NBA teams looking to recruit Maccabi Tel Aviv coach David Blatt

Blatt led Maccabi to their sixth Euroleague basketball championship last month.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv's David Blatt 370 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS)
Maccabi Tel Aviv's David Blatt 370 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Maccabi Tel Aviv coach David Blatt insists he has yet to receive any offers to coach in the NBA, but the 55-year-old Massachusetts native confirmed that there are ongoing talks with several teams and that he met new Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr last week.
Blatt was unexpectedly in the US last week following the death of his father, and he sat with Kerr for approximately 45 minutes at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday during a six-hour layover while he was awaiting his connection flight to Israel.
The meeting with Kerr, who wants to bring in Blatt as his top assistant, was first reported by Yahoo Sports, with an Associated Press story claiming on Saturday that the Cleveland Cavaliers have approached Blatt about their head coaching vacancy following the sacking of Mike Brown last month.
It has also been reported that Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations, Flip Saunders, who named himself as the team’s new head coach last week, is interested in signing Blatt as an assistant and grooming him as his eventual successor.
Blatt returned to Israel on Friday but said on Saturday night that while he has been approached by NBA franchises, as well as European clubs, he has yet to be handed a concrete offer.
“It is true that I have had conversations with teams from both sides of the Atlantic because my contract is about to end and it is only natural that I will receive information before that happens,” Blatt said before Maccabi’s final training session ahead of Sunday’s first game of the BSL final against Maccabi Haifa.
“You can’t coach a big team like Maccabi Tel Aviv and achieve what we have achieved without someone noticing. I’m not as interested in everything that is being talked about as much as you think.
“I haven’t received any offers at the moment. There have been talks but my goal at the moment is to win the Israeli championship and we’ll see what happens after that.”