After Charles Lee (Milwaukee), Adrian Griffin (Toronto), Chris Quinn (Miami) and Kevin Ollie (ex-UConn, current Overtime Elite), Brian Keefe is the new guest of the “shortlist” of the management of Pistonsas part of their search for a new “head coach”, following the end of the Dwane Casey era last week.
ESPN actually announced this Monday that the Detroit club had obtained permission from the Nets, where Keefe currently officiates in Jacque Vaughn’s staff, to interview him in the coming days.
After starting in 2005 as assistant video coordinator in the staff of Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, Brian Keefe then chained assistant positions: at the Thunder (2007-2014), at the Knicks (2014-2016), at the Lakers (2016 -2019), then again at the Thunder (2019-2020) before joining Brooklyn in 2021.
A scheduled interview with Jarron Collins
He is clearly a rising talent in the middle of “coaching”, and could soon land his first position as number 1 on a bench, in Detroit or elsewhere. Note, however, that he has an advantage that other candidates for the position do not necessarily have: links with Troy Weaver, the General Manager of the Pistons, with whom he worked in the mid-2010s in Oklahoma City.
Note also that the direction of the Pistons will talk to his own assistant Rex Kalamianon Dwane Casey’s staff since 2021, and received permission from the Pelicans to speak with Jarron Collinstriple champion with the Warriors in the Steve Kerr staff between 2014 and 2021, and currently on the staff of Willie Green, since the latter’s arrival in Louisiana in 2021.
The quest for a new “head coach” is therefore seriously intensifying this week in Michigan.
Photo credit: YouTube – New York Knicks