Terry Stotts and the Portland Trail Blazers finished this season on a sour note in the NBA Playoffs, but that’s not to overlook their regular season, highlighted by a 13-game win streak that catapulted them to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. Portland had stars Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum stay relatively healthy while other West teams like the Timberwolves (Jimmy Butler) and Spurs (Kawhi Leonard) lost key contributors, and the Blazers took advantage of this along with a revamped defense to capture the Northwest Division title.
This is all to say that Terry Stotts deserves at least some credit. In the National Basketball Coaches Association’s coach-voted Coach of the Year award, Stotts received some votes from his peers, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times. Stein provided context for the NBCA’s award:
The N.B.C.A. introduced its own Coach of the Year Award last season, based on a vote of the league’s 30 head coaches. The award, named in honor of the association’s longtime executive director, Michael H. Goldberg, is separate from the N.B.A.’s Coach of the Year Award, which is voted on by members of the news media.
Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey won the vote by his peers, while Brett Brown, Mike D’Antoni, Nate McMillan, Gregg Popovich, Quin Snyder, Doc Rivers, and Stotts all received votes.