A Nets player is publicly advocating for David Blatt as coach
David Blatt hasn't even been unemployed for two weeks, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mills from turning in his absence from Cleveland. Blatt, who the Cavaliers fired exactly halfway into their season, is now a free agent, available to sign with any team in need of a coach.
The Nets, who fired coach Lionel Hollins and reassigned general manager Billy King at the beginning of January, are one of those teams. And Sergey Karasev, a little-used bench player who played for Blatt as a member of the Russian National Team back in the 2012 Olympics, is advocating for the team to bring in his former Olympic coach, via NetsDaily:
In an interview with Match TV, a Russian sports channel, Karasev said he thinks the Nets will pursue Blatt, who coached him on Team Russia in 2012. Russian won the bronze at the London Olympics.
"There were no signs of trouble -- Cleveland played in The Finals last season, and now ranks first in the conference. But it happens. I think Brooklyn will make every effort to get David. I know him and I am on good terms with him . Of course, his appointment would be a plus for me, " Karasev said in an interview with the program, "Sports interest, "on the TV channel.
It's nice to see Karasev being honest, but it's always a bit of an awkward look to see a player drop the name of a potential future coach when he still technically has a bench leader in interim coach Tony Brown. On top of that, while the Nets probably will have interest in Blatt—given his success with Cleveland and his Russian ties—you'd have to imagine the team will find a general manager before anything else, then let the new GM hire his own coach. It might be a bit too early to start prognosticating about the next Nets coach because of that.
