Ex-Piston Stackhouse named D-League’s coach of year

Jerry Stackhouse played 18 seasons in the NBA, including four-plus seasons with the Pistons, where he once averaged nearly 30 points per game in a season.

A two-time All-Star with the Pistons as a player, Stackhouse is showing he’s a pretty good coach, too.

Stackhouse, who coaches the Raptors 905, was named the NBA Development League Dennis Johnson Coach of the Year in a vote by his fellow NBA D-League head coaches.

In his first season, Stackhouse led the Raptors 905 to a 39-11 record and a Central Division title. They are the top overall seed in the D-League playoffs.

The Raptors 905 play the Maine Red Claws on Wendesday night in Game 2 of the D-League’s Eastern Conference finals. Stackhouse’s team leads the best-of-three series, 1-0.

The Raptors 905 also set a D-League record with 21 road victories, and led the league in team defense, allowing 98.8 points per game.

A former No. 3 overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft by the Phildelphia 76ers, Stackhouse averaged at least 20 points per game in five of his 18 seasons. Three of those came with the Pistons, where he played from 1997-2002 following a December 1997 trade with the Sixers.

He averaged 22.1 points per game while with the Pistons, including 29.8 over the 2000-01 season, his second of back-to-back All-Star seasons.

Stackhouse retired following the 2012-13 season with the Nets. He also played for Washington, Dallas, Milwaukee, Miami and Atlanta.

Stackhouse spent last season as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors.