Jeff Hornacek and Lindsey Hunter in Orlando Magic head coach hunt - NBA Update
Orlando Magic will reportedly interview Utah Jazz assistant coach Jeff Hornacek and Phoenix Suns player development coach Lindsay Hunter for their head coaching position in the coming days.
It has been more than a month since the franchise fired their previous coach Stan Van Gundy, who coached Magic for 5 seasons and steered them into the playoffs every time successfully. However the now infamous
Dwight Howard trade saga effectively claimed his job.
Hornacek is currently serving as an assistant coach with Jazz and is in the town with his team for the NBA Summer League event. He didn’t confirm or denied the news.
"If that's the case, then while I'm in Orlando and they want to talk to me, that'd be great," Hornacek told the paper the Salt Lake Tribune.
Jeff, a former Jazz shooting guard, started his journey in 1986 from the Phoenix Suns platform. Over the years, he played for different teams before finally landing with Jazz in 1993-94 season.
He recorded 8 consecutive 3-pointers in a single game (a then record) against Seattle Super Sonics in 1994 and is still considered as one of the best free throw shooter with a 87.7 career free throw percentage
(13th highest in NBA history). He finally retired in 2000 and was hired as assistant coach by Jazz in 2007.
Lindsey’s name came up through a report by The Orlando Sentinel. Hunter who spent most of his career with Detroit Pistons retired in 2010 after playing the last two seasons of his career with Chicago Bulls.
The 6 ft 2 in point guard played 937 games and had a career average of 8.5 points and 2.2 boards. He was hired by Bulls as a player development assistant just 2 days after his retirement in 2010 and later
on Hunter went on to assume the same position with Suns.
Apart of these two, Los Angeles Lakers assistant Quin Snyder, Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw, San Antonio Spurs assistant Jacque Vaughn and Golden State Warriors assistant Michael Malone names are also
in the loop for the post. The franchise seems to be in no real hurry to make a decision and it seems they want to end the Dwight Howard issue before making a call on the coaching vacancy.
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