Peachtree Hoops: Atlanta Hawks Coaching News Updates, Few and Far Between

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The Atlanta Hawks search for a coach continues without a lot of updates or new information. ESPNDallas is reporting that current Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey did indeed have his second sit down session, this time with members of the Hawks ownership group. Casey and former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson are the only candidates that have been given two interviews.

What remains to be seen is whether or not this is in fact a two horse race. Many media outlets speculated in the beginning that Casey was the favorite due to his prior associations with Hawks General Manager Rick Sund. While Johnson is a higher profile candidate it appears that he did in fact impress ownership and has gained some momentum.

Johnson however is slated to interview for the New Jersey Nets opening this Saturday and the Hawks haven't ruled out bringing in other people in for interviews.  More information should become available once Johnson has had his interview with the Nets. One thing is for certain, new Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov intends to make a high profile hire for his head coach. Johnson's name has been mentioned along with fellow ESPN employees Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson.

Fact is though everything is quiet on the Hawks front and GM Rick Sund appears intent on moving forward carefully and deliberately. AJC.com columnist Jeff Schultz made a lot of Hawks fans uneasy today by recapping all of the head coaches that GM Sund has hired in his career as GM. While it is a pretty impressive or depressive article depending on how you look at it. It must however be taken in context. No doubt there was a set of circumstances surrounding each one of those hires, Sure some of them were complete whiffs but Sund did give Nate McMillian his start. I don't plan on judging Sund on his past track record but just on the decisions he has made and will make going forward with the Hawks.

On another note, I would like to take a second and say how overjoyed I am to be joining Jason Walker aka The Human Highlight Blog here at Peachtree Hoops. I was blown away when he asked me to join and it is a privilege to work with someone that I consider the best in the business. I would also like to wish Drew the best in his future endeavors and I recognize how big the shoes are that I have been asked to fill. I am looking forward to the challenge and am going to give it my best ZaZa Pachulia effort.

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