Longtime Jazz assistant coach Kenny Natt has accepted a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jazz officials confirmed Wednesday.
Natt, a former Jazz player and the No. 3 assistant to Jerry Sloan since 1996, will become one of Cavs head coach Paul Silas' top assistants.
He replaces Bob Donewald Jr., whose contract was not renewed.
"We're sorry to lose him, but it is hard to compete with a promotion," Sloan said in a statement released by the Jazz. "This is a great opportunity for him to move up within the league, and the entire organization wishes him well."
Natt, 45, also a former Jazz scout, played for Indiana, Utah and the old Kansas City Kings during his three-year NBA career. He played 22 games for the Jazz in 1982-83 season and four in 1984-85.
With the Cavaliers, Natt will work with both NBA Rookie of the Year LeBron James and power forward Carlos Boozer, who is expected to join James on USA Basketball's 2004 U.S. Olympic.
"I saw the Cavs as an up-and-coming team," Natt told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "They're very similar to the Jazz, in terms of being a young team with a bunch of hard-working guys."
In Cleveland, Natt will primarily coach big men.
He did that in Utah, too — but also spent long hours breaking down film as the club's third assistant behind Phil Johnson and Gordie Chiesa.
"He worked in a similar system in Utah, and he wants to get on the floor and coach," Silas said in a statement released by the Cavs, "and that's what I'll allow him to do."
Sloan is believed to have at least a couple of replacement candidates in mind.
His choice could come from a group including several with Jazz ties, including scout Brad Jones, scouting services director Richard Smith, current BYU assistant and former Jazz swingman Andy Toolson, and ex-Jazz guard John Crotty.
Neither retired Jazz shooting guard Jeff Hornacek, who expressed interest in the Boston Celtics' head coaching job earlier this year, nor retired point guard John Stockton is expected to be a candidate.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com