Monday brought a few more items of note from a few different sources regarding both the Utah Jazz’s search for a new head coach and the possibility that they’ll trade All-Star center Rudy Gobert.
Utah Jazz head coaching search update
Most notably on the coaching search front, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that, according to sources, the Jazz are looking to have second interviews “with almost all” of the team’s initial 15 candidates.
This supports the notion that Utah is indeed in not much of a hurry to make a hire.
As has previously been outlined by the Deseret News here, Charania listed the 15 candidates as follows, in no particular order:
- New York Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant.
- Utah Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen.
- Utah Jazz assistant coach Lamar Skeeter.
- Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin.
- Boston Celtics assistant coach Will Hardy.
- Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee.
- Miami Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn.
- Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney.
- Boston Celtics assistant coach Joe Mazzulla.
- Detroit Pistons assistant coach Jerome Allen.
- Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Sam Cassell.
- Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young.
- NBA G League head coach Jason Terry.
- Former NBA head coach Frank Vogel.
- Former NBA head coach Terry Stotts.
Rudy Gobert trade talk
Meanwhile on the Gobert trade front, Substack’s Marc Stein made an observation regarding the Atlanta Hawks that star guard Trae Young is “close” with center Clint Capela, and thus that a Hawks trade for an upgrade at center, whether it be Gobert, Phoenix Suns big man Deandre Ayton or someone else, might not necessarily be a given.
“The fact that the Hawks have been mentioned prominently as a potential destination for Ayton (via sign-and-trade) and Utah’s Rudy Gobert (via traditional trade) certainly suggests that Capela is by no means untouchable,” Stein wrote.
“Yet you can safely conclude that the Hawks will have to be certain they are upgrading their front line to part with a player Young is so fond of.”