Lakers: 5 assistant coach candidates to hire under Darvin Ham

2. Terry Stotts

Terry Stotts is someone who was seemingly in the mix for the head coaching vacancy in Los Angeles before ultimately losing out on the job to Ham. This was a good decision as the Lakers needed fresh blood in Ham that can prove himself. Stotts has already gotten his chance as a head coach and hiring a retread coach is not what the team needed.

The 64-year-old Stotts has more head coaching experience than anyone on this list as he has coached over 1,000 games in the NBA. That is not a small number. Stotts spent the last nine seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, leading them to the playoffs in eight of the nine years.

Stotts obviously has value in raising the level of a team but the biggest issue with him is the fact that he was unable to get over the hump in the playoffs. Granted, the Golden State Warriors kept every team from getting over the hump for half a decade but Stotts’ team still lost in the first round in five of those eight appearances.

This might not be the most likely candidate on this list considering that Stotts reportedly will not accept an assistant job with the Lakers. However, after not being on a staff at all this last season, Stotts may not have many other options and if he wants to come back to the game the Lakers might be his only hope.