Jazz given permission to speak to several assistants for HC vacancy

The Jazz have been given the green light to talk to a variety of well-regarded current assistant coaches about their current head coaching vacancy, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Several of the names Woj mentions had been floated in reports earlier this week. Celtics assistant coach Joe Mazzulla joins an expanding list of assistant coaches under consideration by Utah brass. Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets that Mazzulla worked as an assistant coach under both Brad Stevens and now Ime Udoka in Boston, and has assumed a more significant role while on Udoka’s bench this season. The Celtics are currently knotted 1-1 in the NBA Finals against the Warriors. Mazzulla interviewed for the head coaching position with Boston in 2021 after Stevens moved into a front office role with the franchise.

Woj reiterates that the Jazz are set to consider current Utah assistants Alex Jensen and Terry Stotts, who served on the staff of departed head coach Quin Snyder. Woj reports that Utah’s front office will also speak with Knicks assistant coach Johnnie Bryant, Celtics assistant coaches Will Hardy and the aforementioned new addition Mazzulla, and Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee. These five assistant coaches had been listed on the team’s preliminary list.

Suns assistant coach Kevin Young and Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin have also previously been listed as possible candidates, though they were not mentioned in Woj’s statement today.

The other key piece of new information from Woj is that the coaching search is anticipated to accrue further names, including both assistants and recent NBA head coaches. Wojnarowski indicates that the team will cast a wide net and move gradually in its search.

In eight seasons with Snyder at the helm, Utah never advanced beyond the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. This year, the Jazz finished with a 49-33 regular season record and lost 4-2 in the first round to the Mavericks.