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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Avery to stay at ESPN; Casey has second interview

UPDATE: As we reported in Wednesday's Daily News, former Dallas coach Avery Johnson was not interested in being part of a wide-ranging coaching search. In a statement released by ESPN tonight, Johnson confirmed that he had been contacted by the Sixers, "but I have decided to stay in my role with ESPN."

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Dwane Casey, who has just completed his first season as an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks, has had a second interview for the 76ers' vacant coaching job, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Exactly when or where the second session with Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski took place remains unclear. The first meting came last week in Santa Monica, Ca. while Stefanski was in the area scouting a group of college players for the upcoming NBA draft.

Casey did not immediately respond to messages left by the Daily News. The Sixers have made it a policy not to comment on developments during their search for a replacement for Tony DiLeo.

Stefanski also met last week with longtime Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis. The Sixers have since informed Rambis that they are going in another direction. Rambis is scheduled to meet with Sacramento after the conclusion of the Eastern Conference finals between the Lakers and the Denver Nuggets. That series, tied 2-2, continues tonight in Los Angeles.

The other known remaining candidates for the Sixers job include Boston associate head coach Tom Thibodeau, former Washington and Sacramento coach Eddie Jordan and former Boston, Los Angeles Clippers and Sixers coach Chris Ford, now a pro personnel scout with the Sixers.

There is also growing reason to believe Stefanski will attempt to meet with former New York and Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy, possibly this week.

Thibodeau and Jordan are also candidates for the Kings job, along with Paul Westphal. Sources have indicated that Thibodeau could meet with the Kings later this week or possibly next week..

Casey, 52, holds a record of 53-69 in roughly a season-and-a-half coaching the Minnesota Timberwolves, taking over during 2004-05 as a replacement for Kevin McHale. He coached for a decade with the Seattle SuperSonics after spending five years coaching in Japan.

 

Posted by Phil Jasner @ 2:09 PM  Permalink | 9 comments
9
Comments   
Posted 04:54 PM, 05/27/2009
GrownMan86
DUMB MOVE!!!!!!
Comment removed.
Posted 05:01 PM, 05/27/2009
brannigan73
Dwane Casey will be the nail in Ed's casket if he hires him and the team does not see significant improvement. This hiring will suck any of what little optimism remains around this teams. Anybody but Dwane Casey please!
Posted 06:18 PM, 05/27/2009
dsoul
no van gundy please...mark jackson....no avery country johnson either
Posted 06:24 PM, 05/27/2009
dww2001
The Sixers are wasting their time here. Why are they bringing in these marginal retreads like Eddie Jordan, Dwane Casey, and Doug Collins? Take a risk on a young college coach or a respected assistant or pull out the big dollars for an elite established NBA coach (although those guys aren't really available right now), but none of these mediocre guys who will inevitably get booted in two seasons. Blow up the roster excluding Speights and Young, try to get some cap space, and buld through the draft because this team as currently constructed is going nowhere.
Posted 06:24 PM, 05/27/2009
pgcd3
You guys nailed it the other day, Yawn of a New Era. The Sixers are on their way to an empty stadium. BUT I still follow the coaching seach because it's like watching a car accident.
Posted 07:14 PM, 05/27/2009
scars73
Dei Lynam said a week ago that Casey was gonna get the job.
Posted 08:10 PM, 05/27/2009
MrPhillie
I think Stefanski should give Dei Lynam an interview.
Posted 10:47 PM, 05/27/2009
psv
In fairness, Casey coached out west with a lousy t-wolves team and for the talent that he had (KG and... Ricky Davis?), he did a respectable job. Keep in mind, it was the McHale that traded Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, not Casey. The Sixers team, as currently constructed, would be a 15 win team out West.
About Sixerville Blog
Phil Jasner joined the staff of the Daily News in 1972. He has covered the 76ers and the NBA on a full-time basis since 1981. He won the 2004 Curt Gowdy Media Award, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the sport during his career; he was a finalist for the award in 2001, when he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Professional Basketball Writers Association during the NBA Finals. He is a past president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Philadelphia College Basketball Writers Association. Along the way, he has covered high school sports, the Big 5, the Eagles and the NFL, the World Football League, the North American Soccer League and what was then the Major Indoor Soccer League. He is a proud graduate of Temple University, and spent his early professional days at the Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, Montgomery Newspapers (Fort Washington, Pa.), the Norristown (Pa.) Times-Herald and the Trentonian.

Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for almost 20 years, working in the sports department the past 12 years. This is his first season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he has been the La Salle beat writer for the past six seasons.

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