I have been mentioning the name Ettore Messina for a little while now, and it seems that the international press is starting to make the connection between him and his former boss (I say former because once the Nets deal becomes official Prokhorov will have to give up ownership of his Euroleague team) at CSKA Moscow. In an interview however, Messina denies interest and says that any European coach who would try to jump straight from Europe to the NBA is crazy (big ups to NetsDaily for the translation):
ACB: Will Messina sooner or later be the first non-Yankee coach in the NBA?
Messina: I see that as very difficult. The system is not open to that possibility. (A European coach) would need time to adapt, be an assistant one or two years. It is very difficult to hope for a head coach job immediately. I’m not that crazy, though.
If the deal becomes official and the Nets continue to lose, Messina will be questioned more and more by the press about the NBA (and most likely the Nets), but even if Lawrence Frank is fired, the Nets aren’t going to hire Messina (who was linked to this job before Prokhorov’s purchase) they will just replace him with an assistant interim coach. Messina says he isn’t crazy, but you can’t help but wonder what if Prokhorov offers Messina a huge sum of money to be the coach of the Nets will Messina come over?
