It has been two weeks since reports indicated the Trail Blazers had identified three finalists for their head coaching job, with Tiago Splitter, Micah Nori, and Tyler Lashbrook said to be in the running at that time.
Portland’s search was slowed to some extent by the fact that team owner Tom Dundon‘s other team, the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, was competing for – and ultimately won – the Stanley Cup, and Splitter was hired away by Chicago during that time, leaving Nori and Lashbrook in the mix for the Trail Blazers job.
However, it doesn’t sound as if the Blazers will be simply deciding between those two candidates. According to Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (Twitter link), Knicks associate head coach Chris Jent has been connected to Portland’s vacancy as well within the past couple days. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link) has also heard that Jent has emerged as a head coaching candidate for the Blazers.
Jent, who played professional basketball from 1992-2002, including brief NBA stints with Houston and New York, got into coaching in 2003 following his retirement as a player. He has been an assistant with the Sixers, Magic, Cavaliers, Kings, Hawks, Lakers, Hornets, and Knicks since then. He also had stints as an assistant at Ohio State, as the head coach of the Bakersfield Jam in the G League, and as the interim head coach in Orlando following Johnny Davis‘ dismissal in 2005.
Hired last August by the Knicks as their associate head coach, Jent hasn’t been linked to any other head coaching openings this spring until now. But he earned high praise from head coach Mike Brown following New York’s Game 5 victory.
“There are a lot of jobs open out there. Chris Jent, my associate head coach, I’m surprised has not gotten an interview,” Brown said on Saturday. “He won the Summer League championship this past summer, he’s our offensive coordinator, associate head coach. He’s been around for a long time. Someone needs to give him an interview because he will help your team win at the highest level.”
In addition to Jent, Nori, Lashbrook, and Splitter, the Blazers have been connected to at least 15 other candidates during their lengthy head coaching search, as our tracker shows.
