Another veteran assistant has joined the Hornets‘ list of head coaching candidates, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Clippers assistant Jay Larranaga will interview for the top job in Charlotte.
A former professional basketball player in Europe, Larranaga coached the Erie BayHawks from 2010-12, then spent nine seasons as an assistant in Boston under Brad Stevens. Following Stevens’ ascension to the Celtics’ front office, Larranaga made the move to Los Angeles, where he has spent the last three seasons on Tyronn Lue‘s Clippers staff.
The Hornets are getting a head start on their coaching search since Steve Clifford announced last week that he would step down from his role at the end of the regular season. The team has already been granted permission to speak to several assistant coaches around the NBA.
In addition to Larranaga, the Hornets are reportedly interviewing – or have already interviewed – Charles Lee, Jordi Fernandez, Kevin Young, David Adelman, and Lindsey Harding. That list of confirmed candidates may continue to grow in the coming days.
Young Coach L! Good choice!
Is it normal for teams to be openly interviewing candidates for next season while the team is still finishing the current season? I mean I know they announced that Clifford is going to the FO but it still seems odd to not at least wait for the playoffs. Are they terrified that Lindsey Harding has a line of people waiting to scoop her up?
I don’t think it really matters, but if they have a coach before the offseason begins for them, they can theoretically start working with the new coach to start establishing a rotation, discussing draft picks, and look at potential FA targets that suit the coach’s preferred system right away, instead of having to spend part of the offseason and draft period trying to get all their ducks in a row. The Hornets will have a good amount of cap space this offseason, so it’s likely they have to make at least a few moves if they don’t want to lose their revenue sharing money.
It may be as simple as “let’s get this done now so we don’t have to worry about it later”.