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Messina In Line for Nets Assistant's Job?


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A Spanish basketball writer tweets Ettore Messina, regarded as Europe's top coach--and a Mikhail Prokhorov favorite, is in line for an assistant's job with the Nets next season. Miguel Angel Paniagua wrote: "New Jersey is going to offer Ettore Messina - if they haven't already - to be an assistant coach starting in 2011-12."

 

Messina resigned as head coach of Real Madrid Friday. The Italian coach arrived in the Spanish powerhouse in the summer of 2009 from CSKA Moscow but in one year and half did not achieve the desired results despite the big investments from the management. While at CSKA, Messina won two Euroleague championships. He is believed to be close to Sergei Kushchenko, the CSKA GM during the championship runs. Kushchenko is now Prokhorov's top sports adviser.

 

http://www.netsdaily.com/2011/3/7/2034875/former-cska-head-coach-messina-in-line-for-nets-assistants-job

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Funny, I was thinking of the possibility of bringing him aboard as an assistant coach a couple days ago. He dismissed interest in the NBA last season. You wonder if he has his eyes open either to the head coaching job in Toronto or an assistant coaching spot in Jersey.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Through the eyes of Ettore Messina. Long regarded as the best coach outside North America, is Messina now free to pursue a career in the NBA?

 

If so, he insists he would come to the NBA to serve as nothing more than an assistant coach.

 

"It would be interesting," Messina said Wednesday from Spain, where he shocked European basketball by resigning as coach of Real Madrid two weeks ago. "But I need first of all to see if I could be a good assistant after many years of not being an assistant. And then it would have to be made clear that I am not going there to steal anybody's job."

 

Messina does not delude himself about becoming an NBA coach. Whenever the topic has come up over the years, he has shot it down quickly by referring to the fundamental differences between the leagues of Europe and the NBA.

 

There are very few clubs that have the budget and ambition to help Messina fulfill his vision for how a team should be built. If he can't find a promising offer to remain in Europe next year, he may be open to spending a season or two on an NBA bench, where he could learn a new perspective while also providing his team with different strategies. In the meantime, Messina plans to accept an invitation from San Antonio to spend eight days with the Spurs -- and his former star at Bologna, Manu Ginobili -- later this month.

Ian Thomsen

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I think a couple of our coaches will head to college or at least those were the rumours last year. If he really wants an international crowd, he is the perfect guy for the job.

Yep, Larry Krystowiak has been mentioned as a candidate for coaching at the University of Utah, so there's one potential opening.

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