Orlando Magic: 3 candidates for vacant head coach job
By Luke Duffy
Orlando Magic coaching target No. 2: Terry Stotts
If Hardaway represents the area unknown, and all of the risk and excitement that comes with it, then Terry Stotts is a much safer pair of hands. He was only relieved of his duties with the Portland Trail Blazers a couple of days before Clifford stepped down, and is surely eager to get back into the game.
His experience working with All-Star level talent like Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, as well as an all-time great like Carmelo Anthony, speaks for itself. Stotts was with Portland for nine seasons, and leaves as the second-winningest coach ever for the franchise. Eight straight playoff appearances are also the best mark in the league currently.
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These are all great reasons to seriously consider Stotts, but would he be a coach who would be too similar to Clifford? Although fans were mostly happy with what he was doing in Orlando, they Magic now have a chance to really shake things up and go for somebody younger and more exciting. Less proven yes, but the bigger the risk, the greater the reward.
Stotts also feels like a coach who would be better suited to go into an organization that has some sort of foundation in place, and is looking to take the next step. In other words, what the Magic were when Clifford came onboard. The Minnesota Timberwolves, with a core of Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards, are an example of another team where Stotts could get that group back to the postseason quickly.
It may be that the front office doesn’t want to swing for the fences with this hire. After all, if they waste a few years of the careers of their young players, you can bet a number will get disgruntled and want to leave. To that end Stotts would be a smart hire, because he has been around the league a long time, and knows what it takes to be successful.