The Brooklyn Nets cleaned house earlier this season after they got off to a horrible start, and they are currently in the process of starting over. The Nets are one of the worst teams in the NBA and have maybe the bleakest future of anytime in the league, so it is imperative that they pick the right people to be the next GM and head coach. The Nets have been focused on hiring a new GM, but former Cavaliers head coach David Blatt has surfaced as someone that could be the next head coach, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
The Nets have made it clear that they will take their time in hiring both a GM and a head coach, and because of that, they have been very thorough. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov has also said that he would like to a hire a GM before he hires a new head coach, and he prefers that the GM and head coach positions are filled by two different people. The initial hope was to hire a GM by the Feb. 18 trade deadline, but that seems less likely as that date gets closer and closer.
With the Nets hope to hire two separate people to be GM and head coach, that likely eliminates John Calipari from the list of potential options. Calipari has support from Nets CEO Brett Yormark to be the team's next head coach, but he has outrageous demands and wants a lot of power in order to make the jump back to the NBA.
With Calipari most likely out, that leaves Tom Thibodeau and Blatt as the names that have been linked to the job. Thibodeau was obviously going to be linked to the job since he is the best coach on the market, but there are serious questions about whether he would be willing to take this job, considering it's likely a massive rebuilding project, according to Matt Moore of CBS Sports.
The list right now is short for the Nets coaching job because whoever the new GM is will likely form his own list and want his own guy. Having said that, Thibodeau and Blatt make sense for the Nets regardless of who the GM is, given their past success. There have been questions about whether Blatt would want to coach in the NBA again after his stint in Cleveland, where it was really difficult to judge his tenure. If Prokhorov offers Blatt a lot of money, though, I'm sure he would at least listen, and that is good for the Nets.
