There is no shortage of great coaches in the NBA, but I still believe Terry Stotts to be one of the best. What he has accomplished in his career has been remarkable. In this episode, Coach Stotts shares why the Blazers organization puts so much emphasis on Culture, Process, and Team (CPT), how he first got into coaching, how he prepared his team for the bubble, and advice for listeners about dealing with losing and failure.
Don’t miss this outstanding conversation with coach Terry Stotts, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Episode Contents:
01:26 - Why Coach Stotts is always on the lookout for inspirational messages that will help his team grow
02:45 - How Coach Stotts got his first gig in coaching, after he thought he was going to go to college to become a dentist
04:19 - Why Coach Stotts doesn’t look back on past decisions with regret
05:30 - Coach Stotts on Culture, Process, and Team (CPT)
10:25 - How Coach Stotts characterizes his leadership style
12:50 - What advice Terry Stotts would give his younger self
12:49 - Mental health during the pandemic
18:16 - How Coach Stotts prepared his team for the NBA Bubble in Orlando
20:58 - Who is in Coach Stotts’ bamboo circle, i.e. who helped groom Coach Stotts into the leader he is today
23:22 - Coach Stotts on whether he’s an introvert or extrovert
24:33 - Proudest moments of Coach Stotts’ life
26:15 - Why Coach Stotts stays away from getting too comfortable, and when he’s the most content.
28:35 - Advice for listeners about recovering from loss
30:52 - How Terry Stotts stays sharp as a leader and coach
Guest at a Glance
Terry Stotts is the head coach of the NBA team, Portland Trail Blazers. He is one of the longest tenured coaches in the NBA, and enters his 9th season with the Blazers. Overall, his record as a coach is 475-456, and has been to the playoffs 7 of the 8 seasons he has coached the Blazers. He won an NBA championship as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks under coach Rick Carlisle.
Stotts was drafted in the second round of the 1980 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets. Stotts also played overseas in Italy before joining George Karl’s CBA coaching staff as his first basketball coaching job.
Learn more about Terry Stotts on Wikipedia | NBA.com
Notable Quotes
Terry Stotts on Watering the Bamboo: “I think one of the reasons why it resonates so much with athletes is that you don't get the immediate gratification from the work that you're doing, whether it's in the weight room, on the track, court, gym, field, or whatever it is. The athlete is relying on all this work that they’re putting in that eventually, it's going to pay off.”
Stotts on decision-making: “Once you make that decision, go all-in and don't look back.”
Stotts on culture: “having a culture that you believe in and everybody buys into is paramount. And then establishing a process that is built on that and doing it as a team, I think that's a formula for success.”
On loss and losing: “A big part of coaching is managing a team in difficult times.”
Transcript
[00:00:00] Greg Bell: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Greg Bell. If you don't know the name Terry Stotts, you should. He's the head basketball coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. I am so excited about our conversation. He talks about team management and leadership style.
[00:00:29] Coach, how did you hear about Water the Bamboo?
[00:00:32] Terry Stotts: [00:00:32] Well, I don't remember the exact moment that I heard of Water the Bamboo, but I'm always kind of searching for new messages to give the team. You know, I've followed different sites that kind of give me some inspiration. And I came across Water the Bamboo. And obviously, University of Oregon, you're from Oregon, and from the area. And I think that's probably how it came to be. Like I said, I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure it probably had something to do with [00:01:00] the University of Oregon.
[00:01:01] Greg Bell: [00:01:01] Yeah, it's interesting about that. That sort of the concept when I started talking about it, I guess it was around 10 years ago. Water the bamboo, I was sorta surprised that athletes sort of resonated with them so much. And, but part of the thing I think about a lot of times is for coaches, particularly in your case, you have these world-class athletes sort of looking for an edge.
[00:01:20] You know, a lot of people listen to the podcast are looking for an edge too. It's good that you continue to look out.
[00:01:26] Would you consider yourself a continuous learner? Is that where that comes from from your perspective?
[00:01:31] Terry Stotts: [00:01:31] You know, I think we all can do better as far as being a learner. As a coach, you know, you, you want to continually give messages to your team.
[00:01:40] So I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve. To me, that's part of my job. And if I can give them a different message here or there a lot of times it's the same message it is just phrased differently. But to your point about Water the Bamboo, I think one of the reasons why it resonates so much with athletes is that you don't get the [00:02:00] immediate gratification from the work that you're doing, whether it's in the weight room or on the track or in the, on the court, in the gym field, whatever it is. You are relying, the athlete is relying on all this work that you're putting in that eventually it's going to pay off. And that's what watering the bamboo is, is that you have to continue to water and see the results for a while. And I think that's why it resonates so much with athletes.
[00:02:24] Greg Bell: [00:02:24] Right. Well, even in your career, I mean, you've been in the league for a long time, 25 years plus, right? Tell us a little bit about that. Like on this end of it, 25 years in, you know, here's Terry Stotts, very successful coach. You've gone to the playoff seven straight years here with the Blazers and you've done that, but take us back to when you got started and how you got started. How did you get started in coaching?
[00:02:45] Terry Stotts: [00:02:45] Coming out of college, my undergraduate years, I totally expected to go to dental school. I was accepted to dental school after my senior year and I anticipated, but, you know, I stayed involved with basketball. I got drafted and continued with basketball. [00:03:00] Coaching really, even though I admired my father was a high school basketball coach.
[00:03:04] Obviously the people that I had respected in my life, a lot of them were basketball coaches. But after about the second year out of college, that's when I kind of felt like I wanted to pursue a career in basketball. So I was what, 24 years old I was playing in Great Falls Montana and George Karl, who was the coach there, wanted me to come back for a third year.
[00:03:24] And I said, well, I'll come back if I can be a player assistant coach. And so I think that's when it came to me that coaching would be something that I wanted to pursue, other than the fact that, you know, basketball had obviously been a big part of my life and coaching was a big part of my life as well.
[00:03:39] Greg Bell: [00:03:39] Yeah, that's interesting. Because a lot of people, I mean, I went to law school, you know, it's interesting, so, and I practiced law for a little while, then I go on to do more leadership training and speaking and that kind of thing. And just making these various pivots and decisions in your career. When I think about that a lot of times, even when we talk to young folks, we go, okay, put them on a path.
[00:03:58] But in reality, we don't really [00:04:00] know where that path is going to go. But a lot of people listening right now, or having a challenging times to pivot and change in terms of their career, because well, we're in COVID decision-making can be challenging, but as a coach, and how do you make sort of these hard decisions? What do you rely on when you make decisions?
[00:04:19] Terry Stotts: [00:04:19] You know, honestly, you know, there have been as mentioned, there are points in your life that you can look back on. We all have them that you make a decision one way or the other that, ultimately, impact your life and the direction of your life. At the time, my general process is to get as much information as you can, and ultimately go with what feels best and what feels best might be short-term, it might be long-term what you want to do, or the practical side of it. You make those decisions. And for me is you can't look back with regret. You can, you can look back with what if, what if I had done that, but the right decision at that time, given the [00:05:00] information that you have. So for me, I look at all the variables. I look at the other options that you might have. Sometimes it helps to put things-the positive negatives-down, but once you make that decision go all in and don't look back.
[00:05:14] Greg Bell: [00:05:14] I like that, go all in and don't look back. That's kind of interesting when you talk about commitment. Sometimes people try to make these like little commitments, like one step in and one step out, but the word decision means to cut off. Actually, once you make a decision, that means all other possibilities aren't there. So that's really helpful.
[00:05:30] The other thing that we talked about at one point when I was working with you and the team, you talked about this concept of CPT. I really love that concept of culture, process, and team. Can you talk more about that and how you use that concept, CPT?
[00:05:45] Terry Stotts: [00:05:45] Well, the year that we started using that, you know, we had talked about culture and I think a lot of organizations, a lot of teams, talk about their culture, and the process has become very popular and obviously team is something that we [00:06:00] all strive for, especially in athletics. So we combine all three and for us, they were steps.
[00:06:06] You have to create a culture and that can be done in many ways. And every team, every organization has a culture, you know, it's not like having no culture is a culture. So, to me, that was the most important thing is establishing who we are, what we stand for, what we want to do going forward. To me, that's the foundation.
[00:06:25] Once you have that foundation, then there's the process of building on that culture. What you're trying to achieve with that culture as your foundation. And then obviously, as a basketball team, it is a team. It's a team sport. You do everything together and that's not just the players. It's the other coaches.
[00:06:42] It's the health and performance departments. It's everybody who is engaged the equipment manager, the communications director, PR director, everybody's on a team and we're all in it together. So I think if you can establish those three things, at least from our standpoint, [00:07:00] having a culture that you believe in and everybody buys into is paramount and then establishing a process that is built on that and doing it as a team. I think that's a formula for success.
[00:07:11] Greg Bell: [00:07:11] Yeah, I really, really love that. It's easy to be a fan of the Portland Trailblazers, not just with the wins and losses. I mean, I think you guys have had great success and having worked with the team. It's interesting about that because. I think you can feel culture. I really do.
[00:07:26] I walk into organizations all the time, but you can feel a successful culture. But when I think about your culture, I think about leadership. I mean, that's the first thing, you know, through your leadership, Dame's leadership, from that perspective, how do the leaders within the organization, this, this is really not or direct question to you, but I would just like you to talk to the audience about how do you drive leadership based on just what you said around culture process and team. How do you sort of show up that way? How can other folks sort of own that idea of really working on their culture, working on the process and team, just from [00:08:00] your perspective?
[00:08:01] Terry Stotts: [00:08:01] Well, I think, you know, sometimes basketball is different, but maybe more so in college than in the NBA, but culture for the most part is driven top down. Whether it's your owner, your general manager, your head coach, your best player. But it's a continuity and everybody's on the same page. And so like when we have a new player come in, they know they feel what we are about. You know, I'll use the Miami Heat as an example, everybody talks about their culture.
[00:08:27] And when they come in and that's driven from Pat Riley, he's been there for a long time Eric's Spoelsta been in theorganization for over 20 years. So they understand that that is part of what they do. So the leadership part of it. Can come in a variety of ways. It can come from the head coach. I've long been a believer that in the NBA, when your best player and when your coach and to a degree, management, and that's always part of it.
[00:08:53] But when you have a. Pat Riley and Magic Johnson or Jerry [00:09:00] Sloan and Stockton and Malone, or Greg Popovich and Tim Duncan. Or we go back to Pat Riley and Alonzo Mourning or Dwayne Wade. When you have that combined...
[00:09:09] Greg Bell: [00:09:09] I'm going to interrupt, Terry Stotts and, Damian Lillard. Right?
[00:09:14] Terry Stotts: [00:09:14] Well, I'd like to think that, and you know, we've been together for eight years. And when you have that unified front and sometimes I equate it to mom and dad show a unified front. To me, that is the leadership. And it's for my part, I'm a big believer in participatory management. I do want to solicit opinions from my players, my coaches, my management, things like that. So that management style, I think incorporates.
[00:09:43] And that's just part of my leadership. A lot of times it's from a top down, this is the way we're going to do it. No questions asked. There's no right or wrong, but I do think, I think you have to feel and believe in the leadership style that you're doing.
[00:09:54] Greg Bell: [00:09:54] Right. That's really remarkable. Not only witnesses as a fan, but also witnesses within the [00:10:00] organization.
[00:10:00] I love that and the way you talk about it, because it's not just words, I can sort of feel that integrity piece. And when I think about you in terms of leadership, I think about two things and I think about humility. Humility from so many different perspectives. But I also think about integrity. I mean, even just now, as you're talking about those other organizations, you know, I had to interject and say Terry Stotts and Damian Lillard, but this humble part of that, I'd like you to talk a little bit about that.
[00:10:25] I know I'm right about that humility and integrity, but I want you to talk about those two terms just in terms of how you view them. And did I miss anything? Is there something else you would characterize yourself as.
[00:10:37] Terry Stotts: [00:10:37] Well, I think there are two, they probably can be tied together, but I think the most important thing is beyond those two words, it's that you're being true to yourself, you know, and that's different for different people.
[00:10:50] But I think for me, in my position, having the trust of the players to me is paramount. And you do that by being the same person they [00:11:00] trust you for. And respect you for your knowledge and respect that you are able to do the job, but they also, that you are doing it for the right reasons. And you know, as far as humble in sports in general, I think you have to have a degree of confidence.
[00:11:14] No question, particularly if you're a player, but you also have to understand, and that's why when you hear interviews, a lot of times, particularly coaches, coaches understand that it's a team sport and the success that you have is in direct relation to the players that you have and the staff that you have and it's not a one man job. So I think it would be false modesty if you didn't believe that it's a team effort and that everybody's in it together. And I don't think that's being humble. I think that's just being, understanding the dynamics of the profession that we're in.
[00:11:49] Greg Bell: [00:11:49] Right. I like the way you break those down because the idea of team it's an interesting concept though, because I think that one of the things I notice is as we grow up, I [00:12:00] think people do the hardest things in their lives by themselves.
[00:12:03] You take your SAT test by yourself. You do all these things alone, actually really difficult things. And you go into the job market and they say, okay, now you're part of a team. So I work really hard with that concept of building a team. Cause I think that, you know, the fact that you put the T they're like really building that into the culture and baking it in is super, super important.
[00:12:24] Otherwise you have these sort of like. I mean, even in the league, you have the MVP. Well, you could win the MVP and lose a lot of games. So that idea is really interesting. Sort of the, how do you take these, you know, really alpha males, you know, really trying to make it into the league and then form a team. I think that's a tougher dynamic than a lot of, a lot of folks listening sort of deal with. So from that perspective, I appreciate that.
[00:12:50] The other thought I had is, you've gone through a lot of things in terms of coaching different organizations and that, and changing your career. But what advice [00:13:00] would you give to your younger self thinking back to, I don't know, your teenage years, even, what advice would you give to your younger self?
[00:13:08] Terry Stotts: [00:13:08] To me, that's a difficult question to answer, because as I mentioned about making decisions, I don't have a lot of regrets, so I don't know what advice I would give. I don't know what I would have done differently. The only thing I would say is, you know, I was relatively socially. I don't want to say awkward, but I wasn't much of a social guy in high school.
[00:13:28] I kind of kept to myself. I did basketball and I studied, you know, that's kinda what I did. Obviously in college, I kind of grew out of that a little bit. I know this is a popular expression right now is to get out of your comfort zone. You know, I stayed in my comfort zone and obviously it worked for me and not everybody is going to do it.
[00:13:45] But I think whether you're working with the margins or you take a leap doing some things or involving yourself in some things that are out of your comfort zone is a good experience. Whether it's good or bad, it's a good experience. [00:14:00] So that's probably one thing I would do.
[00:14:01] Greg Bell: [00:14:01] Yeah, that's interesting, so leaving your comfort zone, you know, one of the phrases that going around around that idea is that, you know, to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
[00:14:12] And now is there something you've done like lately sort of forced you there to be uncomfortable? Like stretching yourself a bit?
[00:14:20] Terry Stotts: [00:14:20] I don't know. That's a good question. I can't think of anything specifically. This whole COVID experience has been a little uncomfortable. So I think what we're, I think we're all living in an uncomfortable period.
[00:14:31] So I think for the moment, that's probably it.
[00:14:34] Greg Bell: [00:14:34] Yeah. One of the things I did when I realized, I don't know when you realize that, wow, this is serious and these things are gonna happen. Imagine, you know, when the NBA canceled, I mean, that was like jaw dropping. I think it was watching the Utah game and it was like, really, this is not happening.
[00:14:49] And for me it took me, I would say 10 days to go, wow, this is the pandemic is here. And I created my own. I would call them COVID principles for my [00:15:00] family, for myself. The first thing that came up was mental health. Like, how do I stay mentally healthy? How do I help my wife? My kids stay sharp. You have your family, but you also have your team.
[00:15:12] And then there's sort of talk of, sort of restarting the season, getting in the bubble. What kinds of things did you do when you realize, wow, we're postponing our season and it may happen. But as a leader, what did you do with the team? How did you get everyone sort of organizing on board?
[00:15:28] Because you guys played really well when you got to the bubble.
[00:15:31] Terry Stotts: [00:15:31] Well, before I answer that, you know, I'd like to get back to the uncomfortable part. And as I thought about it, the social unrest that we have and the black lives matter, and I should say the systemic racism and the awareness that we as white people have to come to grips with, that was uncomfortable. You know, doing some reading and asking questions, talking to our players, becoming more informed about these issues, especially for a white sixty-year-old [00:16:00] male, these can be uncomfortable conversations. You know, I think the bubble, obviously we had a lot of social awareness in the bubble, which I think the MBA did an outstanding job with, but these have been uncomfortable situations, difficult conversations. And that has probably dominated a lot of what everybody's going through, but certainly on a personal level for the last few months.
[00:16:22] I apologize. I can't remember that last question that you asked.
[00:16:27] Greg Bell: [00:16:27] Oh, I was just thinking, I appreciate that sort of visiting about that because I can imagine this, the uncomfortableness of even the starting the conversations with the team, because just the emotion that comes up right.
[00:16:40] And part of being a leader is to have your team be, I dunno, psychologically safe so they can actually can perform. But when that unrest comes up and it sort of stirs everyone up, I think that what is really powerful in that conversation for me is that you've already worked on culture. Right? So having those [00:17:00] conversations is probably a bit easier.
[00:17:01] Can you imagine not having worked on culture and then having those conversations with your players and your team, that would be really, really tough.
[00:17:08] Terry Stotts: [00:17:08] Well, I think partly it gets back to, you know, having relationships and understanding on both sides, that there's an honesty to the conversation. There tries to be an understanding on both ends.
[00:17:20] And if you have those things behind you and when you have those conversations, that there's an honest desire to learn and understand another point of view and understand some history behind the issues. Then I think those conversations, even though they are uncomfortable, at least they can be had.
[00:17:40] Greg Bell: [00:17:40] That's super important. I mean, it kind of dovetails with that thing you talked about with trust. Think about trust is really an interesting thing because you can actually have trust immediately with somebody. But some people, it might take years to have trust with them, but it can end like that. Right. Immediately. It's super fragile. When you think about building trust.
[00:17:58] What I was just [00:18:00] sort of thinking about though, the question I was asking is this idea with your team, you know, you've worked on culture, all this stuff is going on, and then COVID comes up. It postpones the season. Then you have to restart the season. I think you're in ninth place.
[00:18:16] As you go into the bubble, you guys played phenomenally when you showed up. And I just wanted to sort of walk us through that process because it wasn't a foregone conclusion that you would make it into the playoffs this year. Just what you guys had to do. And how did you prepare your team mentally? You know, you got COVID, you got social unrest and you're going to play in a bubble. I mean, that's pretty, that's a pretty wicked problem to deal with as a leader. How did you approach that?
[00:18:41] Terry Stotts: [00:18:41] You know, I have to give a lot of credit to the players. They were pretty diligent about coming into the practice facility. They stayed in shape. They adhered to all the protocols, the COVID protocols, they stayed healthy and once we got down there, and a lot of people may have seen the video of Damian on his birthday is [00:19:00] that he didn't want to go down there and waste their time. There was a united commitment about making the playoffs and playing well. And, yeah, I was told we had like a 7% chance of making the playoffs, so we knew it was an uphill battle.
[00:19:15] We kind of set a goal of, we would need to win at least six games, but it was a united commitment by all the players. And again, the leadership of Dame brought into focus, for everybody, the task at hand. So that made my job relatively easy in that I didn't have to convince them why they were here. I did address the team at the very beginning, our first meeting down in Orlando and just said, this is a big deal.
[00:19:40] Not only do we have a chance to make a playoff, which would be great for everybody, it'd be great for the franchise. It would be great for all of us. Everyone here in this room, but it's big for the country. It's big for the NBA. If we can accomplish this bubble and have it be as successful bubble, not only for us individually, not for us as a team, but as a league, [00:20:00] it's going to go a long way and it's going to be historical.
[00:20:02] So there was a commitment by all our players and by everybody there, that this was a little bit bigger than all of us, but certainly playing well and making the playoffs was the primary goal for us.
[00:20:15] Greg Bell: [00:20:15] Yeah, it was really fun to watch. Again, I think I texted you my favorite picture of you and the bubble.
[00:20:22] Like you're like really serious in practice and had a quality shirt on. I was like going, man, this is, this is going to happen. So it was really a really remarkable to witness it as a fan. But one of the things you talked about though, just now just sort of this idea of sort of a team, what a lot of people think about is their own success, you know, the myth of the individual leader or whatever, you know, the... it's just this sort of this myth that's out there that you've got to do it on your own, but in the book Water the Bamboo, I talk a lot about the bamboo circle and this bamboo circle is such an important concept.
[00:20:58] Bamboo grows 90 feet in 60 [00:21:00] days, but what's really remarkable is its root structure. Having deep, deep roots, you know, and when I think about the team and the organization, those deep roots that you guys have had. But take us back a little bit in your career, because I just wonder, like, who was in your bamboo circle?
[00:21:16] I think you mentioned George Karl, but who was sort of around sort of to groom you and help you grow in the way that you've grown?
[00:21:24] Terry Stotts: [00:21:24] I think. Everybody has a few people, not just one or two, have a few people that have been instrumental in their career and where they have gone. Obviously, my father being a high school basketball coach and instilling in me the values that I have, the work ethic that I have, and the love for the game.
[00:21:43] George Karl, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in if it weren't for George Karl. I played for him for three years in Great Falls, Montana. We developed a friendship. We developed a mutual respect for each other. From a basketball standpoint, we were friends and ultimately that relationship paid off for me [00:22:00] 10 years later, when he hired me to be an assistant coach for the Albany Protrunes.
[00:22:05] So that relationship helped me get a foot in the door. I didn't know that at the time. And that's why I tell a lot of young people when they're asking you about how do I get in. To me, if you do that, you can do, which I felt like I did for George, not only as a player in Great Falls, Montana, but also as an assistant 10 years later in Albany, New York, you are building your resume and just by your everyday work.
[00:22:29] And then the other person who I wouldn't be the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, if it weren't for Rick Carlisle and him hiring me and showing me a different way of coaching and talking to players and running a team. I was with George for so long, that was kind of one way of doing it. Being with Rick and winning a championship, obviously impacted was a very successful time, but also impacted me on how things can be different and still be successful.
[00:22:56] Greg Bell: [00:22:56] Right. That's really good. I like that idea because two of those [00:23:00] ideas are really important though. Like this notion of water where you are, a lot of people are trying to get to the next rung on the ladder versus really doing a great job where they are.
[00:23:10] I think that's a really good way to sort of think about it. And that second thing about being a learner from taking a little bit from different folks. It's really an important skillset. It's just sort of listening to that. Just that on a side note though, I'm curious. Are you, would you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?
[00:23:26] Terry Stotts: [00:23:26] I think people would generally consider me an extrovert, but I think personally, I kind of keep to myself. I've probably become more introverted as, as I've gotten older, when I'm in a group, I'm not one to go to parties and be the life of the party. I prefer to stay home and watch television. When I am obligated to be in a group setting, then, you know, I try and do my job and be extroverted.
[00:23:50] Greg Bell: [00:23:50] Yeah, I was just sort of curious about it because a lot of my good friends actually are introverted and it's really interesting cause I'm a complete extrovert and I always think, man, talk to introverts. They know [00:24:00] everything. They sit in thinking, they're reading, they're learning. So, so for that perspective, I was just curious about that.
[00:24:07] The other question I have here is this idea of you've done a lot of really cool things in your career. I mean, just. Yes, it's amazing being an NBA coach alone. I mean, there's how many teams, you know, not very many teams, there's only 450 players. It's really kind of a unique best in the world. But when you sort of think back over your career, what are your most proudest moments?
[00:24:26] What are you most proud of with all the success you've had? What's like, two or three things that you think I'm really proud of that.
[00:24:33] Terry Stotts: [00:24:33] Particularly as it pertains to basketball. Most of the things that I'm proud of are tied to team success. Winning a championship in Dallas. I was proud to be a part of that team and that team success.
[00:24:43] My junior year at Oklahoma, we won the Big Eight championship. And it was the first time in 30 years that Oklahoma had won a conference championship in basketball. Those are the types of things that, you know, I'm proud of. I've had some individual's success making the Indiana [00:25:00] high school all-star team, which is a big deal in Indiana.
[00:25:03] You know, I've been able to do some other things. But being the assistant coach for three different all-star games, you know, obviously that you have to have team success to coach an all-star game in the NBA. We went to the NBA finals in 1996 and lost to the Chicago bulls. So those are the things that for me really stand out and the things that I was proud to be a part of.
[00:25:26] Greg Bell: [00:25:26] Yeah, that's really, really cool. I just think that having a career like that is really, really quite remarkable. The next question is, what questions should I ask you that I haven't asked you yet?
[00:25:39] Terry Stotts: [00:25:39] I don't know. I'm not one to ask my self a lot of questions, so that's going to be on you.
[00:25:43] Greg Bell: [00:25:43] Okay. Well, like in my view, you're at the top of the mountain, right? Where does contentment live with you? I mean, what's next, you know, you chase dreams. You say, gosh, I'm going to be a head coach. I want to get into the playoffs. I want to win a championship, all these things. So a lot of people are sorta chasing [00:26:00] things for success, but I always wonder where's contentment. Like where do you find, you know, like, Oh, at some stage, where's the contentment that tension between chasing your dream, chasing your bamboo, if you will, to being like, yeah, I've made it. I've arrived.
[00:26:15] Terry Stotts: [00:26:15] So one of the things as a coach is you always preach to stay away from complacency and being content and getting too comfortable.
[00:26:22] So that's the first thing. I would say, the moment of content is at the end of a season and you can look back, obviously there are times during the season that you look at and you're proud of what happened. I wouldn't say it's content, but obviously there's some joy. And some satisfaction that came from those moments.
[00:26:43] But there is a contentment when we went to the conference finals in 2019, and you know, there was the disappointment of losing the Golden State and being swept, but there was a contentment that we had a good year. There was satisfaction. I don't know if being content versus having satisfaction. And it's [00:27:00] not been being satisfied, but having satisfaction.
[00:27:03] I think there's a distinction in those two words. but from my personal standpoint, you know, I'll be 63 in November. I've had a long career in the NBA and what the future holds for me is maybe I'll have some contentment when I'm all done and hung up my whistle, but I think until that time, there's the drive to approach each year as a new year, there's a drive to help people get better, help your team to get better.
[00:27:29] You have the satisfaction or contentment of others' success. I would, to be honest in coaching, I think there's a lot of contentment, maybe more so in college and in high school than in the NBA. But when you are able to be a part. someone else's success, whether it's a player like Dame having the career that he's had or having some second round picks like Pat Conaughton and Jake Layman, and Will Barton had success and go on and have a career or have an assistant coach become a head coach. I think that's you gain [00:28:00] satisfaction from that.
[00:28:01] I probably have trouble with the word content.
[00:28:04] Greg Bell: [00:28:04] Yeah. I like that. Like that. That's good because I think that what's interesting about that competitive nature, right, you're trying to win.
[00:28:12] But really what I wanted you to dive into, because in the course of your career, I get the winning part. But what I really want you to talk about is losing, like how do you recover from losing a big game, losing a player? I mean, you know, I think last year the Nurk injury was just horrific, you know, like you're just... and so, but you got to keep playing, right? So it's interesting people now listening, they're losing things, but they got to keep going.
[00:28:35] What advice would you give people in terms of recovering from loss, whether it's a short term loss or a big one, how do you, how do you deal with that?
[00:28:43] Terry Stotts: [00:28:43] Well, you have to keep going forward. With an NBA season, when you talk about losing a game or losing being in the middle of a losing streak, a big part of coaching in the NBA is managing a team in difficult times.
[00:28:55] You know, I think, you don't want, we talk about contentment and complacency, as a [00:29:00] winning team, but in the NBA, it's a zero sum game. Somebody wins, somebody loses and managing losses is or losing streak or difficult times is the challenge of being an NBA coach. In those situations is you have to learn from them. A lot of times I try and be more positive. Obviously there are times to challenge your team, but I think in those situations, you have to learn from them and understand that you got to go out there the next night and give a great effort. And you may or may not win, but you got to get back up to the plate and go after it again.
[00:29:34] I mean, you talk about losing a great hitter. In baseball it's 300. That means 70% of the time he's unsuccessful. So experiencing failure or losing is part of sports, but I think you have learned from, but the biggest thing is, you know, you have all the same, get back on the horse, get back, whatever it is, but you gotta keep going. You can't quit.
[00:29:56] As far as losing a player, I think that's a different loss. [00:30:00] You know, you still have to keep going forward and you have to have the individual empathy. In your example, with Jusuf, is obviously the disappointment and the pain that he is going through. Everybody is empathetic.
[00:30:12] But as a group, you have to rally around that and understand. And I think, you know, particularly professional athletes, they understand that they understand that it is part of the equation and you have to power through it.
[00:30:26] Greg Bell: [00:30:26] Yeah. That's really helpful to think about the idea that like the baseball analogy is, you know, like they look like 70% of time I'm going to strike out or be out. I say, lions, miss 80% of the Gazelles they chase, but you never see a lion pout. Right. You just kind of keep it going.
[00:30:42] One of the questions I have for you is like, I want to... I know your life is a bit different. I mean, as an NBA coach, it's a bit different, you're in season off season, those kinds of things.
[00:30:52] But what kinds of routines do you have as a leader that may be helpful to the audience? What kinds of things do you do just routinely to [00:31:00] keep your game sharp as a leader?
[00:31:02] Terry Stotts: [00:31:02] Well, during the season, my routine doesn't change a lot. You prepare for a game, you play the game, you evaluate that game. You learn from that game, you move on to the next game.
[00:31:11] So that is the routine. You really don't have a lot of time for other things. You know, I try and get in my exercise when I can, but for me, the routine of an NBA season kind of gets down to that. It's really... I don't have a lot of hobbies during the season because I'm kind of consumed with the season. In the off season, that's a different deal. You know, I still hopefully exercise a little bit more than I do. I like to travel. I like to visit family and be a little bit more social, but I think the biggest thing is in the NBA season, it's nothing but a routine for seven months.
[00:31:47] Greg Bell: [00:31:47] Yeah, that kind of makes sense. I think about that sort of like the sort of the ebb and flow.
[00:31:52] I mean, I can even think about it even a salesperson. You've got to prepare for the sale. You gotta do the work, you to reflect a little bit on it, [00:32:00] but then you gotta be prepared for the next. That's a nice sort of rhythm than way to think about it.
[00:32:04] Terry Stotts: [00:32:04] One of the things that is a challenge for coaches is trying to break up that routine because it, it can get monotonous.
[00:32:11] And so when you have an opportunity during the season, if you have a two or three-day break and you can go with the team to a movie, or you can take them bowling, or you can have a team dinner or anything to break up that routine is something that we try to do. And I think coaches with every team in the league, try and do something like that, just to break up the routine because you don't want it to become drudgery.
[00:32:33] You know, that's one thing about athletes is that they really appreciate a routine. They feel like that routine helps them succeed, but you don't want that to become drudgery or monotony.
[00:32:46] Greg Bell: [00:32:46] Yeah, I appreciate that because one of the things I, when I talk about water, the bamboo, I try to have people think about watering with grace, hope, and joy, you know, like make the watering fun.
[00:32:56] A lot of people focus on the bamboo, but if you made the watering fun, whether it's through [00:33:00] practice or competing in practice or doing different things while you're on the road or challenging yourself to break up the routine, that's a really good idea. I like that a lot.
[00:33:09] My final thought is I just want to know if there's anything you'd want to say to the folks listening, just anything at all that would be helpful to people.
[00:33:15] Think about folks are driving their car, listening in their homes. Is there any final thoughts you'd want to sort of share?
[00:33:21] Terry Stotts: [00:33:21] Not to blow smoke, but I would like the listeners to understand Water the Bamboo is a great message. I think it's a great message for everybody in every walk of life. I think it has something to offer and, you know, we have bamboo around the office. I've got some home. But it goes beyond that. And so I want to thank Greg and the whole concept of watering the bamboo, because I think it's something that we all can do in our personal life, in our business life. I think it's fundamentally a very sound concept.
[00:33:51] Greg Bell: [00:33:51] Well, I really appreciate that. And also appreciate this great plaque you sent over to me, the Water the Bamboo flag, I love that with the Blazer logo on it too, I'll charish [00:34:00] this forever as a Blazer fan for a long time.
[00:34:02] The final thing we've got to do the Water the Bamboo oath though. So you got to do it.
[00:34:05]Terry Stotts: [00:34:05] All right.
[00:34:06] Greg Bell: [00:34:06] Raise your right hand. No matter what challenges come my way.
[00:34:10] Terry Stotts: [00:34:10] No matter what challenges come my way.
[00:34:12] Greg Bell: [00:34:12] I will,
[00:34:13]Terry Stotts: [00:34:13] I will
[00:34:14] Greg Bell: [00:34:14] Continue
[00:34:14] Terry Stotts: [00:34:14] Continue
[00:34:15] Greg Bell: [00:34:15] To water the bamboo
[00:34:16] Terry Stotts: [00:34:16] To water the bamboo.
[00:34:19] Greg Bell: [00:34:19] Terry, I really appreciate you jumping back on and doing this.
[00:34:21] It means a lot to me and I hope you get a good break, from all of it.
[00:34:28] Terry Stotts: [00:34:28] We're all on break right now.
[00:34:29] Greg Bell: [00:34:29] Yeah. But you know what I mean? I just think that, you know, all the stuff you've had to deal with in the last few months and that if you can sort of ease your mind and, when things get going, you're ready to go again.
[00:34:41] And if there's anything I can ever do for you, please reach out. Let me know.
[00:34:45] Terry Stotts: [00:34:45] Alright, thanks, Greg. I appreciate being on.
[00:34:47] Greg Bell: [00:34:47] Yeah. Thank you, man.
[00:34:49] A couple of big takeaways from our conversations with Coach Stotts. Make sure you keep things in perspective, help others learn and grow and hit, refresh on your [00:35:00] goals.
[00:35:01] Great stuff from Coach Stotts. Make sure you subscribe to the Water the Bamboo podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Greg Bell. And until next time keep watering.