The only NBA franchise without a coach after the recent arrival of Steve Clifford in Charlotte, the Jazz have just made a decision regarding the man who will succeed Quin Snyder on the bench. Her name ? Will Hardy, 34 and assistant to Ime Udoka this season in Boston. He comes to Utah on a five-year contract.
In recent days, the Jazz franchise has hinted that it wants new blood on the bench. And by “new blood”, mean a young coach about to experience his first experience as a head coach. It just got confirmed. According to the Shams – Woj duo, manager Danny Ainge and new owner Ryan Smith have therefore decided to bet on Will Hardy, a name you may have never heard or only heard very briefly. To put the guy in perspective for you, he was on the staff of the Celtics this season after having spent almost a decade on the side of San Antonio as video coordinator, coach of the Austin Spurs (the G League team affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs ) and assistant to Gregg Popovich. the coaching tree of Pop is therefore expanding a little more across the NBA and Will Hardy also becomes the youngest coach in the entire League at just 34 years old.. Just for the record, Jazz point guard Mike Conley is also 34, while veteran Rudy Gay is 35. Said like that, it sounds a little weird but this arrival breathes a breath of fresh air into the Jazz, which has already come make an update to its visual identity about ten days ago. Suffice to say that things are moving among the Mormons, who have also just recruited former coach David Fizdale for a position of associate general manager according to ESPN.
Will Hardy and the Jazz are finalizing a five-year contract to make him the franchise’s next coach, sources tell ESPN. Hardy, 34, will be the youngest active coach in the NBA. https://t.co/uISUNbadGJ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 28, 2022
Will Hardy arrives in an ambitious franchise but which has chained disappointments in the Playoffs in recent years. Early spring knockouts have become a bit of a ritual in Salt Lake City, so much so that rumors of the potential transfer of one of Jazz’s two All-Stars – Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert – have grown louder. The departure of longtime coach Quin Snyder (eight seasons on the Utah bench) also suggested an end to the cycle, and one always wonders how the Utah project will really evolve in the near future. It is therefore in this not the most serene context that the young coach arrives at Jazz. At first one would have thought that Danny Ainge would choose an experienced coach to help Utah take a step forward in the Playoffs with the solid team that is already there, but the former Celtics boss obviously thinks that the arrival of a coach with the look of a dynamic young executive can help the Jazz move forward. Maybe his links with Boston played, who knows, in any case it’s a hell of a position for a first job. It’s up to Will Hardy to show that the Jazz weren’t wrong.
The situation regarding Quin Snyder’s successor is now settled. Competing with candidates like Alex Jensen (Jazz assistant), Adrian Griffin (Raptors assistant) and a few others, Will Hardy was the most convincing of them all. But it is above all from now on that we will have to convince…
Source texte : The Athletic, ESPN