Ex-Blazers Coach Won’t Settle For Lead Assistant Role With Lakers

Terry Stotts had his fair share of success with the Portland Trail Blazers and wants nothing less than another head coaching job.

Although there have been some veteran coaches who have accepted assistant coaching duties, the 64-year-old does not appear to be open to such per Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.

In his piece, Woike claimed that the former NBA coach is not keen on the idea of joining the Lakers as a lead assistant.

Stotts was reportedly approached about joining Frank Vogel in that role last season but declined that offer.

Furthermore, it would be best to note that Stotts believes he can find a way to turn Russell Westbrook’s career around and figure out how to make him work in a purple-and-gold uniform.

Much of this was covered in a recent report here on the International Business Times.

This was allegedly one of the prime requirements that Lakers’ management stressed in their head coach search.

But in the eyes of pundits such as Brad Botkin of CBS Sports, Stotts may be biting more than he can chew. I

t would not be a new situation, assuming he pushes the angle of fixing Westbrook as he did the same with the Trail Blazers and ended up failing to meet expectations.

A lot of Botkin’s take is the style of play Westbrook as the Lakers tried to play him off the ball and failed.

Given that LeBron James is still around, seeing Westbrook give way is hard to see.

His commitment, assuming he does adjust, needs to be long-term or until the time when James hangs it up or leaves the Lakers.

So far, no coach has been able to lead the Lakers in the right direction.

Stotts could try, but there are still a lot of loopholes that raise more questions than provide answers.