Former Raptors great leaves rival to become HC at Georgia Tech

The Toronto Raptors are quite a ways behind the rival Boston Celtics when it comes to competing for a championship. Boston has set up a very sustainable roster led by an expert cabal of coaches, one of them being former Raptors point guard and top draft pick Damon Stoudamire.

Stoudamire, like Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady, ended up becoming another player that Toronto gave up on too quickly (even if he forced his way out). That doesn’t take away from the fact that he remains one of the most electric players to ever suit up for this franchise.

After a sterling career, mostly with the Portland Trail Blazers, Stoudamire bounced around between the professional and collegiate ranks as a head and assistant coach before joining the Celtics under Ime Udoka and Joe Mazzulla. His stay in Boston didn’t last long, as he is already going back to the lower levels.

Stoudamire has informed the Celtics that he will join Georgia Tech as the head coach following the firing of Josh Pastner. The Raptors aren’t going to catch the Celtics, but it seems like their old player is doing them a solid by robbing Boston of his coaching acumen on the bench.

Toronto Raptors: Damon Stoudamire leaves Celtics for Georgia Tech.

Stoudamire’s first three seasons in Toronto were dominant, as he averaged 19.6 points and put up an 8.8 assists per game mark that will likely never be topped again. His stats dipped with Portland, but he was able to lead some very good teams in his prime.

Stoudamire got his start on the bench in 2009 with the Memphis Grizzlies before moving to college as an assistant for Memphis and Arizona. While he was just 71-77 as head coach at Pacific, he will have tons more recruiting resources at his disposal in charge of the Yellow Jackets.

This is not the first time a former Raptor with a legendary playing career has gone back to the collegiate ranks. Former Raptors assistant and Raptors 905 coach Jerry Stackhouse left the G League to become the head coach at Vanderbilt. He has made the NIT in each of the last two seasons.

Even though Mazzulla has done a solid job in Boston, the brain drain that could come as a result of several top assistant coaches leaving threatens to cause turmoil. Between Stoudamire leaving and Will Hardy taking the Utah Jazz job last offseason, one of Toronto’s biggest rivals is losing some important names.