By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Raptors want Sergio Scariolo, the current Virtus Bologna coach and Spanish national team coach, for their open head coaching position, which could make him the second European in history to coach an NBA team, Marca reports.
The Italian coach met on Thursday at the Majestic hotel in Bologna (with the permission of his club) with the heads of the Canadian franchise, president Masai Ujiri, and general manager Bobby Wester, who consider him one of the primary candidates for the position. They know him well since he served as Nick Nurse’s assistant coach from 2018 to 2021.
The Raptors look for a new leader on the bench after the abrupt end of Nurse’s five-year tenure, which ended with a record of 227 wins and 163 losses, and three playoff appearances in five seasons. In one of them, Toronto, with Kawhi Leonard, Lowry, Siakam, Ibaka, and Marc Gasol on the squad, among others, won the title after beating Curry’s Warriors in the Finals.
This season, however, the Raptors failed to reach the playoffs after losing the first play-in game at home to the Bulls.
The Raptors’ move may get Scariolo in the record books. He would be the second European coach in history to sit on an NBA bench as head coach after the brief period at the helm of the Suns (one season, 2018-19) of Serbian Igor Kokoskov.
Italian Ettore Messina was part of the technical staff of the Lakers (2011 and 2012) and the Serbian Darko Rajakovic is an assistant coach of the Grizzlies after becoming the first European to lead a G-League team, the Tulsa 66ers. The Spanish Jordi Fernández also is an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies.