Indiana Pacers: 3 advantages of hiring coach Terry Stotts

The inevitable finally happened. After another first-round exit (sounds familiar, Pacers fans?), their fourth in five seasons, the Portland Trail Blazers decided to part ways with longtime head coach Terry Stotts. Now, with the veteran looking for his next sideline opportunity, the Indiana Pacers are linked to the 63-year-old should they close the door on Nate Bjorkgren.

Envisioning Stotts coaching Indiana is too good to be simply classified as heat-of-the-moment speculation. After all, the veteran head coach has strong ties with the city, being inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame for his high school basketball stint in Bloomington. And with the Pacers noncommittal to Bjorkgren, the prospect of him as the man at the helm has a solid chance at fruition.

Stotts has been a head coach in the NBA for 13 years with stints in Atlanta, Milwaukee and Portland, qualifying for the postseason nine times. While he has a less than stellar playoff resume, going just 23-44 in his career, he has championship pedigree as a part of Rick Carlisle’s coaching staff when the Mavericks won the title in 2011. Overall, he is 8th among active coaches with 517 wins against 486 losses.

The Indiana Pacers will surely be aggressive in the coaching hunt should they let go of Bjorkgren which, at this point, is more of a when than if. As one of the clear-cut favorites for the job, what could Terry Stotts bring to the table for the Blue and Gold?