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David Blatt most likely candidate for NBA Brooklyn Nets’ head coach — source

Last Friday, Blatt was sacked from the post of the head coach of Cleveland Cavaliers

David Blatt EPA/TANNEN MAURY

David Blatt

© EPA/TANNEN MAURY

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. David Blatt, a former US-born head coach of NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and Russia’s national basketball team, is one of the main candidates to manage Brooklyn Nets, which is owned by Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, a source familiar with the matter told TASS on Monday.

"Brooklyn [Nets] is currently considering several candidacies for the post of the club’s head coach and Blatt’s candidacy is the priority one," the source said in an interview with TASS.

Read also

NBA coach Blatt ready to consult Russian team

Last Friday, Blatt was sacked from the post of the head coach of Cleveland Cavaliers, although the club enjoyed the leading position in its conference boasting the record of 30 wins and 11 defeats.

David Griffin, the Cavaliers’ general manager, was cited as saying by ESPN last week, that Blatt was sacked from the post of the title-chasing club since his "lack of fit with our personnel and our vision."

Blatt, the 56-year-old former professional basketball player and titled coach, led the Russian national team to the FIBA EuroBasket champion’s title in 2007 and the bronze of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

Russian billionaire and former presidential candidate Prokhorov, 50, bought the then New Jersey Nets in 2010 for $200 million and later relocated the club to Brooklyn, which has a large Russian population.

He owned 80% of the Brooklyn Nets and 45% of Barclays Center until last month when he gained full control of the club and the sports arena. According to Bloomberg, the Russian tycoon paid further in December the sum of $875 million for the club and $825 million for Barclays Center.

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