So we've not had an off season like this in a long time where there are like a bajillion good coaches will like pretty good coaches on the market who have been fired and are also like just on the market for their teams at the same time. Like you've got Milwaukee, Toronto, Phoenix teams that have either been to the finals or won a championship in the last four years, all on the market at the same time, all have openings.
Let's take a quick look right now at the open spots and talk a little bit about who's being tabbed to.
Fill those spots. Let's start with Detroit Detroit Pistons.
So Troy Weaver right now has done an exhaustive search involving interviews with ten candidates.
Right now it is narrowed to three guys.
Charles Lee, the Bucks assistant, who is a Bell of the ball former Yukon coach, Kevin Ollie and both of whom are being interviewed a second time, and then Heat's assistant Chris Quinn, who will be interviewed after the finals are over. Of the three, the fan base might not have a clear favorite, but they are very clear about who they do not want.
Kevin Ollie.
That's right, the former Yukon coach who has not coached in five years, whose name hasn't been connected to one coaching opening in the NBA since twenty fifteen, who is not interviewed by any other team, and is very close with Troy Weaver. That is who the fans do not want. The smarter decision probably is Charles Lee. He's been ready to take over a team for years now. He was Budenholzer's lead assistant since the Atlanta days.
Quinn is definitely in the mix as well. He's been an assistant in Miami since twenty fourteen.
Very important higher for a Weaver, and if he doesn't start winning, he's going to be the one who's under scrutiny. Milwaukee Bucks after firing their championship winning coach two seasons after hoisting the trophying. According to WOJ, the Bucks have narrowed their search down to Nick Nurse, Nick Nurse's assistant Adriene Griffin, and Kenny Atkinson, current.
Assistant for the Golden State Warriors. Here's an interesting little nugget.
I have been told by multiple people, three different quote unquote sources, that Jannis does not want Nick nurse. Whether that plays into things at all is not known, but I think you have to wonder why on.
Earth the team would hire a coach that their superstar.
Does not want, even if he says he kind of like doesn't want them, And how damning is it If the Bucks hire Adriene Griffin over the head coach that he sat on the bench within that would be something. Another fascinating story around the Bucks will be the one of Kenny Atkinson, who was hired and then quit on the Hornets in twenty four hours last year. Great coach,
really a good coach to build a team. I don't know how he is in terms of like maintaining a championship roster, but he said that the reason that he stayed in Golden State was because his light wife liked it there. So if he goes to Milwaukee, m kind of tells you that was a lie. Also, is there a potential situation where Steve Kerr moves on to the front office, if Bob Myers, the current GM of the Warriors, moves on, and then maybe Kenny steps in as head
coach coach for our dubs big offseason. Giannis is not guaranteed to stay if they continue to underperform or steps to success along the way. Let's move on to Philly. They fired Doc Rivers, as you know, for losing get another closeout game, and the Sixers at this point are kicking the tires on at least six candidates. Nick Nurse again, Manny Williams. That's interesting, Sam Cassell, Mike Budenholzer, Frank Vogel, and.
You guessed it, Mike D'Antoni. What do they all have in common?
They have a lot of experience, They've got winning pedigrees, except for Sam Cassell. Sam Cassell is very well liked. He's a Sixers assistant, and I think that's why he made the list.
As for the other five, I think Vocal is out.
I don't think he's gonna. I mean, he's kind of giving me Brett Brown vibes. D'Antoni seems like a long shot as well. He's seventy two years old, literally, like not like the fake seventy two you know when you say, oh, that person's good jillion, No, he's actually seventy two. Nick Moni and Bud probably are the favorites. Very different coaching styles, with Harden probably going back to Houston or trying to. We don't even know what type of team Philly has.
My guess is that you.
Wait until the team that you have is constructed to name a coach for that team. It's also possible that Morey could just throw a wrench in things and look at a dark horse candidate like Massi Usueri is right now in Toronto. Speaking of Toronto, Toronto threw an ice cube into everyone's team. Today, it was announced by Shams that the Raptors had conducted a full interview with none other than Steve Nash.
Yes, the same Canadian, the coach the Brooklyn Nets, the same guy who is also a soccer coach, the same guy who is Canada's favorite son. The same Nash who is handed the keys to a tesla and then found out that the AI had become sentient and wanted to drive it by itself. Steve Nash Messiah Ujerie has looked at no less than twelve candidates so far, ranging from Becky Hammond, whose.
Luster has worn off after her suspension for berating Deerica Hanby for what was what does she do wrong? Oh, she got pregnant two years in a row, and also looked at JJ Reddick, current ESPN personality and podcaster.
These are real names. These are real names he's looking at.
That's pretty much the dartboard method of picking a coach. If they have held a basketball in the past five years, put him on the board, put him on the interview list. Seriously, the Raps have also looked at a few young coaches who could fill in and kill it.
In Toronto.
Jordi Fernandez, King assistant who took over for Mike Brown for a game this year.
When he won, his.
Team celebrated like they all won a ring, huge sign of love and respect.
Charles Lee the Bell of the Ball from.
Milwaukee, Chris Quinn in Miami, Adrian Griffin again for Toronto, all in the running. Even Kenny Atkinson is on this list. So you've got a lot of the same coaches on all of these same lists. I think you're going to know everything that you want to know about the direction that this franchise is heading based on who they hire. If they hire a young coach without any experience, it's
kind of a will Hardy situation the ar rebuilding. If they hire an experience coach, they are going to try to keep their assets and they are going to try and win. Now, Phoenix Sun's head coaching search is I have no idea. Honestly, I've looked and looked and looked, and there's a lot of names floating, but there is no definitive list.
Matt Ishbie is probably gonna hire Isaiah Thomas, isn't he?
Yes, Like there's no list, there's no list. He's got a deep pocket, He's connected in Detroit. He loves Isaiah Thomas. Either Isaiah Thomas is coaching this team or he's gonna be the GM of this team. I don't think you can scratch off any of out of work coaches off the list right now. There's probably coaches under contract he's looking at. Tyler's name has been prominently mentioned, and this
is a very intriguing search. He could go with assistants like Jordi Fernandez, or I don't know, like possibly another coach that has worked under Sam Prest. So more likely it will be a splashy and expensive higher because that's what Isshbia wants to do. I would guess that maybe Nurse or Bud would be the choice in Phoenix, although I don't think either one is a fit in my mind. As Michael Bridge's former Phoenix Suns recently said Amani Williams
isn't the problem and wasn't the problem in Phoenix. So if the coach wasn't the problem, who was? Can another coach come in and fix it? Lots of speculation, but one thing is for sure. Phoenix is facing a fascinating offseason where DeAndre Ayton has mentioned in multiple trade rumors to Detroit, to Dallas and to Portland.
A couple of final points.
In Houston, our man Imy Yudoka is assembling his staff. He's just brought in Royal Ivy from the Nets as his first major hire. I think he is likely to retain Rocket's assistants John Lucas, the second a Rockets legend, and ma Mood abdel Fata, who's.
Been credited with bringing along the Baby Rockets.
I think probably Aaron Miles, who's currently assistant for the Celtics. I could see him joining him in Houston. And it will probably depend on Joe Mizula's job.
Status, which brings me to this.
We've talked a lot about Joe Mosula this episode, but we did not ask the question it's his job in Danger forty eight hours ago I would have said, no fucking way, But now even Wolje, even Brian Windhorse, is saying, well, maybe his job is in danger. And the reason that every single Celtics fan as I rate right now is just howling mad is Joe Mizula. And when your fan base, who is rapid, makes this much noise, you must listen or you risk losing the team to your fans altogether.
So it's possible we might have another job opening very soon.
It's a coal world out there, folks.
Coal world.
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