Speaker 1: So we've not had an off season like this in
Speaker 1: a long time where there are like a bajillion good
Speaker 1: coaches will like pretty good coaches on the market who
Speaker 1: have been fired and are also like just on the
Speaker 1: market for their teams at the same time. Like you've
Speaker 1: got Milwaukee, Toronto, Phoenix teams that have either been to
Speaker 1: the finals or won a championship in the last four years,
Speaker 1: all on the market at the same time, all have openings.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick look right now at the open
Speaker 1: spots and talk a little bit about who's being tabbed to.
Speaker 2: Fill those spots. Let's start with Detroit Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 1: So Troy Weaver right now has done an exhaustive search
Speaker 1: involving interviews with ten candidates.
Speaker 2: Right now it is narrowed to three guys.
Speaker 1: Charles Lee, the Bucks assistant, who is a Bell of
Speaker 1: the ball former Yukon coach, Kevin Ollie and both of
Speaker 1: whom are being interviewed a second time, and then Heat's
Speaker 1: assistant Chris Quinn, who will be interviewed after the finals
Speaker 1: are over. Of the three, the fan base might not
Speaker 1: have a clear favorite, but they are very clear about
Speaker 1: who they do not want.
Speaker 2: Kevin Ollie.
Speaker 1: That's right, the former Yukon coach who has not coached
Speaker 1: in five years, whose name hasn't been connected to one
Speaker 1: coaching opening in the NBA since twenty fifteen, who is
Speaker 1: not interviewed by any other team, and is very close
Speaker 1: with Troy Weaver. That is who the fans do not want.
Speaker 1: The smarter decision probably is Charles Lee. He's been ready
Speaker 1: to take over a team for years now. He was
Speaker 1: Budenholzer's lead assistant since the Atlanta days.
Speaker 2: Quinn is definitely in the mix as well. He's been
Speaker 2: an assistant in Miami since twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: Very important higher for a Weaver, and if he doesn't
Speaker 1: start winning, he's going to be the one who's under scrutiny.
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks after firing their championship winning coach two seasons
Speaker 1: after hoisting the trophying. According to WOJ, the Bucks have
Speaker 1: narrowed their search down to Nick Nurse, Nick Nurse's assistant
Speaker 1: Adriene Griffin, and Kenny Atkinson, current.
Speaker 2: Assistant for the Golden State Warriors. Here's an interesting little nugget.
Speaker 1: I have been told by multiple people, three different quote
Speaker 1: unquote sources, that Jannis does not want Nick nurse. Whether
Speaker 1: that plays into things at all is not known, but
Speaker 1: I think you have to wonder why on.
Speaker 2: Earth the team would hire a coach that their superstar.
Speaker 1: Does not want, even if he says he kind of
Speaker 1: like doesn't want them, And how damning is it If
Speaker 1: the Bucks hire Adriene Griffin over the head coach that
Speaker 1: he sat on the bench within that would be something.
Speaker 1: Another fascinating story around the Bucks will be the one
Speaker 1: of Kenny Atkinson, who was hired and then quit on
Speaker 1: the Hornets in twenty four hours last year. Great coach,
Speaker 1: really a good coach to build a team. I don't
Speaker 1: know how he is in terms of like maintaining a
Speaker 1: championship roster, but he said that the reason that he
Speaker 1: stayed in Golden State was because his light wife liked
Speaker 1: it there. So if he goes to Milwaukee, m kind
Speaker 1: of tells you that was a lie. Also, is there
Speaker 1: a potential situation where Steve Kerr moves on to the
Speaker 1: front office, if Bob Myers, the current GM of the Warriors,
Speaker 1: moves on, and then maybe Kenny steps in as head
Speaker 1: coach coach for our dubs big offseason. Giannis is not
Speaker 1: guaranteed to stay if they continue to underperform or steps
Speaker 1: to success along the way. Let's move on to Philly.
Speaker 1: They fired Doc Rivers, as you know, for losing get
Speaker 1: another closeout game, and the Sixers at this point are
Speaker 1: kicking the tires on at least six candidates. Nick Nurse again,
Speaker 1: Manny Williams. That's interesting, Sam Cassell, Mike Budenholzer, Frank Vogel, and.
Speaker 2: You guessed it, Mike D'Antoni. What do they all have
Speaker 2: in common?
Speaker 1: They have a lot of experience, They've got winning pedigrees,
Speaker 1: except for Sam Cassell. Sam Cassell is very well liked.
Speaker 1: He's a Sixers assistant, and I think that's why he
Speaker 1: made the list.
Speaker 2: As for the other five, I think Vocal is out.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna. I mean, he's kind of
Speaker 1: giving me Brett Brown vibes. D'Antoni seems like a long
Speaker 1: shot as well. He's seventy two years old, literally, like
Speaker 1: not like the fake seventy two you know when you say, oh,
Speaker 1: that person's good jillion, No, he's actually seventy two. Nick
Speaker 1: Moni and Bud probably are the favorites. Very different coaching styles,
Speaker 1: with Harden probably going back to Houston or trying to.
Speaker 1: We don't even know what type of team Philly has.
Speaker 2: My guess is that you.
Speaker 1: Wait until the team that you have is constructed to
Speaker 1: name a coach for that team. It's also possible that
Speaker 1: Morey could just throw a wrench in things and look
Speaker 1: at a dark horse candidate like Massi Usueri is right
Speaker 1: now in Toronto. Speaking of Toronto, Toronto threw an ice
Speaker 1: cube into everyone's team. Today, it was announced by Shams
Speaker 1: that the Raptors had conducted a full interview with none
Speaker 1: other than Steve Nash.
Speaker 3: Yes, the same Canadian, the coach the Brooklyn Nets, the
Speaker 3: same guy who is also a soccer coach, the same
Speaker 3: guy who is Canada's favorite son. The same Nash who
Speaker 3: is handed the keys to a tesla and then found
Speaker 3: out that the AI had become sentient and wanted to
Speaker 3: drive it by itself. Steve Nash Messiah Ujerie has looked
Speaker 3: at no less than twelve candidates so far, ranging from
Speaker 3: Becky Hammond, whose.
Speaker 1: Luster has worn off after her suspension for berating Deerica
Speaker 1: Hanby for what was what does she do wrong? Oh,
Speaker 1: she got pregnant two years in a row, and also
Speaker 1: looked at JJ Reddick, current ESPN personality and podcaster.
Speaker 2: These are real names. These are real names he's looking at.
Speaker 1: That's pretty much the dartboard method of picking a coach.
Speaker 1: If they have held a basketball in the past five years,
Speaker 1: put him on the board, put him on the interview list. Seriously,
Speaker 1: the Raps have also looked at a few young coaches
Speaker 1: who could fill in and kill it.
Speaker 2: In Toronto.
Speaker 1: Jordi Fernandez, King assistant who took over for Mike Brown
Speaker 1: for a game this year.
Speaker 2: When he won, his.
Speaker 1: Team celebrated like they all won a ring, huge sign
Speaker 1: of love and respect.
Speaker 2: Charles Lee the Bell of the Ball from.
Speaker 1: Milwaukee, Chris Quinn in Miami, Adrian Griffin again for Toronto,
Speaker 1: all in the running. Even Kenny Atkinson is on this list.
Speaker 1: So you've got a lot of the same coaches on
Speaker 1: all of these same lists. I think you're going to
Speaker 1: know everything that you want to know about the direction
Speaker 1: that this franchise is heading based on who they hire.
Speaker 1: If they hire a young coach without any experience, it's
Speaker 1: kind of a will Hardy situation the ar rebuilding. If
Speaker 1: they hire an experience coach, they are going to try
Speaker 1: to keep their assets and they are going to try
Speaker 1: and win. Now, Phoenix Sun's head coaching search is I
Speaker 1: have no idea. Honestly, I've looked and looked and looked,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of names floating, but there is
Speaker 1: no definitive list.
Speaker 2: Matt Ishbie is probably gonna hire Isaiah Thomas, isn't he?
Speaker 1: Yes, Like there's no list, there's no list. He's got
Speaker 1: a deep pocket, He's connected in Detroit. He loves Isaiah Thomas.
Speaker 1: Either Isaiah Thomas is coaching this team or he's gonna
Speaker 1: be the GM of this team. I don't think you
Speaker 1: can scratch off any of out of work coaches off
Speaker 1: the list right now. There's probably coaches under contract he's
Speaker 1: looking at. Tyler's name has been prominently mentioned, and this
Speaker 1: is a very intriguing search. He could go with assistants
Speaker 1: like Jordi Fernandez, or I don't know, like possibly another
Speaker 1: coach that has worked under Sam Prest. So more likely
Speaker 1: it will be a splashy and expensive higher because that's
Speaker 1: what Isshbia wants to do. I would guess that maybe
Speaker 1: Nurse or Bud would be the choice in Phoenix, although
Speaker 1: I don't think either one is a fit in my mind.
Speaker 1: As Michael Bridge's former Phoenix Suns recently said Amani Williams
Speaker 1: isn't the problem and wasn't the problem in Phoenix. So
Speaker 1: if the coach wasn't the problem, who was? Can another
Speaker 1: coach come in and fix it? Lots of speculation, but
Speaker 1: one thing is for sure. Phoenix is facing a fascinating
Speaker 1: offseason where DeAndre Ayton has mentioned in multiple trade rumors
Speaker 1: to Detroit, to Dallas and to Portland.
Speaker 2: A couple of final points.
Speaker 1: In Houston, our man Imy Yudoka is assembling his staff.
Speaker 1: He's just brought in Royal Ivy from the Nets as
Speaker 1: his first major hire. I think he is likely to
Speaker 1: retain Rocket's assistants John Lucas, the second a Rockets legend,
Speaker 1: and ma Mood abdel Fata, who's.
Speaker 2: Been credited with bringing along the Baby Rockets.
Speaker 1: I think probably Aaron Miles, who's currently assistant for the Celtics.
Speaker 1: I could see him joining him in Houston. And it
Speaker 1: will probably depend on Joe Mizula's job.
Speaker 2: Status, which brings me to this.
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot about Joe Mosula this episode, but
Speaker 1: we did not ask the question it's his job in
Speaker 1: Danger forty eight hours ago I would have said, no
Speaker 1: fucking way, But now even Wolje, even Brian Windhorse, is saying, well,
Speaker 1: maybe his job is in danger. And the reason that
Speaker 1: every single Celtics fan as I rate right now is
Speaker 1: just howling mad is Joe Mizula. And when your fan base,
Speaker 1: who is rapid, makes this much noise, you must listen
Speaker 1: or you risk losing the team to your fans altogether.
Speaker 1: So it's possible we might have another job opening very soon.
Speaker 2: It's a coal world out there, folks.
Speaker 1: Coal world.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we after the heat check,
Speaker 2: will be back Friday with an all new episode, and
Speaker 2: we are now well in to the conference finals. May
Speaker 2: be done with one of them tonight.
Speaker 1: Check back on the feed for past episodes, many episodes
Speaker 1: which drop almost every single day follow the heat check
Speaker 1: as the NBA.
Speaker 2: Is currently in full swing. Do not forget to download, subscribe.
Speaker 1: Please tell your friends, every single damn one of them,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening, thanks to my producer, Nick Berlanski, and
Speaker 1: we will see you next time.