Utah Jazz Request To Interview Dallas Mavericks Assistant Coach Sean Sweeney

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Assistant coach Sean Sweeney reacts during … [+] a game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on January 12, 2022 in New York City. The Knicks defeated the Mavericks 108-85. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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Another Dallas Mavericks assistant coach could be decamping this summer. The Utah Jazz has requested permission to interview assistant Sean Sweeney for the team’s vacant head coaching position, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The job became available when Quin Snyder resigned on Sunday after holding the head coaching spot for the last eight seasons.

If the Jazz hires Sweeney, he will be the second Mavericks assistant to leave this summer. Assistant coach Igor Kokoskov is reportedly joining Steve Nash’s staff with the Brooklyn Nets.

Sweeney joined new head coach Jason Kidd’s staff during the 2021 offseason. He is widely credited with turning the Mavericks’ defense around.

Dallas posted a regular-season defensive rating of 112.3 during the 2020-21 season, the tenth worst mark in the league. This season, with Sweeney at the reins, the defense improved. The Mavericks posted a defensive rating of 109.1, the seventh-best in the NBA.

What’s more, Sweeney’s efforts also dramatically improved the team’s scoring defense. Dallas ranked No.2 in scoring defense this season, holding opponents to 104.7 points per game. Last season, the Mavericks ranked ninth, giving up 110.2 points.

This is not the first time this summer that a rival team has shown interest in Sweeney. The Charlotte Hornets interviewed him for the big chair in May after firing head coach James Borrego after four seasons on the job. Sweeney did not make the final cut.

Sweeney owes a lot of his career success to Kidd. He has eight years of experience as an assistant coach in the NBA, with much of it coming alongside Kidd. He was on Kidd’s staff with the Brooklyn Nets during the 2013-14 season. Sweeney rejoined Kidd in Milwaukee from 2014 through 2018.

He also served as an assistant with the Detroit Pistons from 2018 to 2020.

Among the other names Utah will consider for its top coaching spot are New York Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant, Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee and Boston Celtics assistant coaches Will Hardy and Joe Mazzulla, according to Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

The two also report Jazz assistant Alex Jensen and former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts will receive interviews.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/doylerader/2022/06/09/utah-jazz-request-to-interview-dallas-mavericks-assistant-coach-sean-sweeney/