The Cleveland Cavaliers will reportedly interview San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina this week for the team’s head coaching position.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are continuing to progress in their head coaching search, which reportedly included an interview with San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Ime Udoka on Sunday, according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, in which Udoka, per Fedor, was “sharp and knowledgeable.”
Fedor also mentioned how the Cavaliers are set to interview fellow Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina this week. Like Udoka has been, Messina reportedly has been one of the keys in helping the Spurs continue to have success in recent years, and has been “one of Gregg Popovich’s top assistants in San Antonio since 2014.”
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Fedor would go on to highlight Messina’s impressive track record in his report as well.
"“A four-time EuroLeague champion head coach, two-time EuroLeague Coach of the Year, seven-time Italian Cup winner, five-time Russian League champion and four-time Russian League Coach of the Year, Messina is considered one of of the best European coaches of all time.”"
He would then emphasize that though one may see a potential parallel with the European basketball resume, the Cleveland Cavaliers do not see a similar scenario to former Cleveland head coach David Blatt.
"“The Cavaliers went this route five years ago, hiring David Blatt after an extensive search in 2014. But Cleveland believes Messina would be much different because he has gained valuable NBA experience as a Spurs assistant as opposed to being thrust immediately into the top job without any time to get acclimated to the NBA game.”"
Messina having seemingly all kinds of success in Europe is good to hear, obviously, and him being under the tutelage of Gregg Popovich is never a bad thing for a team interviewing a potential head coach.
That being said, it appears that there are a number of good candidates emerging for Cleveland’s head coaching position.
In an appearance on the “Bull and Fox” radio show (in which Fedor filled in for the “Bull” today) on 92.3 The Fan, former Cleveland Cavaliers and well-traveled NBA big Ryan Hollins (who is now an ESPN NBA analyst) really gave a glowing endorsement for Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley (who Cleveland has already interviewed by the way, per Fedor) and Denver Nuggets assistant coach Jordi Fernandez who has seemingly been on Cleveland’s radar for months (h/t 92.3 The Fan’s Keith Britton).
.@TheRyanHollins on @BullandFox: "I love Jordi (Fernandez). A real intellect. He's done a great job w/ guys in Denver. His roots came from the Spanish league, a really good coach." Also says Jamahl Mosley is "a basketball genius...one of hardest working coaches I've seen" #Cavs
— Keith Britton (@KeithBritton86) May 6, 2019
Additionally, Fedor also noted that Cleveland has interviewed “Miami assistant Juwan Howard, former Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Utah assistant Alex Jensen.”
Moreover, it appears that Cavs general manager Koby Altman is going to be uber-patient in this head coaching search, which is how it should be for the long-term outlook of the team, as we’ve often said here at KJG since Cleveland and former head coach Larry Drew (who went 19-57, per Basketball Reference, in 2018-19) reportedly mutually parted ways last month (as was initially reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium).
Along with that, according to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops in an appearance on 92.3 The Fan’s “Baskin and Phelps,” it appears that Cleveland will at least wait until after the 2019 NBA Draft lottery (which is on May 14) to hire a head coach, which seems sensible at this point.