Terry Stotts Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Plowden, Bronny, Stotts, Stackhouse, Ishbia

July 18th, 2024 at 9:22am CST by Arthur Hill

When the Warriors were reviewing videos of players to decide who to invite to their free agent mini-camp, Daeqwon Plowden stood out right away, writes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. The 25-year-old shooting guard, who signed a two-way contract with the team on Tuesday, was going full speed and giving maximum effort in all of his film clips.

He won a spot on Golden State’s Summer League team, where he’s continuing to impress the organization, averaging 16.6 points per game while shooting 48.1% from three-point range and playing physical defense. Plowden wants to prove he’s “a winner,” and he sounds ready to use his opportunity with the Warriors as a learning experience.

“Throughout the year, I really just want to learn how to be a better pro,” he said. “This is one of the premier organizations. They’ve got some high-level guys. Some high-level characters. I want to learn how to be a better pro, whether that be for here … or wherever I end up winding up.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Bronny James had his best outing in the Summer League on Wednesday as the Lakers pulled out a one-point win over Atlanta. He had 12 points and made two 3-pointers after going 0-for-15 from the beyond the arc in his first four games. “I feel like I know the right way to play. So if I go out there and play my game every game, results like that will come,” he told Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr wanted to tweak his offense, which is a major reason why he decided to hire Terry Stotts as his lead assistant. “He fits what we want to do and get a little bit more patterned,” Kerr told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “He loves movement. Portland, you know, they always had a lot of motion and movement, but it was probably more patterned than what we’ve done. Terry can really help us put in some new things that may be easier to run but maintain the motion.” Jerry Stackhouse, who has also been added to the staff, will bring a former player’s perspective. “Just feel like we needed Jerry,” Kerr said. “We have a lot of young players. … There’s something about a former player where those guys can tell our players, ‘I’ve been there, I’ve done this. I know exactly what you’re going through.’ Jerry did it on a really high level, but he’s also coached at a high level. That meant a lot to me.” Golden State has yet to officially announce those coaching hires.
Suns owner Mat Ishbia said during an NBA TV interview that he believes his team is primed for a deep playoff run, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic relays. “First year, we didn’t get to where we wanted to be,” Ishbia said. “Second year, we’re going to see and we’re going to go out there and compete. I love those guys. I love the pieces, (Jusuf) Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale. We’ve got a lot of pieces. Bol Bol is back. We’ve got a lot of great pieces, but you’ve got to win. If you don’t win in the playoffs, people are going to talk about you. That’s an honor that they talk about us ’cause it’s high expectations. We’ve got to get there. We’re going to try this year again.”

Dana Gauruder contributed to this report.

Stotts, Stackhouse Expected To Join Warriors’ Staff

July 2nd, 2024 at 8:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Warriors are planning to hire Terry Stotts as Steve Kerr‘s lead assistant coach, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Jerry Stackhouse is also expected to join the staff.

Stotts, 66, has a long career as an NBA head coach and assistant. Stotts was the Trail Blazers’ head coach from 2012-21 and was also head coach of Atlanta and Milwaukee. Stotts was hired as Adrian Griffin‘s lead assistant with the Bucks last offseason but abruptly left the organization before the regular season started when they clashed over scheme and philosophy.

Stotts will take the spot previously held by Kenny Atkinson, the Cavaliers’ new head coach. Stotts was also on Cleveland’s radar during its head coaching search.

Stackhouse, 49, interviewed for the Hornets coaching job that eventually went to Charles Lee. Stackhouse was hired as Vanderbilt’s head coach in 2019. The school parted ways with him after last season. The former All-Star guard was previously an assistant with the Raptors and Grizzlies and was also the head coach of the G League 905 Raptors.

Cavs Receive Permission To Interview David Adelman

June 4th, 2024 at 12:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have requested and received permission to meet with Nuggets assistant David Adelman about their head coaching vacancy, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Adelman, 43, is Michael Malone‘s top assistant in Denver and has served as acting head coach in a handful of instances when Malone was unavailable. He has drawn praise from Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon for his coaching acumen.

The son of longtime NBA head coach Rick Adelman, David began his coaching career at the high school level before being hired by the Timberwolves in 2011. He was in Minnesota for five seasons, spent the 2016/17 campaign with Orlando, and arrived in Denver in 2017.

Adelman has received head coaching consideration from the Lakers and Hornets this offseason after having previously interviewed with the Raptors when they were seeking a head coach last spring.

As our head coaching search tracker shows, Adelman is the sixth candidate reported to be interviewing with the Cavaliers, who are conducting a head coaching search after parting ways with J.B. Bickerstaff. Cleveland’s other interviewees include Kenny Atkinson, James Borrego, Johnnie Bryant, Micah Nori, and Chris Quinn.

A recent report stated that the Cavs could end up talking to upwards of about 10 candidates, so additional updates on contenders for the job could still be forthcoming. Former NBA head coach and current Bucks assistant Dave Joerger is expected to meet with the team, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who says Mavericks assistant Alex Jensen could get an interview too.

The Cavs have done plenty of background work on Terry Stotts, but one source describes him as a long shot for the job, says Fedor. Sources also tell Cleveland.com that the club isn’t expected to talk to Frank Vogel, who was dismissed last month by the Suns.

Stein’s Latest: Redick, Cavaliers’ Coaching Search, M. Brown, Kleber

May 27th, 2024 at 10:04am CST by Arthur Hill

J.J. Redick has several assistants in mind if he becomes the Lakers‘ next head coach, sources tell Marc Stein (Substack link). The ESPN broadcaster is believed to be the frontrunner to land the job, and Stein cites this latest rumor as more evidence that L.A. is leaning toward hiring Redick.

According to Stein, Redick hopes to add Celtics assistant Sam Cassell and Pelicans assistant James Borrego, who both interviewed for the head coaching job and were described by The Athletic as “the initial leading targets” along with Redick two weeks ago.

Redick would also like to land Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley, who finished his career with the Lakers in 2021, Stein’s sources say. Dudley reportedly built strong relationships with LeBron James and Anthony Davis during that time.

Stein offers more inside information from around the league:

Terry Stotts is among the head coaching candidates being considered by the Cavaliers, according to Stein’s sources. If Cleveland plans to keep Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland together, it could be beneficial to hire Stotts, who was successful in Portland with a similar small backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson is considered to be the leading candidate to replace J.B. Bickerstaff, but Stein confirms that Borrego, former Cavs coaching consultant Dave Joerger and Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant are among the other names under consideration. Bryant previously worked with Mitchell in Utah. Atkinson has reportedly received endorsements from Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert, whom he coached in Brooklyn.
Mike Brown’s salary demands and the Kings‘ lack of postseason success have led to a stalemate in extension talks, Stein adds. Both sides recently agreed to table negotiations on a new deal, which means Brown could enter next season as a lame-duck coach. He has a four-year contract, but the final season is a mutual option, which means he and the team would both have to opt in.
Stein hears that the Mavericks remain optimistic about a potential Maxi Kleber return if they reach the NBA Finals. The versatile big man has been sidelined since separating his right shoulder May 3 in the final game of the first-round series against the Clippers.

Damian Lillard Talks Adjustment To Milwaukee, Stotts, Giannis, More

February 28th, 2024 at 1:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Chris Mannix of SI.com, Damian Lillard acknowledged that his first season in Milwaukee has been a “real transition” and remains a “work in progress.” While his – and the Bucks‘ – performance on the court has been the focus of that adjustment period, the eight-time All-Star guard noted that the personal aspect of the move has been challenging too.

“Being away from my kids is tough,” said Lillard, who filed for divorce in October. “In Portland, my life was set up. My mom was down the street; my brother was the other way down the street. My sister was down the street. My kids in school. Just my whole life was set up perfectly right there. It was a great situation. So just leaving that behind alone is a lot. And then you add the basketball side to it and that is what it is.”

After spending the first 11 years of his NBA career with the Trail Blazers, Lillard doesn’t have the same sort of life outside of basketball in Milwaukee that he did in Portland, he admitted when Mannix asked him about his routine.

“Bro, go to practice, go home, watch boxing, play video games,” Lillard said. “Man, I type in (boxing website) FightHype on YouTube 100 times and be praying for something new to be on there. Seriously, I don’t have much of a life. But that’s what comes with making a big boy decision. You got to be down for that and figure it out.”

Here are a few more highlights from Lillard’s conversation with Mannix, which was conducted just before the All-Star break (and before the Bucks’ recent three-game winning streak):

Lillard said that the season hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as he might’ve envisioned after he made his preseason debut back in October, but that he believes the ups and downs the Bucks have experienced will ultimately be good for the team. “I thought we were going to be how Boston is right now,” he told Mannix. “But I think what I’ve learned is that some things take time, especially stuff that has reward in the end. You can’t come into it and think that it’s just going to be all peaches and cream. … We’ve had adversity hit our team two or three different times and we’ve managed to still be a top-three team in the East with a lot of games to go and still being far away from reaching what we could be and what we should be. And since Doc (Rivers) has gotten here, we’ve kind of shuffled some things around and set kind of a new foundation of things that’s really encouraging.”
Having Terry Stotts on the Bucks’ coaching staff created a level of comfort and familiarity for Lillard that went away when the former Trail Blazers head coach resigned from his assistant position before the regular season began. “Now I’m like, O.K., what’s this play?’ I was kind of in the figuring out stage,” Lillard said of the period following Stotts’ exit. “So when you don’t really know stuff like the back of your hand, it is hard to direct traffic and be telling people, ‘I want you right here or there.’ Point guards, especially veteran point guards, man, we play the game differently than a young talented point guard. We are just manipulating everything. And that’s hard to do for the team and for yourself when you’re just trying to learn.”
Citing the Nuggets duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic as an aspirational example, Lillard said that he and Giannis Antetokounmpo have a strong relationship and want to continue to improve their on-court chemistry to reach that championship level. “(Murray and Jokic) played together for six or seven years. They don’t even think about it no more,” Lillard said. “But in the beginning, they struggled. Jokic would have his moments and then Jamal Murray would struggle and then he would have his moments and then it would take away from him. And then once they figured it out, they went out there and won it.”
Lillard “absolutely” believes that the Bucks are capable of winning a title this spring: “I’d be the first to tell you it’s been a challenging year, but the kind of person I am, when stuff like this start happening, I start thinking there’s a reward coming. That’s how I think because I do s–t the right way. I don’t change. I don’t mistreat people. I don’t cheat my process. I still go to the gym at night. I do my stuff, my body, I do everything. I did think we’d be rolling a lot sooner than this. But I know we can get there.”

Latest On Bucks’ Coaching Situation

January 23rd, 2024 at 10:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bucks have reached out to Doc Rivers to discuss having him take over their head coaching job, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms.

As reported earlier in the day, Rivers is the top choice to replace first-year coach Adrian Griffin, who was abruptly fired on Tuesday.

CNN Sports, as relayed by the NBA on TNT, reported on Tuesday night that Rivers had accepted the position (video link). However, that report has yet to be corroborated by other media outlets.

Rivers already has a connection to the Bucks, having informally served as a consultant for Griffin this season at the behest of the club.

Here’s more on the Bucks’ coaching situation:

Griffin offered a diplomatic answer to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report regarding his dismissal: “I appreciate the opportunity the Bucks gave me. You can’t control everything,” Griffin said in a phone interview. “I feel good about the job we did. I appreciate my coaching staff for all their hard work. I always wanted to be a head coach in this league. I couldn’t have asked for a better roster. I got to coach Giannis (Antetokounpo), Dame (Lillard), Khris (Middleton), Brook (Lopez). Dream come true. Hopefully, I get another shot at it, but overall, I’m just thankful.”
Bucks general manager Jon Horst and assistant GM Milt Newton began closely observing practices and shootarounds in the last 10 days or so, Haynes reports in the same story. That began raising the eyebrows of the coaching staff and players. If they don’t land Rivers, the Bucks also have Jeff Van Gundy and Nate McMillan on their short list of candidates, Haynes adds.
Griffin met with his top four players after the team’s loss to Indiana during the in-season tournament last month and they all spoke about what was working, what wasn’t working and how they could best be utilized. Griffin told the players that sacrifices were required, but bickering in the locker room continued shortly thereafter.
Griffin was hired at the endorsement of Antetokounmpo, but that endorsement had more to do with whom the two-time MVP didn’t want as head coach, writes Marc Stein at Substack. Nick Nurse was high on the Bucks’ list of candidates before he was hired by the Sixers, according to Stein, who says Antetokounmpo wanted the franchise to go in a different direction and chose to back Griffin. Moving on from Griffin now was a far easier move than finding a difference-making trade, given Milwaukee’s limited assets, Stein adds.
When Lillard’s former head coach, Terry Stotts, chose to resign from the Bucks’ staff just prior to the season opener, the reason was that Griffin felt that he was being undermined by Stotts, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Stotts was brought in to mentor Griffin but they clashed on scheme and philosophy.

Bucks Rumors: Rivers, Atkinson, Griffin, Lillard

January 23rd, 2024 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Following the dismissal of Adrian Griffin just 43 games into his head coaching career, the Bucks have opened discussions with Doc Rivers to become the team’s new permanent head coach, league sources tell Shams Charania, Sam Amick, and Eric Nehm of The Athletic. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), however, hears that the two sides have yet to talk.

Either way, it sounds like Rivers is the leading candidate to supplant Griffin as the head coach in Milwaukee. Wojnarowski acknowledges that Rivers is a “top target” and says the team is expected to reach out soon to gauge his interest.

Rivers already has a connection to the Bucks, having informally served as a consultant for Griffin this season at the behest of the club, according to The Athletic’s report. League sources tell Charania, Amick, and Nehm that the Bucks reached out to Rivers in order to organize a meeting between him and Griffin at the in-season tournament in Las Vegas last month.

The hope was that Rivers would be able to offer some advice and guidance to the first-time head coach about how to navigate the pressure of leading a team with championship expectations, per The Athletic. Following the resignation of assistant Terry Stotts ahead of the regular season, Griffin didn’t have any veteran head coaches on his staff with that sort of experience.

If Rivers and the Bucks don’t end up agreeing to a deal, Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson is considered another strong candidate for the job, according to Charania, Amick, and Nehm. Atkinson was a runner-up to Griffin in Milwaukee’s head coaching search last spring.

Here’s more on the Bucks:

Bucks players began questioning Griffin’s strategies and schemes on both ends of the court earlier this season, and those questions grew louder in recent weeks as the team failed to show significant growth, according to The Athletic’s report. Milwaukee has gone just 6-5 in January and there were concerns about Griffin’s ability to communicate his vision to his players.
The Bucks’ declining effectiveness on the defensive end and the use of Damian Lillard on offense are among the factors that contributed to Griffin’s exit, per Charania, Amick, and Nehm. League sources tell The Athletic that Lillard – whose usage rate is at 27.9%, his lowest mark since 2014/15 – “has spent much of this season struggling with the way the Bucks function on the offensive end.”
There wasn’t one single reason why Stotts stepped down from his position before the season began, according to The Athletic’s reporters, who say he and Griffin were never exactly on the same page about the veteran assistant’s role and responsibilities. Their disagreements came to a head and resulted in a brief verbal confrontation during an October 17 shootaround in Oklahoma City, with Stotts feeling disrespected by how he was treated.

Bucks Notes: Middleton, Payne, Beauchamp, Stotts

October 22nd, 2023 at 8:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Bucks forward Khris Middleton, who recently signed a lucrative new three-year contract to remain in Milwaukee, suited up for his lone game of the preseason against the Grizzlies on Friday. Eric Nehm of The Athletic takes a look at the three-time All-Star’s performance.

The 6’7″ vet played scored five points on 2-of-6 shooting across 12 minutes of play, though he did dish out five dimes.

“Felt like I was myself out there,” Middleton said. “Now I just gotta get used to different spots on the floor, the rhythm of the offense (and) the defensive side, too, moving my feet a little bit better. All in all, I thought it was a great night.”

There’s more out of Milwaukee:

New Bucks reserve point guard Cameron Payne exited Milwaukee’s preseason finale with a right thigh contusion, the club’s PR team has announced (Twitter link). Payne’s status for the team’s regular season opener is unclear.
Second-year Bucks forward MarJon Beauchamp is getting a rave review from one very important voice, writes Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Two-time MVP power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo believes that the Yakima Valley College alum flashed plenty of two-way potential with the team. “Giannis just told me, you have to have that aggressive mentality every time,” Beauchamp said. “Especially on a good team like this … my confidence, it’s up and down. But I heard from the big dog now. I got to stay aggressive. I got to keep working.”
Former assistant coach Terry Stotts abruptly departed the Bucks bench just days ahead of the club’s season opener. Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com writes that Stotts, who served as the head coach for the Trail Blazers from 2012-21, was expected to be a major contributor to Milwaukee under first-time head coach Adrian Griffin. “It’s not like Boston dropping [Ime] Udoka last year and putting in [Joe] Mazzulla, but Stotts was supposed to have a big role with [the Bucks’] offense,” a source told Bulpett. “It seemed like he was having trouble adjusting to being an assistant again. He was out for two years, he doesn’t need the money. … Maybe it was just a thing where he just wasn’t feeling it.”

Central Notes: Stotts, Griffin, Cunningham, Bates, Allen, Nembhard

October 19th, 2023 at 6:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Terry Stotts isn’t retiring, even though the 65-year-old coach is exiting Adrian Griffin’s staff with the Bucks, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Stotts wasn’t comfortable with his fit on Milwaukee’s staff. Griffin claimed they got along just fine.

“It caught all of us off guard, of course, but again, you just support him,” Griffin said. “He was a terrific guy. I learned a lot from him in a very short time. He was really good at what he does. He made a decision – a personal decision – and we just have to respect that.”

However, The Athletic’s Eric Nehm and Shams Charania report that Stotts and Griffin had a tenuous relationship. That included a shootaround incident in which Griffin yelled for Stotts to join the coaches’ huddle when Stotts was about to have a conversation with the team’s star players. That highlighted the potential difficulty of Stotts adapting to an assistant role under rookie head coach Griffin. Conversely, it also spoke about the treatment and level of respect that Griffin needed to show Stotts, considering his lengthy coaching career.

We have more from the Central Division:

The Pistons paid Monty Williams a lot of money to coach their team, and their star player, Cade Cunningham, has bought in to Williams’ hard-driving style, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. “I love the way he pushes us,” Cunningham said. “He calls things the way he sees them. I think that honesty and that bluntness towards us, that’s huge. Especially for a young team. The systems that he’s put in, the way that he’s made it around our abilities and the personnel we have has been great for us. It’ll continue to get better as he learns us and we learn him.”
Rookie second-round pick Emoni Bates has led the Cavaliers in scoring during the preseason. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com that he’s thrilled Bates dropped to the No. 49 overall pick. “I believe if Emoni had gone in the lottery he’d have been the type of player who’d have been in the Rookie of the Year conversation,” Bickerstaff said. “We are extremely fortunate that he’s here with us and we look forward to working with him.”
Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen is showing progress from the right ankle injury that has sidelined him during much of training camp. On Thursday afternoon, he went through post-practice shooting drills and then went through an individual workout, according to Fedor. He is set for re-evaluation this weekend and there’s hope he can return for Cleveland’s regular-season opener on Wednesday night.
Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard went through a full practice this week and is on track to play in the team’s preseason finale on Friday, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets. Nembhard is working his way back from an ankle injury.

Terry Stotts Resigns From Bucks’ Coaching Staff

October 19th, 2023 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Terry Stotts won’t continue in his role as an assistant coach with the Bucks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The former Trail Blazers head coach had been out of the league for two years before agreeing to join Adrian Griffin’s new staff in Milwaukee. The Bucks had been searching for an experienced assistant for Griffin, who is in his first year as a head coach.

The 65-year-old Stotts compiled a 402-318 record during his nine seasons as head coach in Portland. He took the Blazers to the playoffs eight times, including a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2019. Stotts was previously a head coach in Milwaukee, as well as Atlanta, and holds a career record of 517-486.

No explanation has been given on why Stotts decided to step down less than a week before the start of the regular season or if (and how) the team plans to fill the coaching vacancy.