Everyone has a name for President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens to hire as the Celtics next head coach. That’s still a weird phrase to write -- President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens.
Here are the 20 names you should know, some background on each man and woman and how I see the likelihood of Stevens hiring each person:
SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THESE NAMES
Sam Cassell (Philadelphia 76ers assistant) - Cassell has certainly paid his dues serving as an assistant since 2009 and under Doc Rivers since 2014.
“He always told me when I played for him in Boston that I could do this,” Cassell said of Rivers in a 2014 Washington Post feature. “I could be good at this, because of my relationship with the players. [Rivers said,] ‘The players will take you seriously, it’s just how you present yourself to them. Once you get a good team, a team that understand how to win, your presence will show even more, Sam.’”
When Cassell left the Wizards for the Clippers in 2014, John Wall credited Sam for his development.
“He was a big part of it,” Wall said. “Definitely helped me with my jump shot. Just being a mentor, somebody who was a point guard who knew the game very well. It was big. I was happy for him. His goal is to become a head coach one day. I think he thought it would come a little quicker being a coach with the Clippers.”
Wall went from not even looking at the rim while on the arc to a respectable 35 percent shooter with Cassell’s guidance.
I have yet to read or hear a bad thing about Cassell. He’s the betting favorite at +300.
David Vanterpool (former Minnesota Timerwolves Associate Head Coach) - Vanterpool is a future star in this league if you trust his former player’s opinions. Players that may be on the trade market or grow unhappy with their situations like Karl-Anthony Towns.
“I want to take the time to recognize the amazing work these assistant coaches have done, especially David Vanterpool,” Towns said during a press conference after the Timberwolves chose Chris Finch over Vanterpool as their next head coach. “Men of color deserve to have a chance to get their opportunity to be a head coach in this league and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing work he’s done and what he’s meant to this organization since he stepped here.”
“But, like I said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing work David Vanterpool has put in and as a man who looks like me, I can’t wait to see him get a job where he can flourish and be a head coach and run a team. We’re so honored and blessed to have him here on this coaching staff and get to continue learning from him and soak up all the wisdom and experience he has from playing professionally and also from being a coach.”
That’s a damn strong endorsement from the face of the franchise.
Vanterpool interviewed last offseason for head coach openings with the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets.
Kenny Atkinson (Former Brooklyn Nets head coach) - Atkinson is a proven player developer with guys like Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris going from fringe roster players to starters. Caris LeVert went from 8 points a game in year one with Kenny to 18.7 by year four. The Nets went from 20 to 28 to 42 wins in his first three years. Atkinson’s fourth year was the first year of the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving era.
There was no “mandate” from Durant and Irving to GM Sean Marks to fire Atkinson. But they definitely made it known he wasn’t the right guy. The team and Atkinson agreed to mutually part ways before the season ended.
The apparent riff between the stars and Atkinson was over the playing time for their boy DeAndre Jordan. Shams Charania reported “Jordan is said to have believed he would be the full-time starting center after he, Durant and Irving joined the team. When Atkinson made Jarrett Allen the starting center this season, it changed the dynamics.”
Guess who was the starting center in Game 1 of the post-Atkinson era? DeAndre Jordan.
I’m not bothered by Durant and Irving not liking Atkinson. Irving just doesn’t like being coached and Durant is bothered by @Randy2141962 calling him soft on Twitter. Kenny wasn’t afraid to challenge the stars on his roster and play the hot lineup over the big contracts when it mattered. That doesn’t play well on some teams I guess.
Atkinson didn’t play in the NBA but did play in Europe. If you thought Stevens brought no energy, Atkinson is the opposite. He will actively participate in drills in practice, a rarity in the NBA.
“My energy was my key,” Atkinson told The Athletic. "Whenever I did a drill with the guys, I said I’m going to make this as game-like as possible. I want it to feel like they’re in a real game. I’ve always had that philosophy. If I was shooting on someone, I’d rebound and go contest every shot. I think guys appreciated that.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Garrett Temple, who played for ten different teams. “Gets into drills, runs the point guard, or the two or three, tries to jump in and do verticality drills,
gets dunked on all the time. But a guy that is so invested, he really enjoys doing things like this. I’ve never seen anything in terms of a coach being in a drill like Kenny is.”
Ime Udoka (Brooklyn Nets assistant) - Former player? Check. NBA Champion as an assistant? Check. Survived coaching Kyrie Irving and still has his mental sanity? Check. What more do we want?
Udoka has been an assistant for the Spurs and Sixers and currently serves on Steve Nash’s staff in Brooklyn. The Knicks interviewed Udoka during their coaching search last year before ultimately choosing Tom Thibodeau.
In a 2018 ESPN story on the rising Udoka, Aldridge praised Udoka for making things easier for him after arriving in San Antonio. "He's a good guy, works hard so I just got close to him then. He's been kind of like the middle man, trying to help me and how I feel [get] across to the coaching staff. He's trying to help me feel more comfortable every year,”
Aldridge added: "He's been the guy that I work with every summer since I've been here. He's been a big part of me getting more comfortable."
Udoka also worked closely with Kawhi Leonard in the summers and helped him develop into a perennial All Star.
THE “IT'S NOT CRAZY” TIER
Earl Watson (former Phoenix Suns head coach) - “Shoutout to Earl. Earl’s my guy,” Jayson Tatum said on the All The Smoke podcast. “I called my fam, my mom and said “I think I want to go to Phoenix. Earl Watson was like “If you come to Phoenix -- you and D-Book (Devin Booker) -- Two light-skinned killers. I’m gonna let y’all rock out.” I’m sitting in the car like, 'Man, this sounds good. I think I want to come here.”
Thankfully, Tatum never followed through on his initial desire to cancel the Celtics workout and the rest is history. But re-visiting this quote from Tatum is important because Tatum’s opinion may be the most valuable of anyone not named Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca. Jayson is that good that he now gets to have input in the next head coach. The Tatum stamp of approval is important.
There was zero success for Watson in Phoenix and it’s not really his fault. Those rosters were never built to win. He was just 36 when he took over the Suns. Watson is 41 now. You want a
former player? Watson played 13 seasons and is young enough that the Celtics roster actually had a chance to watch him play.
Quin Snyder (Utah Jazz Head Coach) - Stevens may have to wait a few weeks and prolong the search if Snyder is on their list. The Jazz have a pretty good core but I’m not sure it’s good enough to beat the Nets or Sixers.
Boston can offer him more money than his current contract pays him in Utah. Snyder has been coaching the Jazz for seven seasons and hasn’t broken through yet with success in the postseason. Utah owns a 13-21 record in the playoffs under Snyder.
THE LONGSHOTS -- JUST LIKE WHEN BOSTON HIRED BRAD STEVENS
Jay Wright (Villanova) - Jeff Goodman ran a survey asking 25 NBA executives who they think would most want to hire from the college game. The No. 1 answer? Jay Wright. He may only leave for the Sixers job, a natural transition for him.
Becky Hammon (San Antonio Spurs assistant) - The reason Hammon is in the longshot tier is not because she’s a woman. It’s because of her current position under Gregg Popovich, who just wrapped up his 25th season as San Antonio’s head coach at 72 years old. It feels like Hammon is set up to be Pop’s successor. The culture is already built in if she were to take over for Pop. His contract has two more seasons left. Does she want to wait that long?
Chris Holtmann (The Ohio State University head coach) - Holtmann finished No. 5 in the survey by Goodman and has risen quickly in the college ranks. An executive told Goodman “I think he has some Brad Stevens in him, which makes sense since he and Brad both coached at Butler. Low-key and knows it’s not about him. Really underrated as an X’s and O’s guy.”
Brad Stevens did mention the next coach would have some similarities to him. Butler University’s success continued after Stevens left with Holtmann running the program.
Juwan Howard (University of Michigan head coach) - Every NBA player knows Howard’s resume. Two-time NBA champion as a player with the Miami Heat but mostly in an unofficial coaching role. Howard joined Erik Spoelstra’s bench after retirement in 2013 and remained there until leaving for his alma mater in 2019. Howard won all the Coach of the Year awards this past season, his second in Ann Arbor, peaking with a No. 2 ranking in the country.
NAMES YOU’VE HEARD BUT I’M PASSING ON
Kara Lawson (Duke women’s head coach) - Kara is Jerod Mayo. Everyone knows she has a future as an NBA head coach. She was the very first name Brian Scalabrine threw out and he even went as far as saying “I think they hire Kara Lawson.” He knows the Celtics love her potential. Just like Bill Belichick loves what Mayo brings to the table.
It’s just too soon. She didn’t even finish her first full season on an NBA staff as Lawson left the Orlando bubble to take the Duke job. Lawson coached just four games at Duke before COVID ended their season. I just can’t fathom the Celtics hiring someone who never played in the NBA and spent just one season on an NBA bench. Her basketball acumen, by all accounts, is elite. There is so much more to coaching than drawing up a SLOB (sideline out of bounds play) or ATO (play designed to be run coming out of a timeout).
Chauncey Billups (Clippers assistant) - I’m saying no to Billups this time around for the same reason as Lawson. Chauncey is wrapping up his first season in coaching. His season could come to a close soon as LA trails Dallas in 3-2. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stevens schedule an interview with Billups. I can’t think of a reason to hire Billups over Cassell.
Jay Larranaga (Celtics assistant this season) - How do you fix a locker room that needs reinvigorating? You hire anyone but an assistant that was on the most recent staff. I’m not saying Larranaga is a bad coach. But this would be puzzling for many reasons. I can only imagine WEEI callers if they hired Larranaga.
Jerome Allen (Celtics assistant this season) - Read the above section.
Jason Kidd (Lakers assistant) - When Yahoo’s Chris Haynes immediately floated Kidd as a potential candidate for the Celtics, I immediately thought of the fans chanting “Wife Beater” when he played in Boston in a 2003 game. (In January 2001, Kidd was arrested for hitting his now ex-wife Joumana. He pleaded guilty to spousal abuse and was fined $200 and ordered to take anger management training.) Kidd is no longer with Joumana but the memory of that chant in the Garden has to be vivid. How could you forget that?
Getting back to the Celtics coaching search, I am out on Kidd because he doesn't seem to have good relationships with players. Ryen Russillo reported that Jabari Parker and Kidd weren’t even speaking to each other before he was fired. Giannis was reportedly “devastated” by Kidd’s firing. I doubt Bucks ownership and GM John Horst made the firing without asking Giannis.
Mark Jackson (ESPN/ABC co-lead analyst) - Jackson has been black balled from the NBA according to his former player Andre Iguodala. Jackson is a pastor and would often preach to his congregation on a live stream from inside of the Warriors facility.
Iguodala believes “one particular issue from what I heard was his views on gender or marriage or what the bible said on your sexuality.” The Warriors President Rick Welts is an openly gay man. You can see how this relationship fell apart.
There is zero chance anyone hires Jackson in this climate. Zero.
"Part of it was that he couldn't get along with anybody else in the organization," Lacob said. "And look, he did a great job, and I'll always compliment him in many respects, but you can't have 200 people in the organization not like you."
Jeff Van Gundy (ESPN/ABC NBA lead analyst) - He’s been out of the game since before Barack Obama became President. He has a cushy job with ABC on the #1 team with Mike Breen and Jackson. I don’t think he would leave TV for a NBA job unless he was blown away. Van Gundy is absolutely not leaving TV to be the head coach under Brad Stevens, who may not be long for the front office according to Jeff Goodman.
Lloyd Pierce (Former Hawks head coach) - Atlanta was 14-20 when they fired Pierce this season. They are 31-12 since and are in the second round of the playoffs with Nate McMillan running the team. He was 63-120 in Atlanta. Hiring Pierce wouldn’t even be hitting a single.
Mike Kryzewski (Duke) - Coach K is 74 so this is a non-starter. He just announced his retirement from Duke which takes effect after the upcoming season. Anyone surprised K is doing a year long Farewell tour?
Kendrick Perkins (ESPN NBA Analyst) - I would rather the Celtics bring back all 15 players, Brad as the coach and Ainge as the GM than to have Kendrick Perkins as head coach.