The Trail Blazers have hired Terry Stotts to be their next basketball coach, The Oregonian has learned.

A person close to the search confirmed Tuesday that Stotts, who spent the last four seasons as the Dallas Mavericks lead assistant, has informed the Mavericks that he will be the next head coach in Portland.

The Blazers formally announced the decision Tuesday afternoon. Terms of the deal are not known.

So begins another era of Blazers basketball.

Stotts, 54, replaces interim coach Kaleb Canales, who took over last season when Nate McMillan was fired. It will be the third head coaching position for Stotts, a long-time assistant, who last was a head coach with the Milwaukee Bucks (2005-07) took that team to the NBA playoffs in 2006. He also served as the coach of the Atlanta Hawks (2002-04).

His total NBA coaching record: 115-168.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle couldn't be reached for comment, but

of Stotts: "Of all the coaches presently in play, Terry is by far the best available. He's a professional and understands the process of NBA coaching and how to communicate and teach young players."

Stotts served as Carlisle's "offensive coordinator" since being hired in 2008. The Mavs head coach pointed to their title run in 2011, when Dallas went from the No. 11 ranked points-per-minute offense during the regular season to having the No. 1 offense in the post-season.

He also served as an assistant under George Karl with the Seattle Sonics, and was an assistant with the Warriors and Bucks as well. Stotts, an All-Big 8 forward at Oklahoma, was a second-round draft pick of the Houston Rockets in 1980. He had a nine-year professional basketball career, playing mostly in France.

It's been five seasons since Stotts was a head coach. In that time, however, he's won an NBA championship as Carlisle's top assistant, and become the league's official "mentor" to the NBA Developmental League coaches.

"I had two others jobs prior to going to Dallas," Carlisle said last month. "There are a lot of inexperienced coaches who might lose four or five early games and get paralyzed. Terry wouldn't blink. It pains me to say this, but I think he's 100-percent the right coach for Portland.

"My biggest concern then would be how do I replace him?"

Carlisle finds out now.

It's not known what role, if any, Canales will have with the Blazers. The well-liked one-time team video coordinator turned assistant turned interim coach went 8-15 last season and received enthusiastic endorsements from some Blazers players. There's been speculation that Canales could be retained as part of Stotts' staff, but no official word.

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