Terry Porter

At 61 years old, Terry Porter has this physical status:

Terry Porter (born April 8, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and former player with the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He is currently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Portland.

He played basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point before being drafted 24th by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1985 NBA draft.

He appeared in ten seasons in Portland, two of which were all-Star Game appearances.

Porter played in the NBA for 17 years as a player.

Following his release as a player in 2002, he resumed coaching in the sport and has been a head coach twice, first with the Milwaukee Bucks and then with the Phoenix Suns.

He was the Portland Trail Blazers' alumni ambassador.

Early life

Porter was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 8, 1963. Porter played prep basketball at South Division High School in Milwaukee. He was a forward.

Personal life

Porter, the youngest of six children, is an avid golfer. Brianna, Franklin, and Malcolm are three children with his partner Susie. The family lives in the Portland area. Porter has been active with the Boys & Girls Club throughout his life and is a member of the organization's Hall of Fame. He established the Milwaukee Scholars Fund in 1994, which grants minority students in Milwaukee to attend schools in the University of Wisconsin System.

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College career

Porter attended college at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (the Pointers), then an NAIA school. He worked under head coach Dick Bennett and with Brad Soderberg (who later became the head coach at Saint Louis University).

Porter averaged 13.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game in four seasons at Stevens Point, and shot 58.9% from the floor. He averaged 18.8 points as a junior while shooting over 70% from the floor. He was named a first-Team All-American by the Pointers twice as both a junior and a senior. Even though the Pointers lost the national championship to Fort Hays State as a junior, he was named the NAIA Player of the Year" and was named as the tournament's Most Valuable Player in 1984.

Porter was the only NAIA player to be invited to the 1984 US Olympic Team trials, led by head coach Bob Knight, after the 1984 tournament. "I'm sure a lot of guys would have been shocked to see me here," the speaker said at the trials. I didn't even expect to be admitted." This is a massive step up from what I'm used to. I'm kind of in awe at this point. Porter made it to the final 20 (even though he had the chicken pox), but on a team that was heavy on guards (Jordan, Alford, Vern Fleming, Alvin Robertson, and Leon Wood), Porter was cut on May 13, 1984, along with Charles Barkley and John Stockton.

NBA scouts began to notice Porter's "tight defensive play, nonstop hustle, and deft shooting touch" after the Olympics. "I wasn't really good in high school," he said, so the big schools didn't come after me." I've certainly improved at Point," says the author. He then went to the point guard position after three seasons as a shooting guard.

Porter was the only Division III player to be named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches-Valvoline All-America Game in his senior season, where he averaged 19.7 points and 4.3 assists per game. He was also the first NAIA player selected to the Aloha Basketball All-Star Classic (along with Detlef Schrempf, Harold Keeling, Xavier McDaniel, and Joe Dumars) and as "top defensive player" and co-MVP.

Porter attended Wisconsin-Stevens Point to complete his bachelor's degree in communications, with an emphasis on television and radio. In 1999, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus Award.

NBA playing career

The Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, and the San Antonio Spurs all wanted to draft Porter before the 1985 NBA draft. With the 19th pick in the draft, most analysts, including Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, expected him to the Houston Rockets, while The Dallas Morning News' Jan Hubbard chose the Detroit Pistons with the number 18 pick. He was ranked as the second best choice at point guard, behind Sam Vincent of Michigan State.

The Portland Trail Blazers selected Porter with the 24th overall pick in the NBA draft on June 18, 1985.

Porter earned his first triple-double in a 105-104 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on February 5, 1987. Porter's second triple-double in his career after a losing effort against the Seattle SuperSonics.

Porter averaged 10.1 assists per game during the 1989-1988 season, making him the only player in the Trail Blazers' franchise history to record double-digit assists in a season. In a 121-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors on March 18, 1988, Porter scored a career-high 40 points to go along with six rebounds and 12 assists. In a 128-123 road victory over the Utah Jazz on April 14, Porter had 25 points and a career-high 19 assists.

Porter reached the NBA Finals twice during his decade-long tenure in Portland, 1990 and 1992. Porter appeared in the NBA All-Star Game in 1991 and 1993, and he was the recipient of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1993. Porter, the Trail Blazers' all-time assists leader as of 2010, with 5,319.

Porter signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves before the 1995–96 season, and the Wolves won their first-ever playoff appearance in 1996–97 and their first winning season in the following year.

On January 22, 1999, he signed with the Miami Heat. In a 108-101 home loss to the Boston Celtics on February 9, he scored a season-high 21 points to go along with three assists and three steals.

Porter played for the San Antonio Spurs prior to the 1999–2000 season. Porter, then 38 years old, was instrumental in San Antonio's run to the Western Conference Finals in 2001, winning all 13 playoff games while averaging 8.3 points and 3.4 assists per game. He retired after the 2002–02 season.

Career accomplishments

Porter's teams posted an 815-547 (.598) record during his playing career, with just one team failing to make the playoffs.

Porter made 12.2 points, 5.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 1,274 games over his career. He has scored 15,586 points in his career. Porter currently ranks 17th on the NBA's all-time assists list as of August 2021 (7,160). Porter has played for five of the top 36 coaches (games won) in NBA history: Pat Riley (1,210), Rick Adelman (945), Gregg Popovich (797), and Flip Saunders (636).

The Trail Blazers wore Porter's #30 jersey on December 16, 2008.

Coaching career

Porter spent the 2002–03 season as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings, his first season in coaching.

The Milwaukee native was hired as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks on August 6, 2003. He was the eighth head coach in franchise history. He coached the Bucks for two years, leading a team that was supposed to win the NBA playoffs after losing in the NBA draft lottery. However, the Bucks did not make the playoffs the next season, and Porter was suspended during the 2005 offseason.

Porter coached his son's fifth-grade basketball team to an undefeated season during his time away from the NBA. Porter spent a year away from the professional game and joined the Detroit Pistons staff as an assistant coach for the 2006-07 season.

Porter was named the Phoenix Suns' 13th head coach on June 9, 2008, after Mike D'Antoni.

After 51 games, the Suns cut him and replaced him with assistant Alvin Gentry on February 16, 2009. With Porter, the Suns tied for their ninth appearance in the Western Conference, with 28–23.

Under Rick Adelman's leadership, he was hired as an assistant coach by the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 6, 2011.

Porter would be acting head coach on January 8, 2013, the Timberwolves announced on January 8, 2013; Adelman would not be with the team due to family obligations.

Porter was hired as the head men's basketball coach by the University of Portland on April 2, 2016. Porter was fired by the University of Portland on February 5, 2021, after he led the Pilots to a 43-103 record in just five seasons as head coach.

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