Chip Scoggins of The Star Tribune thinks Dave Joerger, who is interviewing to leave the Grizzlies and become the Wolves head coach, could bring the defensive focus and toughness Minnesota has lacked. Scogging also opines that Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders could find an outlet for his lingering coaching energy by grooming a young coach like Joerger. Here’s more from the coaching movement around the league:
- Byron Scott said he thinks he’s the perfect guy for the Lakers job in an interview with ESPNLA 710 Radio (transcription via Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com). Scott invoked his relationships with Kobe Bryant and Dr. Jerry Buss to bolster his case. “It’s all about winning championships,” said Scott. “And [winning for Buss]…he was the first one to call me and tell me, ‘When you come to L.A., let me know so we can hang out and watch a game together,’ and things like that. Those two reasons alone is one big reason why I want the job so badly.”
- Scott also laid out what his first steps would be on the job, including getting on the same page with Bryant and emphasizing defense. “I think that’s the first thing [we’ve got] to get better at, the defensive part of basketball,” Scott said. In Scott’s most recent coaching stint in Cleveland, the Cavs never ranked better than 26th in defensive efficiency.
- Alvin Gentry is coveted by both Steve Kerr and Mike Malone as an assistant for their Warriors and Kings benches, tweets David Aldridge of NBA.com. The former head coach is currently an assistant with the Clippers, and is a head coaching candidate for the Cavs, Grizzlies, and Jazz.
- Ken Berger of CBSSports.com thinks that bringing Lionel Hollins back to coach the Grizzlies makes a lot of sense, considering the main difference between the team now and when he guided it to the Western Conference Finals is that the front office members that fired him are gone.