Rumor: C's To Sign Israeli Coach?

by Jeff Clark on May 27, 2007 10:34 AM EDT in Rumors Comment 14 comments

This Italian website is reporting that the Celtics may be hiring David Blatt (wikipedia bio) as an assistant coach. No confirmation from US based media that I can find as of yet. - hat tip to Roy Hobbs for finding this

Update: Apparently Jonathan Givony made a phone call and has confirmed that there is no truth to this rumor.Â Which would make sense considering that the team stated at the end of the year that they had no intention of adding to the coaching staff.

0 recs | Comment 14 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

And I in turn tip my hat to ThePigeon from the RealGm forums.

I hope this is true. It sounds like the Celtics are getting serious about actually winning.

by Roy_Hobbs on May 27, 2007 11:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

…and finding someone with connections all over Europe.
This fellow has great bloodlines: born in Kentucky and played at Princeton.

by JB_Celticsstuff on May 27, 2007 12:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Do you think he might be interested in the head coaching position? Just asking, you know.

by Brickowski on May 27, 2007 12:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is very intriguing if true. Sounds like he might be replacing Tony Brown, as the guy has head coach credentials.

by orrzor on May 27, 2007 1:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I have been following this guy for years. One of the best Europe has to offer. Has his name all over the Maccabi Tel Aviv Dynasties of the recent years. Coached the Russian National Team into great success. Coached in Italy to win anything you can think of.

Spectacular defensive minded coach. The defensive plays he designed are what all of Europe is playing today. For a while it was known that any team playing Maccabi in Europe that did not have two ball handlers on the floor was in trouble and would quite possibly lose by 50 points (including in the European cup finals…Tau Vitoria).

If this has any truth to it, I can guarantee one thing. David Blatt would never agree to being an assistant coach unless he thought it would lead to a head coach job (not necessarily on the Celtics, but in the NBA in general).

Basically, I can’t rave about how much I love this guy.

by gileyal on May 27, 2007 1:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hey gileyal. If he is a defensive minded coach, that jives with him replacing assistant head coach Tony Brown. And then setting him up to replace Doc halfway through the season. Very exciting if true!

by orrzor on May 27, 2007 1:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Blatt was born in Boston. An ex-player in Israel (he has double citizenship), he was the assistant coach of Israeli legendary coach Pini Gershon at Maccabi Tel Aviv, and later he was appointed head coach. In 2005 he was hired by Maurizio Gherardini (now with the Toronto Raptors) to coach Benetton Treviso, and he proved his worth leading the team to the italian league title in 2006 (he coached Bargnani too).
He is a very capable coach, fundamentally sound, with (of course) a great knowledge of the European environment, fact which could be interesting if the Celtics decide they are going to scour Europe for help.
In the May 25th edition of a Bologna newspaper (“Il Resto del Carlino” is the name of the paper), columnist Silvano Focarelli has written this:

“Blatt si sta guardando in giro: ha avuto contatti con Khimki, Olimpiacos (che ha sondato il terreno anche con Scariolo e che vuole, oltre a Zisis, pure Fotsis), addirittura con la Fortitudo, ma alla fine potrebbe, lui Ã‚Â"bostonianoÃ‚Â" da sempre, coronare il sogno della vita e diventare uno degli assistenti di Doc Rivers ai Celtics”.

Forgive my quick translation: "Blatt is taking his chances: he’s been approached by russian team Khimki’s managers, by greek Olympiakos’ GM’s (who contacted coach Sergio Scariolo and players Fotsis and Zisis too) and from Fortitudo Bologna franchise representatives, but in the end, being a bostonian, he could end up pursuing is dream to become one of Doc Rivers’ assistants at the Boston Celtics.

In my opinion, this is a rumor which could make some sense, but there’s nothing confirmed officially here yet.
It was well known that Blatt would have left Treviso after this season, though.

by Legend on May 27, 2007 1:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Jonathan Givony posts on RealGM “I made a phone call and there is absolutely no truth to this rumor whatsoever. No one has ever discussed this with anyone involved from what I was told.”

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=665473&start=20

by The Duke33 on May 27, 2007 1:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

well there should be some truth to it. Danny get on the phone!

by FrieCod on May 27, 2007 2:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Rumours like this are often started to boost someone’s value in negotiations. It is similar to an NBA team calling up an obscure Euro for camp, then cutting him on day 2. :)

by kozlodoev on May 27, 2007 2:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The Duke said:

“Jonathan Givony posts on RealGM ‘I made a phone call and there is absolutely no truth to this rumor whatsoever. No one has ever discussed this with anyone involved from what I was told.’”

Yeah, I figured. Current Celtics management isn’t capable of doing something that intelligent.

by Brickowski on May 27, 2007 3:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Excuse the question, but are the standards high when reporting a comment like this? Rumors make their way into American print pretty regularly, but I’m left wondering how much stock to put into a comment like this. Can anyone with firsthand knowledge advise on this one? Thanks.

P.S. I just remember the Spanish article that predicted a delivery of Pau Gasol to Boston. My faith is shaken.

by Hondo to Rondo on May 27, 2007 5:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Hondo, that’s why I mentioned that there was no US confirmation – can’t put much stock into it, but being a blog, I like to move early on these rumors when there is at least a link from an established website

by Jeff Clark on May 27, 2007 6:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs