Cavs To Interview Ettore Messina For Coaching Vacancy This Week

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Tue May 7, 2019 5:53 am

The Cleveland Cavaliers received permission to interview Ettore Messina from the San Antonio Spurs. The interview will take place this week.

Messina is one of Gregg Popovich's top assistants with the Spurs.

The Cavs interviewed another Spurs assistant in Ime Udoka on Sunday.

Via Chris Fedor/cleveland.com

LukaMagic · Post #2 » by **LukaMagic** » Tue May 7, 2019 6:27 am

Don't do it Messina, it's not worth it. Just wait for a true opportunity..

macNcheese3 · Post #3 » by **macNcheese3** » Tue May 7, 2019 5:03 pm

LukaMagic wrote:Don't do it Messina, it's not worth it. Just wait for a true opportunity..

How much longer should he wait? He’s been interviewing for HC jobs for several years now

LukaMagic · Post #4 » by **LukaMagic** » Tue May 7, 2019 5:06 pm

macNcheese3 wrote:
LukaMagic wrote:Don't do it Messina, it's not worth it. Just wait for a true opportunity..

How much longer should he wait? He’s been interviewing for HC jobs for several years now

If nothing else comes along, just wait for Pop to retire. It isn't worth it to get a first head coaching gig on awfully runned teams - just look at what happened to Kokoshkov, Blatt and I would even argue for Luke Walton. Top notch coaches who got screwed by bad organisations.

Revenged25 · Post #5 » by **Revenged25** » Tue May 7, 2019 5:30 pm

LukaMagic wrote:
macNcheese3 wrote:
LukaMagic wrote:Don't do it Messina, it's not worth it. Just wait for a true opportunity..

How much longer should he wait? He’s been interviewing for HC jobs for several years now

If nothing else comes along, just wait for Pop to retire. It isn't worth it to get a first head coaching gig on awfully runned teams - just look at what happened to Kokoshkov, Blatt and I would even argue for Luke Walton. Top notch coaches who got screwed by bad organisations.

Blatt and Walton's issue was that they took over head coaching jobs expecting to be able to try and develop the young players on the roster only for the mission of the team to change shortly after they were hired due to LeBron James deciding to go to their teams. I think both Blatt and Walton would've been fine if they were able to do what they were hired to do, not get tossed into the deep end of needing to coach a Finals contender due to a player causing the org to swap the gameplan.

The Cavs aren't looking to instantly turn it around. They want to build longterm success, which is why I think they wanted to keep Kevin Love around as they saw how bad things got last time without a talented veteran on the roster to help the young guys out in knowing how they need to act/play in the NBA.

So the Cavs have a talented young guard in Sexton who had a very good season though overshadowed by Trae and Doncic, some above average/average young starters in Osman and Nance Jr who can still develop further, an All-Star caliber PF when healthy in Kevin Love, and likely a top 2-5 pick in the draft. Oh and they'll have plenty of money in 2020 to make sure they can keep their guys, look to improve if it looks like the right time to do so. There are some teams more successful than the Cavs right now that I think would be a worse job to take.

JonFromVA · Post #6 » by **JonFromVA** » Tue May 7, 2019 6:37 pm

macNcheese3 wrote:
LukaMagic wrote:Don't do it Messina, it's not worth it. Just wait for a true opportunity..

How much longer should he wait? He’s been interviewing for HC jobs for several years now

Messina is nearly 60. Frankly too old for a rebuilding team. The Cavs are probably interviewing him so they don't seem like they're partaking in age discrimination again after Ty Lue opened his big mouth to an answering machine.

On the flip side, Messina could always use some NBA head coaching experience on his resume and it's not like the Spurs are going to forget about him when Pops does eventually decide to retire.