The Brooklyn Nets were off Monday, in between Games 4 and 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with Milwaukee – but one of their assistants may not have been fully in on practice.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash’s top assistant in Brooklyn, was set to interview for the Portland Trail Blazers’ head job on Monday, one of three candidates set to interview with the Blazers this week.
The Nets returned to Brooklyn after Sunday’s Game 4 loss in Milwaukee, and Nash confirmed that the interview, if held, was to be via Zoom, as D’Antoni was indeed in Brooklyn.
“No, Mike’s here with us,” Nash said on Monday’s media call. “I’m assuming that [interview] would be on Zoom or over the phone, and he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s been here doing everything with us.”
D’Antoni, 70, is in his first season as a Nets assistant, but is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year and has a 672-527 career record with the Rockets, Lakers, Knicks, Suns, and Nuggets. He and Nash collaborated in Phoenix on the vaunted “Seven Seconds or Less” offense, and in New York, D’Antoni was the coach of the “Stat and Melo” era that was hoped to rejuvenate Knicks basketball – but he went 121-167 in parts of four seasons from 2008-12 before resigning 42 games into the 2011-12 season and going on to be an assistant coach for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team that won gold in London.
The Blazers have an opening after mutually parting ways with Terry Stotts, the winningest coach in franchise history, on June 4, following Portland’s exit in the first round of this year’s playoffs. Damian Lillard had openly advocated for Lakers assistant Jason Kidd, but Kidd later said he would not seek the vacancy.
Portland GM Neil Olshey said last week that the search for a new coach would be a “very expansive and diverse” one, with up to 25 potential candidates in mind. Per Woj, two of those – Spurs assistant Becky Hammon and Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups – will interview with the team early this week.
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