{"id":81229,"date":"2024-06-12T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=81229"},"modified":"2024-06-12T16:58:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:58:10","slug":"cavs-whittling-down-field-head-coach-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/12\/cavs-whittling-down-field-head-coach-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs Whittling Down Field of Head Coach Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers are whittling down their field of head coach candidates. After beginning with \u201cwhat was once around 10<\/a>,\u201d they\u2019re now down \u201cto a group of four or five finalists who are set for in-person meetings,\u201d per cleveland.com\u2019s Chris Fedor.<\/p>\n

Cavs Whittling Down Field of Head Coach Candidates<\/h2>\n

New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego \u201chas been viewed as the \u2018leader in the clubhouse\u2019 since late last week.\u201d The 46-year-old had a meeting with<\/a> the Cavs on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

James Borrego<\/h4>\n

All indications are that Borrego\u2019s the guy Cleveland wants for the job, with the franchise relying on their network of former Cavs employees and players during their vetting process. To that point, Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, another former Cavs executive, and former Cavs forward-center Larry Nance Jr.<\/a> are among those to \u201chave spoken positively about Borrego.\u201d He\u2019s described as \u201chumble, innovative, engaging and diplomatic\u201d and \u201cwilling to learn and listen.\u201d With that said, his intangibles have sparkled under the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Kenny Atkinson<\/h4>\n

Golden State assistant coach Kenny Atkinson \u201cis also expected to sit down with the Cavaliers this week, likely Wednesday or Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considered the early frontrunner for their head coaching vacancy, the Cavs \u201cwill have a more in-depth conversation about his plan to help the franchise advance forward…\u201d With that said, he\u2019s a serious candidate for the gig. Regarded as a culture-builder in his time with the Brooklyn Nets, it\u2019s worth noting that he wasn\u2019t fired because of performance. Instead, he and the Nets parted ways because he and a younger, less mature version<\/a> of Irving weren\u2019t seeing eye-to-eye.<\/p>\n

An analytics truther who has learned under Steve Kerr, Mike D\u2019Antoni, and Mike Budenholzer, he should be able to improve the Cavs\u2019 offense by quickening the pace.<\/p>\n

Who Are the Other Finalists?<\/h3>\n

Two finalists known, but there are two or three who aren\u2019t. Still, there are clues to their identity.<\/p>\n

Last week, Cleveland received permission to interview several assistants. Among them, two may have already met with at least two teams.<\/p>\n

David Adelman<\/h4>\n

Denver Nuggets assistant David Adelman has interviewed for the Charlotte Hornets\u2019 and Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 head coaching vacancies. The son of Hall of Fame head coach Rick Adelman, his experience with Denver makes him an intriguing choice. The Cavs don\u2019t have a Nikola Jokic<\/a> on their team. However, he could bring the best out of 2021 No. 3 pick Evan Mobley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chris Quinn<\/h4>\n

Miami Heat lead assistant Chris Quinn may have been considered by the Hornets before they hired Boston Celtics lead assistant Charles Lee. However, he\u2019s known to have interviews for L.A.\u2019s vacancy too. Frankly, Quinn may still be being considered by the Lakers now that they\u2019re back to the drawing board<\/a>. That said, the Heat\u2019s ability to reach the NBA Finals twice in the last five years make him an enticing prospect.<\/p>\n

Micah Nori<\/h4>\n

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Micah Nori has interviewed for L.A. as well. Like Quinn, he\u2019s at second-in-command on the coaching staff of a dominant defensive team. However, he also comes with the reputation of a player\u2019s coach. There really isn\u2019t much known about him. Nonetheless, the trust he\u2019s earned from his players, peers, and superiors can\u2019t be overlooked.<\/p>\n

Dave Joerger<\/h4>\n

Lastly, there\u2019s former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger, hired by the Cavs as a coaching consultant in 2023-24. There are no reports that he\u2019s been interviewed, so he may not be a candidate. However, if he was<\/a>, Joerger could also bring Mobley to life. Indeed, the Grizzlies relied on their big men\u2019s offense in his time there. This and his existing links to the Cavs make it possible that he\u2019s one of the finalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers are whittling down their field of head coach candidates. After beginning with \u201cwhat was once around 10,\u201d they\u2019re now down \u201cto a group of four or five finalists who are set for in-person meetings,\u201d per cleveland.com\u2019s Chris Fedor. Cavs Whittling Down Field of Head Coach Candidates New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":81239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1608,20,25,26,16,62,33,3],"tags":[49173,1337,49164,1557,236,49229],"class_list":["post-81229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavaliers","category-basketball","category-nuggets","category-warriors","category-lakers","category-heat","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-news","tag-chris-quinn","tag-dave-joerger","tag-david-adelman","tag-james-borrego","tag-kenny-atkinson","tag-micah-nori"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}