David

Blatt

This comes as a bit of a surprise as Blatt had interviewed with NBA teams and had a standing offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv. We may see Blatt in the NBA again someday, but Blatt will now focus his attention on Euroleague as Darussafaka Dogus has a wild card to participate in the league next season.

“I don’t see myself not being a head coach somewhere but you never know,” Blatt said. “I’m going to coach next year. I’m not going to sit out. It’s not in my nature. I want to work. I’ll be back somewhere. Could be anywhere.” Blatt was linked to the opening in Houston, but it now sounds like Stephen Silas and Mike D’Antoni are the frontrunners for the Rockets.

“I just think right now I’m not thinking about,” Blatt said. “But, no. I think I did enough good things in the NBA and I know enough people to where if it’s my desire in some way, shape or form to come back that I could. But it’s just not what I’m thinking about right now.” Blatt may not want to return to the league in an assistant’s role, so it’s possible he waits until he has a legitimate shot to land a head coaching gig.

Blatt will coach Darussafaka Dogus at least one more season. There had been rumors that Blatt would consider returning to the NBA at some point, but he will honor his current contract in Turkey for the 2017-18 campaign.

According to a person close to Blatt, he came away from his meeting with Phil Jackson with the belief that he’s a serious candidate for the job. Several reports seem to indicate that Kurt Rambis is the current frontrunner and Frank Vogel is also in the mix now, but it appears to be a three-man race for the job.

Blatt has made his rounds on the job market, but there is no indication that he’s currently a front-runner in any place he’s interviewed. It’s difficult to imagine Blatt finding success with a team that is currently an absolute mess and without clear direction, so we don’t love the potential fit here.

Anthony reportedly feels that Blatt could bring along Kristaps Porzingis in his development quicker than current frontrunner Kurt Rambis due to his familiarity with coaching European players, and this is yet another subtle hint from Melo that he does not view Rambis as the proper fit to coach the Knicks.

According to El Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona contacted the coach asking if he is interested in returning to Europe. Blatt has been mentioned as a potential hire for the Rockets and Knicks, but won the Euroleague title in 2014 with Maccabi Tel Aviv so this move could be of interest to him. With suitors literally all over the world, it doesn’t sound like Blatt will be out of a job very long.

Despite Mike D’Antoni’s status as the frontrunner, Blatt is also still in the running for the Rockets job, according to Stein. While Blatt would like to return to the NBA, he may have to decide between taking a top assistant job in the NBA and a head coaching job overseas.

“I have an end game and that end game is that I would really like to go back to the NBA,” Blatt said. “There were no changes in the NBA this year from a coaching standpoint and my real goal is to try next year to get back into the league as a head coach.” Blatt’s first head coaching stint in the NBA ended rather acrimoniously as he was never really able to see eye-to-eye with LeBron “GM” James, although with a coaching record of 83-40, perhaps another team out there will give him a shot at some point.