The Portland Trail Blazers have decided to part ways with their long-time head coach Terry Stotts.
This comes after the recent first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets knock out the Blazers in six to advance 🏔
Jokic: 36 Pts, 8 Reb, 6 Ast pic.twitter.com/AGQZ05bY4F
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 4, 2021
Some people believed in the Trail Blazers as being one of the few teams to upset their first-round opponent.
The Nuggets were without their second best player, Jamal Murray, and had several key players out for an extended period of time.
However, the Trail Blazers lost in six games.
Portland decided that this was the first move that needed to be made.
There might be more on the horizon, but as of now this is the first one.
This firing was the right move and here is why.
It Must Come To An End
Stotts has been the head coach of the Trail Blazers since 2013.
He was the fourth-longest tenured head coach in the NBA.
He brought the franchise success, but never quite got them over the hump.
After his first season as coach, the franchise made the postseason eight straight seasons under Stotts.
However, their most successful season was in 2019 where they got swept by the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
Other than 2019, this team has not made it far in the playoffs.
After a fourth first-round playoff exit in five seasons, the Portland Trail Blazers and coach Terry Stotts mutually agreed to part ways on Friday, sources told ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 5, 2021
In fact, they have only ever made it out of the first round three times throughout the nine seasons with Stotts.
Stotts was a good head coach, but perhaps it was time to move on.
This era of Trail Blazers basketball was a bright spot for the history of the franchise.
Players, such as Damian Lillard, loved playing for him.
For the first time in his 9-year NBA career, Damian Lillard will play for a coach not named Terry Stotts 👀 pic.twitter.com/Nn86P5S4o6
— Blazers Nation (@BlazersNationCP) June 5, 2021
It is unfortunate that he wasn’t able to take this team to at least one NBA Finals.
That might not necessarily be his fault, as the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs were so dominant during this timeframe.
Unfortunately, we will never see Stotts on the sideline for the Trail Blazers again.
Maybe History Repeats Itself?
The Trail Blazers are a team that has been able to compete in the difficult Western Conference for almost a decade.
As stated above, they were never able to get over the hump.
Recent history has shown that teams who are not afraid to make a big move have won a title.
The Warriors let Mark Jackson go as their head coach and decided to hire Steve Kerr.
This led to a dynasty that ran the NBA.
The Toronto Raptors fired the reigning coach of the year at the time in Dwayne Casey.
They ended up with Nick Nurse and won the title that same season.
Other teams of late have not been afraid to fire their successful head coaches to take a chance on getting even better.
The Trail Blazers might be able to fall in the same bracket as the rest of these teams mentioned.
History can quite possibly repeat itself once again with this organization.
The Trail Blazers had to make the tough decision on letting go their all-time winningest coach.
Terry Stotts leaves the Blazers as the franchise’s all-time winningest head coach. pic.twitter.com/f6e7gfy6vD
— Blazers Nation (@BlazersNationCP) June 5, 2021
However, it might be the best move for a team that wants to win a championship.
NEXT: Can the Trail Blazers Ever Win A Title With The Current Core?