Are the Hornets Closing in on a New Head Coach?

With Darvin Ham recently named the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, that leaves Mike D'Antoni and Kenny Atkinson as frontrunners for the job. Former Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts is in the mix as well, but it all points to it being a two-headed race featuring D'Antoni and Atkinson. 

Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report recently reported that Atkinson had gained momentum in the Hornets' search.

"When league personnel descended upon Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine, word seemed to indicate that Atkinson was gaining some momentum in the Hornets' search. He phoned several current Hornets staffers and league personnel familiar with the Charlotte organization, sources said and projected great confidence that the job would ultimately be his. Atkinson has been described as a particularly thorough person, and several figures close to the coach indicated his research calls were simply a trademark of his personality and approach."

Atkinson has a good history of developing young players and also helped transform the Brooklyn Nets into a top ten defense in his first year on the job. Despite gaining momentum, Fischer also reported that D'Antoni "has long been categorized as the true front-runner for the position."

When will a decision come? 

Likely within the next week to ten days. 

When GM Mitch Kupchak spoke with the media at the combine, he said that there was no set timeline but that it would probably be somewhere around two weeks. Given that that press conference took place on May 19th, that would mean that they are nearing a decision.

Other candidates such as Charles Lee, David Vanterpool, and Sean Sweeney have interviewed for the job, but it doesn't appear that they will be getting serious consideration in the final stages of the coaching search. When I asked Kupchak if previous head coaching experience mattered, he replied, "It's a factor. I'm not going to say we're going to select a head coach with experience, but I think you'd probably lean that way, right?

"If you're looking to make that next step and you don't want to waste a year or two, then you say, hey, it might be a good idea to go with somebody that's proven. I can say that, I don't know if it's 60/40, 55/45, whatever, we would be leaning that way. But we've seen this year with a couple of assistants in Boston and New Orleans that hey, you can get a young assistant that can make a difference. We are considering and are interviewing assistant coaches as well."

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