Throughout the Nets’ coaching search, some names have been constant: former Mavs coach Avery Johnson and Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau. Johnson appeared the front-runner based on head-coaching experience.
And now his position is even stronger. The Post has learned Thibodeau yesterday rejected a Hornets offer that has been on the table for almost a week.
Sources also said Thibodeau, credited as Boston’s defensive mastermind, is almost guaranteed to wind up with the Bulls, whom he met with two summers ago but lost out to Vinny Del Negro.
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Yes, the Nets definitely are interested in Doc Rivers’ assistant but it appears now that Johnson, who met with Nets president Rod Thorn on Saturday, has solid footing as the favorite.
It also means Portland assistant Monty Williams, one of two Knicks’ first-round picks (No. 24) in 1994, will get the Hornets’ job, succeeding GM Jeff Bower, who took the job on an interim basis after Byron Scott was fired early in the season.
Williams also has been on the Nets’ radar.
Thorn yesterday gave his daily “no comment” about coaching candidates but other sources insist Thorn and Thibodeau spoke this week and that Thorn sought a meeting with the highly regarded aide who is in Los Angeles with the Celtics for the NBA finals.
Thorn insisted he has no timetable for a hire.
“Byron Scott was hired the weekend before the draft,” Thorn said, calling the current search “an on-going process . . . Any time you hire a coach, you want to be absolutely certain.”
So for the Nets, if Thibodeau indeed flees to Chicago — or opts for a third, very real option in the Celtics — Johnson with a .735 coaching percentage with the Mavs now seems like the leader.
Fired Cavs coach Mike Brown also is the mix. Johnson is getting a call-back in Atlanta, where Dwane Casey is the odds-on favorite.
Regardless of whether Boston wins the championship, it appears Rivers will take a season sabbatical from the NBA to re-gather his wits and wind before taking another plunge for mega money once the new collective bargaining agreement is set in stone. Who better to pick to pick up where Rivers leaves off than Thibodeau?
For the June 22 draft, the Nets will pick third barring an earth-shattering offer from some other team. They likely will pick Georgia Tech power forward Derrick Favors, with Syracuse small forward Wesley Johnson and Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins also considered. The Nets fully expect the first two picks to be Kentucky’s John Wall and Ohio State’s Evan Turner.
“I would be shocked if that were not the case,” Thorn said.