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During his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts talked about his relationship with Kaleb Canales, former interim head coach and finalist for the position. Canales will stay with the team as an assistant coach on Stotts' staff. "Since he has such a good relationship with the players, that's an asset that's invaluable," Stotts said of Canales. Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts 

Terry Stotts may not have been the sexiest hire, but when he was introduced Wednesday as the new Trail Blazers coach, he probably raised a few eyebrows with an intriguing vision of his new team. Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Terry Stotts 

"I think they are going to play an exciting brand of basketball," Stotts said. "And the young players will improve. I think we will be better in April than in November. That will be the measuring stick. There's not a player on this roster who is not going to try and make the playoffs this year ... but my concern with this team, and especially the young players, is getting them better every day, and every month." Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Terry Stotts 

"Yes, I want to run. I want to shoot threes. And if we can score 100 points every night that's great. But to be successful, you have to do it on both ends of the floor," Stotts said. "I'm proud of what I can do offensively, and how I can help this team offensively, but make no mistake, I'm going to make sure the players know that defense is a priority." Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Terry Stotts 

Stotts said his first order of business will be to complete his coaching staff. He said Kaleb Canales has accepted his invitation to stay on the Blazers staff after he was a finalist for the head job. Stotts would not reveal coaches he is pursuing, but former Orlando assistant Steve Clifford is believed to be under consideration. Clifford was one of the final four candidates for the Portland job. The Blazers have also asked two teams for permission to speak to their coaches for a spot on Stotts' staff. Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Kaleb Canales, Steve Clifford, Terry Stotts 

Maybe the coolest exchange from a lengthy post-press conference group question-and-answer session with new Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts came about with a softball, obvious question for a man who has yet to post a winning record in his four seasons as a head coach: Do you have any regrets? I asked that softball, obvious question on Wednesday and Stotts replied without missing a beat. "In a game against Memphis, I wish we had purposefully missed a free throw," he said while seated at a Rose Garden media room table, surrounded by a handful of reporters. Wait, what? What was the time/score situation? "Travis Hansen had a free throw," Stotts said. "If he had missed, [time would have run out]. He made it, and James Posey made a 40-footer to tie the game and we lost in double overtime." Blazers Edge

Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Terry Stotts 

Donnie Nelson, the general manager and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks, said the team anticipated it could lose assistant coach Terry Stotts this summer, and has been working behind the scenes for a possible replacement. Stotts was named Tuesday at the new head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Donnie Nelson, Terry Stotts 

Nelson said the job of hiring a new top assistant would fall primarily to head coach Rick Carlisle. “Certainly, this is something that has been a possibility for a while, and Rick is fully aware of that and fully prepared. I’m sure he has a list of people he will contact or already has contacted.” Nelson said. “That being said, we have not all sat in a room together and discussed this, so that’s probably the next step.” Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Donnie Nelson, Rick Carlisle, Terry Stotts 

The guess is the Mavericks will be looking for a top assistant with plenty of experience, possibly as a head coach in the past. Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Donnie Nelson, Terry Stotts 

Blazers coach Terry Stotts told me that he thinks he will speak to Nicolas Batum about his crotch crush of Juan Carlos Navarro but said that one incident shouldn't define a person. "I haven’t seen the incident. I do know that things happen in the heat of battle that people regret. I haven’t seen it. There have been things in the past that have happened that were regrettable and players are not happy with it, they feel bad, they regret it and you move on. I don’t think one incident is going to define one person. Nic is a good young player. We want him to get better and move on from there." Terry Stots: "I’m sure I’ll talk to him about it. It’s going to be hard not to talk about. We’ll see how it goes. From my understanding, he’s already apologized for it. He apologized and you move on. I’m sure it might come up once or twice, we’ll see." Sulia

Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers, Nicolas Batum, Juan Carlos Navarro, Terry Stotts 

Chris Haynes: #Blazers HC Terry Stotts says he's waiting to get permission from some teams to speak with certain coaches. Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Terry Stotts 

Mike Tokito: Olshey said hiring Canales as assistant was "absolutely not a prerequisite to Terry being hired." Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Neil Olshey, Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts 

Mike Tokito: Stotts said he texted Jack Ramsay after Dallas won title because the way Mavs played reminded him of #Blazers team. Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Jack Ramsay, Terry Stotts 

Joe Freeman: Spoke briefly with @LaMarcus Aldridge about new #Blazers coach Terry Stotts. LA has heard good things through the grapevine from Dirk Nowitzki... Twitter

Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers, Dirk Nowitzki, LaMarcus Aldridge, Terry Stotts 

Joe Freeman: LA on Stotts: "Dirk said he’s an offensive genius. He played a very big part of the offense changing the year they won the championship." Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge, Terry Stotts 

Joe Freeman: LA said he spoke briefly with Stotts on the phone after the #Blazers hired him, but hopes to sit down and have a more extensive talk soon. Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge, Terry Stotts 

Jason Quick: Stotts and Kaleb Canales spent past 2 days in Las Vegas exchanging ideas on Blazers. Two finalists appear to have good working relationship Twitter

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts 

For months, Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews has lobbied for Kaleb Canales to become the team’s permanent head coach. But that possibility vanished Tuesday, when general manager Neil Olshey hired Dallas Mavericks assistant Terry Stotts instead. “Initially, I was a little shocked,” Matthews said. “I thought Kaleb was definitely going to get that job. But after talking to Neil and hearing his reasons, I’m excited. Coach Stotts brings championship experience and I think that’s huge. That’s somewhere we see ourselves in the near-near future.” Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Neil Olshey, Wesley Matthews, Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts 

“He basically had the same reaction as me — shocked,” Matthews said of Aldridge’s reaction to Stotts’ hiring. “But we’re both on board and excited to get this thing rolling. We’ve got a GM in place, got a coach in place and we still have Kaleb on board with the team and organization. We’re ready to get this going.” Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Neil Olshey, Wesley Matthews, Kaleb Canales, Terry Stotts 

But it’s his most recent stop, with Dallas, that is generating the biggest buzz among Blazers players. Stotts was a key member of coach Rick Carlisle’s staff during the Mavericks’ run to the 2011 NBA Championship, which featured a first-round Western Conference playoff victory over the Blazers. “I’ve never formally met him, so I don’t know him,” second-year Blazers guard Nolan Smith said. “But I know he was on the World Championship team with the Mavericks. I know he knows what it takes to win.” Oregonian

Portland Trail Blazers, Coaching, Neil Olshey, Kaleb Canales, Nolan Smith, Terry Stotts