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Latest On Larry Drew, Cavaliers

April 8th, 2019 at 8:49am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers and head coach Larry Drew have yet to discuss Drew’s future with the team, he told reporters on Sunday. As Tom Withers of The Associated Press details, Drew said that conversation will take place once Cleveland’s regular season ends.

While the Cavs haven’t confirmed that they’ll conduct a full-fledged coaching search this spring, they also haven’t done anything to give the idea that Drew will return, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. According to Vardon, NBA insiders would be “shocked” if Cleveland ultimately ends up retaining Drew, who has a club option for 2019/20. He’d receive a buyout if he’s not retained.

After replacing Tyronn Lue early in the season, Drew has done a decent job with a poor hand — he and the Cavs have had to deal with injuries all season, with star forward Kevin Love only having appeared in 22 games. The team has a 19-56 record under Drew.

Still, even if the Cavs were interested in bringing back Drew, it’s not clear that he’d reciprocate that interest. He told The Athletic back in January, “I don’t know if I ever want to be a head coach again after this year,” adding that he hadn’t been looking to fill that role heading into the 2018/19 season.

“I think he’d be great for the future, but, I don’t even know if he wants it,” Love said of Drew, per Vardon. “He knows that I have his back and I think a lot of the guys have his back.”

If the Cavs do move on from Drew and give GM Koby Altman a chance to hand-pick his own head coach, there’s a good chance that Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez will get a serious look from the Cavs, sources tell Vardon. Vardon adds that the team is doing its homework on Luke Walton, who is widely expected to be dismissed by the Lakers.

Larry Drew Unlikely To Coach Cavs Long-Term

January 24th, 2019 at 3:38pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers have begun searching for a permanent head coach for 2019/20 and beyond, and Larry Drew isn’t believed to be a serious candidate, according to a report from Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. While Drew has served as Cleveland’s interim coach since Tyronn Lue‘s dismissal earlier this season, he’s unsure he’d want to return next season and doesn’t appear likely to be asked, per Vardon and Lloyd.

“I don’t know if I ever want to be a head coach again after this year,” said Drew, who has dealt with a constant stream of injuries since Lue’s ouster, guiding the Cavs to a 9-34 record.

According to Vardon and Lloyd, the Cavaliers will likely seek a first-time NBA head coach who has experience developing players and/or coaching in the G League. The club hasn’t yet begun reaching out to candidates or their agents, since the search is still in its infancy. However, The Athletic duo identifies six candidates who have ties to the Cavs or GM Koby Altman and could be fits. Those six candidates are:

Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez
Hornets assistant Steve Hetzel
Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin
Hawks assistant Chris Jent
Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley
Jazz assistant Alex Jensen

It’s not entirely clear whether Vardon and Lloyd are just speculating based on the criteria outlined by the Cavs and Altman’s history with those coaches, or if they have inside info on the club’s wish list. Either way, it seems safe to assume that at least a few of those assistants will receive consideration from Cleveland.

For now, Drew is still running the show and the 60-year-old coach admits that he’s happy Lue was let go early in the season — not because he wanted to supplant Lue, but because he believes the Cavs’ struggles this year would have been hard on the team’s former head coach, who battled stress and health issues last season.

“I wouldn’t want to see him go through this,” Drew said. “I wouldn’t want him to go through it from a physical and mental standpoint after some of the things that he went through. He deserves better after having won a championship. He deserves much, much better.”

When the Cavs initially replaced Lue with Drew, he resisted taking on the title of interim head coach until the team gave him a raise and a small financial guarantee for next season. Several months later, he still doesn’t sound like someone who wanted the job to begin with, as Vardon and Lloyd relay.

“I wasn’t looking to do this. I was not looking to do this at all,” Drew said. “But it happened. Ain’t a whole lot you can do about it.”

Nuggets Finalize Coaching Staff

September 14th, 2016 at 5:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nuggets have hired former Rockets assistant Chris Finch to join their coaching staff, the team announced today. Finch, who spent five years as an assistant in Houston and two as a D-League coach with Rio Grande Valley, is among four hirings and five promotions as Denver finalized the staff for head coach Michael Malone.

Today’s other announced hirings were assistant coach Jordi Fernandez, who spent the past two seasons as coach of the Cavaliers’ D-League affiliate in Canton; player development representative Stephen Graham, who played six years in the NBA and served as a D-League assistant in Fort Wayne last season; and head video coordinator Travis Armenta, who spent the past five seasons as assistant video coordinator for the Kings.

Wes Unseld Jr., an assistant coach with the Nuggets last season, has been promoted to Malone’s lead assistant. He coached with the Wizards, Warriors and Magic before coming to Denver. Also promoted were assistant coaches Micah Nori and Ryan Bowen, new player development coach Ognjen Stojakovic and new assistant video coordinator Tommy Massimino Jr.

And-Ones: Celtics, Mavs, Suns, Sixers

July 4th, 2016 at 10:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics will likely pick up their $12MM team option on power forward Amir Johnson now that Kevin Durant has opted to join the Warriors, Jason Quick of CSNNW.com tweets. Johnson averaged 7.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 79 regular-season games with Boston last season. The Celtics are expected to retain fellow power forward Jonas Jerebko, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets. Jerebko averaged 4.4 points and 3.7 rebounds in 78 regular-season appearances last season. Both salaries for the 29-year-old forwards become guaranteed if the Celtics don’t cut them loose by Thursday.

In other news around the league:

The Mavericks are determined to retain center Salah Mejri despite trading for Andrew Bogut on Monday, according to David Aldridge of NBA com (Twitter link). Mejri’s approximate $875K salary for next season becomes guaranteed on July 12th if he remains on the roster.
The Suns will give point guard Tyler Ulis, their second-round pick, the equivalent of a late first-round pick’s contract starting at approximately $1MM, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports. Ulis will receive two guaranteed years with two team option years, just as first-rounders get, Coro adds, though Phoenix is unsure whether Ulis can be the third point guard as a rookie.
Former NBA guard Alvin Williams is working with the Sixers’ coaching staff during Summer League action, and is likely to remain on the club’s staff beyond the summer, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Latvian small forward Davis Bertans is negotiating a deal with the Spurs in the $1.3MM-$2MM range, according to international journalist David Pick. Talks have been ongoing since Friday between San Antonio and the 2011 draft-and-stash prospect, Pick adds (Twitter links). Bertans’ NBA opt-out, which expires in mid-July, is worth the standard $650K.
The Nuggets have added Jordi Fernandez to their coaching staff, according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post. Fernandez was head coach of the Cavaliers’ D-League team, the Canton Charge.