Jerry Stackhouse will be the next head coach of the Raptors 905 D-League franchise, according to reports that surfaced Monday night.
Stackhouse, a former NBA all-star and the third overall pick of the 1995 draft, joined Dwane Casey’s coaching staff as an assistant last season.
Though the 41-year old doesn’t have a ton of coaching experience under his belt—last year was his first official year as an NBA coach— he has coached at the AAU level, where the focus, like in the D-League, is on development as much, if not more, than winning. He also impressed in Las Vegas last month, where he spent part of the Summer League as the Raptors’ head coach, helping the team to the top seed in the annual tournament.
Stackhouse figures to have plenty to work with next season, and his roster will likely feature a number of familiar faces from the Summer League, including rookies Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl, along with 2014 first-rounder Bruno Caboclo and last year’s first-rounder Delon Wright, who recently underwent shoulder surgery. You can expect the Raptors to find a replacement for Stackhouse on their coaching staff by the end of the summer.
In June it was reported that last year’s coach, Jesse Murmuys, accepted a coaching position on Luke Waltons staff with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In their inaugural season, the Raptors 905 finished third in their division with a 23-27 record.
