While the Coaching Carousel is in full swing around the league there is not much news coming out of Atlanta. This could be because of Hawks co-owner being reportedly out of town this week. If that is true then expect everything to fire back up next week.
ESPN's Marc Stein updates all of the coaching news in his True Hoop post from yesterday. Add to this story that reports are now that Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau has actually turned down New Orleans and will now focus on the vacancy with the Chicago Bulls. New Orleans is expected to offer Portland Assistant Monty Williams but could Avery Johnson inch back into the conversation?
Where does that leave the Hawks? More after the Jump.
Not much has changed for the Hawks on the coaching search front. Stein rehashes that both Avery Johnson and Dwane Casey have each received two interviews for the job. There was also a rumor that Avery had scheduled a third meeting with the Hawks which could very well happen next week. In the mean time Johnson has also interviewed for the New Jersey Nets job although details from that meeting have been scarce.
It is interesting that Dwane Casey is rumored for the Clippers job, but it appears that he hasn't been interviewing with anyone else at least publicly. The general consensus around coaching circles was that he was the favorite for the Hawks job because of his previous dealings with Atlanta General Manager Rick Sund. I find it interesting that he seems to have vanished as a candidate for any other teams.
The only thing that is semi new to report this week is that the Hawks are trying to convince everyone that this isn't a two man race between Casey and Johnson. ESPN anchor Mark Jackson interviewed for the job over the weekend and according to Stein, a source close to the Hawks reports that former Mike Woodson assistant Larry Drew was also being considered for the job.
Still there isn't anything out there to support that this is more than a two man race. The Hawks can talk Jackson and Drew all they want and probably should as it will help in negotiations. Still ultimately I would expect a very less than desirable reaction from the fan base if Drew were to actually get the job. Nothing personal against Drew but you don't fire Mike Woodson after the season to turn around and hire one of his assistants.
Exit Question: Is this a two man race? With Tom Thibodeau rumored to be ready to take the Chicago job, are there any other candidates that the Hawks should look at?
Correction
It is my intentions to be factual in all the information that I present here and today I erroneously reported that Marc Stein didn't mention Dwane Casey as a candidate for the Clippers when he actually clearly did. Therefore the above post has been corrected. Big thanks goes out to Brenda who emailed me about the mistake. I am happy to make the correction. Sorry guys.