The Jazz have granted the New Jersey Nets permission to speak with Jazz assistant coach Gordie Chiesa, Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said Wednesday.
According to a report in Tuesday's New York Post, Chiesa "has emerged as a candidate to replace Nets assistant Brian Hill, who landed the (Orlando) Magic head coaching job. The Nets may also move everyone up, elevating Tom Barrise from fourth to third assistant."
O'Connor said he wasn't sure when Chiesa would interview with the Nets, and Chiesa said through a Jazz spokeswoman that "there's nothing to talk about" at this time.
Chiesa, a former college head coach at Providence and Manhattan, is a New Jersey native who has worked the past 16 seasons as a Jazz assistant.
O'Connor said Chiesa is under contract for next season, but that the Jazz and owner Larry H. Miller are OK with him talking to the Nets.
"Larry's philosophy," O'Connor said, "has always been that he doesn't want to stand in anybody's way."
But, he added, "the decision does have to be made fairly quickly."