The Portland Trail Blazers’ coaching search has concluded week 2 with no new developments having leaked or been released. Coaching movement around the league, however, could have an impact on the Blazers’ efforts to replace Terry Stotts, who departed the franchise on June 4.
After a week of interviews, the search will head into a third weekend without a new coach in a process that Neil Olshey, president of basketball operations, said could take weeks.
The key names reportedly still linked to the job remain Brooklyn assistant coach Mike D’Antoni, Los Angeles Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups and San Antonio assistant Becky Hammon.
There were rumblings this week that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra could be interested in the Portland job, but those unsubstantiated rumors were squashed a day later.
Developments around the league have made more potential candidates available but also created competing vacancies.
New Orleans fired Stan Van Gundy on Wednesday. That same day, Scott Brooks and Washington agreed to part ways after five seasons.
In Dallas on Thursday, Rick Carlisle informed Mavericks owner Mark Cuban that he would not return for a 14th season. Reportedly, there were growing tensions between Carlisle and star Luka Doncic.
Jobs were already available in Indiana, Orlando and Boston, where the Celtics job became available on June 2 when general manager Danny Ainge retired and coach Brad Stevens moved up to the front office.
Boston, Dallas and New Orleans are certainly attractive jobs that could create competition for the Blazers in their coaching search.
Dallas is led by Doncic, who at age 22 was named first-team All-NBA this week. The Celtics have two All-Stars in Jayson Tatum, 23, and Jaylen Brown, 24. The Pelicans feature rising star Zion Williamson, 20.
There are no reports indicating that any of those teams are eying candidates the Blazers reportedly interviewed this week, but Dallas and New Orleans have just begun the search process.
Boston, on the other hand, is well into its process. Billups, someone Portland star Damian Lillard reportedly said he liked as a potential coach, is set to interview with Boston a second time, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The addition of Carlisle and Brooks to the pool of available coaches has enriched the field.
Carlisle, 61, is is the most accomplished of the available coaches given that he is the only one who has won a championship as a head coach. He led Dallas to the title in 2011 and has a lifetime record of 836-689, including 555-478 with Dallas.
Carlisle spent three seasons in Portland as an assistant (1994-97).
Brooks, 55, went 183-207 over five seasons with Washington. But in his prior job at Oklahoma City, he posted a winning percentage of .617 (545-338) over seven seasons and coached the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals, where they lost to Miami.
The Blazers are in the market for a coach who can elevate the team to greater heights than Stotts, who coached the team to eight consecutive playoff appearances with one appearance in the West finals. The Blazers have not been to the NBA Finals since 1992.
Brooks has been to the Finals. Carlisle won the Finals and did so with a major star in Dirk Nowitzki, who remained loyal to his original team, something that Damian Lillard has done with Portland.
There is no telling if Carlisle or Brooks would be interested in the Blazers position. Carlisle has already been linked to Boston, where he spent three seasons as a player in the 1980s.
Brooks would be making a jump up from Washington (34-38) to Portland (42-30) in terms of team quality. But he might not have the recent track record on defense that Olshey is seeking.
The Wizards finished 18th in defensive rating this season but ended the 2019-20 season ranked 25th and the previous season ranked 28th.
— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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