Earlier today, the Trail Blazers held a press conference to introduce newly-minted head coach Terry Stotts to the public. The latest out of Portland..
- Stotts hasn't made a decision on if Kaleb Canales will be the lead assistant on his staff and a decision will be made once the entire staff is complete, tweets Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com.
- However, Canales always figured to be a part of the staff as Stotts told him prior to getting the job that he would love to have him on board, tweets Mike Tokito of The Oregonian.
- General Manager Neil Olshey said that hiring Canales as assistant was "absolutely not a prerequisite to [Stotts] being hired," according to Tokito (via Twitter).
- Stotts hasn't set a deadline for assembling his staff but contact with assistant coaching candidates has already begun, Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge tweets.
- Stotts says he's waiting to get permission from some teams to speak with certain candidates, tweets Haynes.
- The new head coach says that his primary focus will be on developing the team's young players, according to the Associated Press. At the presser, Olshey said he spoke with every GM and head coach that Stotts has worked for, and also talked to players including Dirk Nowitzki.