Terry Stotts on the challenges of a coach
T he Portland Trail Blaze r s have emerged as perhaps NBA’s biggest surprise this year after losing four starters from last season’s 51- win team. Damian Lillard and C. J. McCollum are now one of the best backcourt tandems in the league, but coach Terry Stotts has also gotten valuable contributions from unsung young players such as Allen Crabbe, Meyers Leonard and Al-Farouq Aminu.
They have been giving the defending champion Golden State so many problems in the Western Conference semifinal play-off, that it seems like the Warriors had to rush MVP Steph Curry back into playing in game 4, just to solidify their chances of making it to the next round.
Coach Stotts has gotten the best of of his new look squad and was actually named the NBA Western Conference Coach of the Month in February. He expressed his views to The STAR on a number of matters, heading in the post season.
PHILIPPINE STAR: What was your reaction when you won the Coach of the Month honors?
TERRY STOTTS: My reaction is that generally, it’s about the players and how well they’ve been playing and how well the team is doing. As a coach, that’s your first thought. Also, how appreciative I am of my staff. They do a great job. Our players have really gotten better since we’ve been here, and it has a lot to do with what they do with them every day.
Damian Lillard is obviously playing really well. Is there anything different you’re seeing from him this season?
Honestly, no. From day one, he’s been a remarkably consistent player. The only difference I would say, and it’s not necessarily during this stretch, is that he’s accepted the mantle of leadership and being the best player and taking that responsibility. I think he’s continued to get better in that role. To look at that stretch of 30-point games, it’s pretty remarkable. But I can’t say he’s doing it in any way differently than he’s played before.
You had a lot of new players to start the year. How difficult was it for you to change the team’s identity this season?
It’s just one of your challenges as a coach. You look at your roster and you try to maximize the team’s talent and put them in positions where they can be successful. Obviously, we’re not a post-up team. Actually, someone told me the other day that we have fewer post-ups than anyone in the league, and the last two or three years we’ve probably been in the top three. The offense has changed a little bit of the style, but part of what you do as a coaching staff is try to improve the players and find out what works best with that particular group.
You guys are one of the few teams that have beaten the Warriors in the regular season, did your win over Golden State coming out of the All-Star break provide a big spark for your team?
Well, like you said, we went into the break on a nice little roll. We beat Houston a couple of times and Utah in there. So we were playing good basketball. And you’re always a little concerned going into the break and coming out of the break. The fact that you’re playing a team like Golden State coming out of the break was concerning, but the way we played certainly gave us a lot of momentum coming out of the break, which you probably didn’t expect. But I wouldn’t say it was necessarily a spark because we were playing pretty good basketball at the time.
How important is it that you made the playoffs and what kind of experience can that provide for a young team like yours?
The goal has been to make the playoffs from the beginning. Every team, that’s the goal to make the playoffs. So it’s been an interesting trajectory so far of not having a lot of expectations, going through some difficult losses, losing streaks, getting on a little bit of a roll, and now we’ve got some expectations. How we manage that and making the playoffs, that’s going to be a good challenge for us.
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