple point is that except by luck NBA assistants inherit really bad or at best mediocre teams. If one really thought about career records, then I would suggest to all who inherit to refuse unless it is a good team. Then you build your reputation and get to be a member of the often mentioned for any head coach job.

Oh, and Terry Stotts did interview for the Orlando lead job and didn't get it. It was the only one of several offers that interested him, albeit Cleveland did briefly. To my knowledge nothing was ever offered him by Phoenix.