Two seasons ago Ettore Messina was part of Mike Brown’s Los Angeles Lakers staff during the lockout season, but he left this season (good timing) to be the head coach of CSKA Moscow.
Now he could be coming back to the NBA — and sitting in the big chair.
The Hawks are talking to the Italian-born Messina about their head coaching job, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.Ettore Messina, the Italian-born coach of CSKA Moscow, is among the top candidates to replace coach Larry Drew. Ferry and Messina have had contact about the possibility, and Messina is intrigued with the chance to be a global trail blazer in the NBA, sources told Y! Sports.
Ferry recently scouted CSKA Moscow in London at the Euroleague Final Four.
First, we have to say that Larry Drew has not yet been fired in Atlanta. Yet the fact that GM Danny Ferry is reaching out to several coaches to gauge interest in the job tells you pretty much all you need to know about his future in the ATL Drew and his assistants are looking for other jobs.
The first person Ferry reached out to about the head coaching job was reportedly Stan Van Gundy. That didn’t go so well and isn’t going to happen.
Ferry also has interviewed Nate McMillan this week. It is expected he might talk to some of the top assistant coaches out there as well.
Messina has had incredible success in Europe — he has won five Russian and four Italian league titles in his time. His teams have won the EuroLeague (where the best teams from across Europe compete against each other) four times.
Messina has turned down NBA rebuilding projects before. He’s considered a hard personality at times and puts the team ahead of the players — fans love that but it doesn’t always go as well in the locker room.
But he has a fantastic basketball mind. He would bring a system and style of ball movement and player movement that could be fantastic in the NBA if the players buy in.
I doubt it happens, I bet Messina lands with another top European club. But it would be interesting.
