Kenny Atkinson

Four Coaches To Get Second Interviews With 76ers

Sixers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer will meet this week in New York with Kenny Atkinson, Brett Brown, Adrian Griffin and Jay Larranaga, giving those four their second interviews for the team's head coaching vacancy, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Another candidate, David Vanterpool, may join them for what would be his second interview, as well. Sixers assistant coach Michael Curry also remains in the running for the job.

A report this weekend named Vanterpool, a Blazers assistant, the favorite to land the job, while many other recent dispatches put Brown, an assistant with the Spurs, in the lead. The Sixers have been without a coach since Harris confirmed in mid-April that Doug Collins won't be back on the sidelines. New GM Sam Hinkie put the coaching search on the backburner shortly after that, but he's been deliberate even as he's reached out to candidates.

Wojnarowski mentioned Vanterpool, Brown, Curry and Celtics assistant Larranaga among the contenders last week, while a report earlier in July suggested the team had narrowed its choices to Brown and Curry. Atkinson, an assistant with the Hawks, has largely been off the radar aside from the report last month that he would get his first interview. Griffin, a Bulls assistant, interviewed with the Pistons earlier in the offseason, a couple months before the Sixers showed interest.

Sixers To Interview Kenny Atkinson, Quin Snyder

The Sixers finally appear to be ramping up their efforts to find a new head coach, having asked for and received permission to meet with candidates like Heat assistant David Fizdale, and Bulls assistants Ed Pinckney and Adrian Griffin. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports adds a couple more names to the Philadelphia's list of options, tweeting that the team has been granted permission to speak to Hawks assistants Kenny Atkinson and Quin Snyder.

In addition to those five candidates, the Sixers are also said to be considering Nuggets assistant Melvin Hunt, Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, and their own assistant, Michael Curry. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Larranaga met with Sixers management yesterday to discuss the team's head coaching opening.

The Sixers are the last team to name a new head coach during an offseason in which nearly half of the NBA's clubs made changes. When they officially make a decision, Philadelphia will become the 13th team to hire a new head coach since the season ended.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Nets, Atkinson

A few months removed from a tough playoff exit against the Heat and now with added firepower from a busy offseason, anything less than a rematch with Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals would be unfathomable for the Celtics, writes Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston. A panel made up of Celtics bloggers also weighed in on Boston's chances this season, with all predicting an appearance in the conference finals and one of them predicting a championship. Here's more of what we're hearing out of the Atlantic Division tonight:  
  • Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston (via Twitter) noted Celtics guard Avery Bradley's thoughts on Ray Allen leaving Boston: "We’re a family before anything… It’s tough, but we all wish him the best."
  • Tim Bontemps of the New York Post writes that Nets GM Billy King and head coach Avery Johnson will be in London this week to attend the Olympics, presumably to watch Deron Williams play. 
  • According to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, Tyson Chandler sees the departure of assistant coach Kenny Atkinson to Atlanta as a big loss for the Knicks (Sulia link). 

Atlantic Rumors: Garnett, Delfino, Knicks, Teletovic

It's not uncommon for NBA players to own a stake in other sports. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are joint owners of a racehorse, and LeBron James is a part of Fenway Sports Group, the parent company of baseball's Boston Red Sox and English soccer club Liverpool FC. Nonetheless, the NBA will not permit Kevin Garnett to invest in AS Roma, an Italian soccer team, because Celtics minority owner James Pallotta is already one of the club's owners, as Frank Dell’Apa of the Boston Globe reported this weekend. We've got more on the C's and their Atlantic Division rivals here: