The Nets are still talking to other candidates and keeping their options open, but the scuttlebutt is the job is going to Avery Johnson.
Even Byron Scott -- a man really looking for a chance to return to the NBA, but with almost no chance of returning to New Jersey -- thinks so, and that’s what he told the New York Daily News.
“He’s the front-runner, and I think he’d be a very good fit in New Jersey,” former Nets coach Byron Scott told the Daily News before Sunday night’s Game 2 of the Finals between the Lakers and Celtics. “Avery is good for that situation.”
“He’s a good teacher and obviously, he’s an old-school type coach,” Scott said. “He’s a disciplinarian. And, he had Devin Harris, before in Dallas, and I think Devin has a lot of respect for him. And Avery definitely loves Devin, from the talks I’ve had with him.”
“So unless Rod wants to coach - and I know he doesn’t want to do that - I think Avery is the front-runner,” said Scott. “I can’t think of anyone else they’d be looking at.”
New Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has been looking for a way to make a big splash. Didn’t get it by winning the lottery. He isn’t going to get Phil Jackson or some other A-list coach (Johnson’s a name be not in that class).
So I guess that leaves free agency.