Hey, Nets: don’t bother.
After a report circulated that the Nets would offer to make Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski the highest paid coach in sports, the college legend squashed the notion before it ever took off, saying for the third time this season that he is not interested in the job.
Hours before he coached the Blue Devils to victory over Butler in last night’s NCAA championship game, Krzyzewski said in a statement, “You would be flattered if someone would offer you a job, but I would not be interested.”
So the Nets’ coaching search could lead them to former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who team sources say is the likely leading candidate, followed by Avery Johnson. But again, nothing has been settled.
“I haven’t talked to anybody about it,” team president Rod Thorn said.
Van Gundy yesterday declined comment, other than to say there’s nothing to reports that he could be the Nets’ next coach. He is very content with his current job as a TV analyst, and apparently needs to decide if he wants to return to coaching at this time.
Krzyzewski’s statement was in response to a Bergen Record report claiming incoming owner Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, will offer Krzyzewski $12-15 million per year to coach the Nets and possibly serve as general manager.
Krzyzewski would be an ideal hire for the Nets — he is respected, he has ties to the most attractive free agents from his work with the U.S. Olympic team and he is a heckuva coach. It would make sense for him to listen. But he says he won’t. Colleagues of Krzyzewski insist his family and loyalty to Duke would override even the most lucrative offer.
Krzyzewski said in February it would be easy to say “nyet” to the Nets, and in March again said he was not interested.
Multiple sources throughout the Nets organization insisted they were unaware of such an offer being prepared for Coach K and had heard nothing about the proposal, which one source called “speculative.” Thorn, who expects to be able to pick the coach when he officially is retained — a move that is anticipated but has not been finalized — said he has had no conversations with Krzyzewski.
“I have never talked to Mike about the position,” Thorn said. “Anybody looking to hire a coach, I’m sure would have Mike near the very top of the list.”
Assuming Thorn is retained, he will want the expected traits in a coach.
“Somebody who knows X’s and O’s, somebody who can motivate people, somebody with a certain stature,” Thorn said.
Thorn’s two permanent head-coaching hires with the Nets, Byron Scott and Lawrence Frank, were both assistants who were elevated. Kiki Vandeweghe was inserted on an interim basis. Thorn said NBA experience is a plus, not a necessity, and he would look at the college ranks because “if you can coach, you can coach.”
The candidates for the GM position, which reportedly could have been part of the Krzyzewski package, include Russian Andrei Vatutin, who worked for Prokhorov with CSKA Moscow, according to several foreign Web site reports.
Despite their futile season, Nets head coach is an exceptionally attractive job. The team has healthy cap space (over $23 million) for free agents. They are loaded with draft picks, including the possible No. 1 overall selection this season. And amid all the rubble, they had young talent shine in Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, Terrence Williams and Courtney Lee.