The Charlotte Hornets continue to cast a wide net in their search for a new coach who can help turn around a franchise that has not made the playoffs since 2016.
Add former NBA players turned coaches Jerry Stackhouse and Royal Ivey to the mix, along with Lakers assistant Jordan Ott, according to reports.
Stackhouse is a former All-Star who spent 18 seasons in the NBA and had been coaching at Vanderbilt for the past five years (he was fired last March). Before taking the job with the Commodores, Stackhouse was an NBA assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors, plus he was the head coach of the 905 Raptors in the G-Leauge. His involvement in the coaching search was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Woj also reported the involvement of Lakers assistant Jordan Ott, who came to Los Angeles when Darvin Ham took over. Before that, Ott was on the staff with the Brooklyn Nets, serving as Steve Nash’s assistant coordinator. Before that, Ott was a video coordinator with the Atlanta Hawks (which is where he met Ham).
Ivey spent 10 seasons in the NBA as a journeyman point guard who played a high-IQ game and transferred that to coaching. Ivey is currently a Houston Rockets assistant coach, but before joining Ime Udoka’s staff he was a coach with the Knicks, Thunder and Brooklyn Nets. His involvement in the search was first reported by the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen.
The Hornets have already interviewed Kings’ G-League coach Lindsey Harding, the Celtics Charles Lee, the Kings’ Jordi Fernandez, the Suns’ Kevin Young and the Nuggets’ David Adelman (that’s the candidates whose names are public, there may be more). New Hornets GM Jeff Peterson is conducting the search for a coach to replace Steve Clifford, who is reportedly going to move into a consulting role still working with Charlotte and its new ownership.
