Terry Stotts interviews with Blazers

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Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Terry Stotts has emerged as a candidate for the Portland Trail Blazers' head coaching vacancy, an NBA source confirmed Sunday to ESPNDallas.com.

The Oregonian reported that Stotts, the Mavs' offensive coordinator, interviewed with new Portland general manager Neil Olshey on Tuesday and is likely to get a second interview.

Stotts is one of several assistant coaches who have reportedly interviewed or been in contact with the Trail Blazers, including Golden State's Michael Malone, Chicago's Adrian Griffin, Phoenix's Elston Turner, Atlanta's Lester Connor, Indiana's Brian Shaw, Memphis' David Joerger, San Antonio's Mike Budenholzer, former New York assistant Phil Weber and ex-Orlando assistants Patrick Ewing and Steve Clifford.

Stotts, 54, has a 114-168 record as a head coach, having spent parts of four seasons at the helm of the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks. His best season came in 2005-06, when the Bucks went 40-42 and lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Stotts joined the Mavericks as an assistant soon after coach Rick Carlisle was hired in 2008.

"Of all the coaches presently in play, Terry is by far the best available," Carlisle told the Oregonian. "He's a professional and understands the process of NBA coaching and how to communicate and teach young players."

If Stotts is hired by the Blazers, he would be the second assistant from the Mavs' 2011 championship team to move on to a head coaching job. The Toronto Raptors hired Dwane Casey, who was Dallas' top defensive assistant, last summer.

"I had two other jobs prior to going to Dallas," Carlisle told the newspaper. "There are a lot of inexperienced coaches who might lose four or five early games and get paralyzed. Terry wouldn't blink. It pains me to say this, but I think he's 100 percent the right coach for Portland.

"My biggest concern then would be how do I replace him?"

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Tim MacMahon

ESPNDallas.com

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• Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009
• Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks
• Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM