Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard answered back at a social media commentator who stated that Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts should be replaced.
My head coach may be the longest tenured after pop … no chip but a lot of wins. https://t.co/zYQ5AeJDwg
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 22, 2021
The 63-year-old Stotts is in his ninth season as head coach of the Trail Blazers and has compiled a regular season record of 378-299 (.558) entering the team’s Monday night game against the Phoenix Suns.
While the Trail Blazers haven’t reached the NBA Finals during Stott’s time with the team, they have reached the playoffs in each of the last seven seasons. During that span, the Trail Blazers have twice reached the Western Conference semifinals and also competed in the 2019 Western Conference Finals.
As Lillard noted, Stotts has the longest tenure among NBA head coaches outside of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
That stability is an indication that the Trail Blazers’ front office is satisfied with Stott’s performance and isn’t bothering to listen to disgruntled fans on social media.
This season, the Trail Blazers have an 18-11 record, which is fifth-best among teams in the highly competitive Western Conference.
Lillard has spent his entire NBA career with Stotts as his head coach, so it’s clear why he took issue with the comments of the fan.
In 28 games this season, Lillard is delivering on the court by averaging 30.0 points, 7.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
The Trail Blazers still face a stiff battle simply to move up in this year’s current standings, but if they come up short again, the reason won’t be because of the head coach’s efforts.
