2:42pm: Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders hears Musselman isn’t a legitimate candidate (Twitter link).
1:24pm: Former Warriors and Kings head coach Eric Musselman is emerging as a candidate for the Grizzlies should the team let go of Dave Joerger, who’s set to interview Thursday with the Timberwolves. Musselman is “indeed being mentioned” as a possible candidate for Memphis, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com, ostensibly referring to conversations taking place in and around the Grizzlies organization. Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal, in a subscription-only piece, first noted the close bond between Musselman and David Mincberg, the attorney-turned-scouting director for the Grizzlies who’s asserting more power within the team’s basketball operations department of late. Mincberg and Joerger are on the outs, as Calkins has noted.
Musselman left his job as an assistant coach at Arizona State University this spring, and he pursued college head coaching jobs at Cal and South Florida. He was a D-League head coach in 2010/11 and 2011/12, but he hasn’t been with an NBA club since his stint as Kings head coach in 2006/07. He’s 108-138 in three full seasons as an NBA bench boss.
Joerger said in radio interviews Tuesday that he was staying in Memphis, Calkins notes. That sets an odd backdrop to what appears to be a burgeoning coaching change 24 hours later. A report in the immediate aftermath of the departures of CEO Jason Levien and assistant GM Stu Lash indicated the Grizzlies were considering a run at Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.