Ime Udoka appears to be a hot head coaching candidate.
The Sixers assistant coach will interview with the New York Knicks about their head job, per Shams Charania of The Athletic. Orlando Magic assistant Pat Delany will also interview for the position, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
This comes after rumors swirled about Udoka possibly being a candidate for the Chicago Bulls head coaching job. Those reports came on the heels of the team hiring former Sixers senior VP of player personnel Marc Eversley as GM. The Bulls have not officially let Jim Boylen go, but it would make sense that Eversley and new executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas would look for a new voice.
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Udoka also interviewed for the Cavaliers head job that ultimately went to John Beilein before the 2019-20 season.
It’s not going out on a limb to say the Knicks’ job is not the most attractive in the NBA. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2013 and they have a mercurial owner in James Dolan. While the team has a couple young intriguing players like rookie RJ Barrett and second-year big Mitchell Robinson, there appear to be a lot more roster questions than answers.
When Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic first reported Chicago’s interest, he revealed that Udoka’s current contract makes him one of the highest-paid assistants in the league. The 42-year-old was plucked from Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio this past offseason to replace Monty Williams as Brett Brown’s top assistant, and take over for Billy Lange as the team’s de facto defensive coordinator.
As stated in our previous article about Udoka being a hot commodity, how the Sixers choose to handle this situation could tell us a lot about what the organization thinks of Udoka — and possibly its current head coach.
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