Apparently, Boston isn’t the only team looking for a new head coach. Portland’s Terry Stotts Era ended Friday with the Trail Blazers agreeing to mutually part ways with their longtime bench boss after nine memorable seasons in the Rose City.
It’s unclear if the move was made to appease superstar Damian Lillard, who expressed that the Blazers “weren’t good enough to win a championship” after Denver bounced them from the postseason Thursday night, marking their fourth opening-round defeat in the past five seasons. What is clear, however, is who Lillard wants to replace Stotts as Portland’s new commander in chief.
Per Chris Haynes of TNT and Yahoo Sports, the six-time All-Star has his heart set on Lakers assistant Jason Kidd, a Hall-of-Fame point guard and fellow Oakland native who went to the same high school as Lillard (St. Joseph Notre Dame). Their relationship goes back many years with Haynes noting that Lillard respects Kidd’s “knowledge of the game” and thinks he could take his game to the “next level.” According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers will also consider Brooklyn’s Mike D’Antoni, former Knicks and Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, University of Michigan tent-pole Juwan Howard and current Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups.
Kidd has been with the Lakers since 2019, serving as Frank Vogel’s right-hand man during last year’s title run in the Orlando Bubble. Before that, the former MVP coached the Bucks for four seasons, overseeing the development of Giannis Antetokounmpo, and also had a year-long stint with Brooklyn in 2013-14. Kidd’s return to the head-coaching ranks seems almost inevitable with the 48-year-old reportedly drawing strong interest from the Celtics, who promoted Brad Stevens to President of Basketball Operations as part of the team’s front-office restructuring earlier this week.
Even if he’s passed over for those two jobs, Kidd would likely be a candidate for the opening in Orlando (Steve Clifford was let go Saturday morning) and could also be in play for Washington with the Wizards still weighing whether or not to renew Scott Brooks’ expiring contract. Keeping Lillard happy should be the Blazers’ top priority right now, particularly in wake of his cryptic Instagram post Thursday night, which some interpreted as his goodbye message to Portland.
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