Kerr changes Warriors coaching staff with two experienced hires originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
Warriors coach Steve Kerr entered last week with two vacancies on his team. Both were officially filled on Mondaywith veteran coach Terry Stotts and former NBA All-Star player Jerry Stackhouse coming to Golden State.
Both are expected to join Kerr on the front bench, with Kris Weems remaining on the team and filling the third and final spot, according to multiple league sources. Weems was promoted to the front bench last summer after Jama Mahlalela got a job with the Toronto Raptors.
The additions move longtime assistant Bruce “Q” Fraser, known primarily for his close association with team star Stephen Curry, back to the second bench after three seasons in attack.
Stotts, 66, brings 13 years of head coaching experience, most recently nine seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. After two seasons away from the NBA, he returned last summer as an assistant to first-year head coach Adrian Griffin with the Milwaukee Bucks. Discord between the two led to Stotts’ resignation a week before the start of the season.
Stotts effectively moves into the top assistant role vacated last week when Kenny Atkinson accepted the job as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Stackhouse, 49, is a two-time All-Star who went into coaching after retiring in 2013. He spent three seasons coaching the Raptors, the last two as coach of the G League team. He then spent a year (2018-19) as an assistant to JB Bickerstaff with the Memphis Grizzlies before leaving to become head coach at Vanderbilt. He spent five seasons with the Commodores but was fired after they finished 9-23 last season.
Stackhouse’s place on the team was created by sudden death from assistant Dejan “Deki” Milojević in February. Milojević, who worked almost exclusively with Golden State’s big players, was among the assistants on the back bench.
Kerr initially did not foresee substantial changes to the team, but when it became clear that Atkinson would leave, he decided to choose two coaches with previous head coaching experience.
With Stotts’ depth of experience and Stackhouse’s hard-nosed demeanor, the general reaction is that the Warriors should have a stronger team next season.
