Cavaliers Visit Denver to Interview Four for Head Coach Vacancy

On Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers inched closer to completing their first round of interviews to fill the head coaching vacancy on the team, said NBA sources.

General manager of the Cavaliers Koby Altman and others from the team’s front office held several meetings with assistant coaches in Denver the night before the Nuggets Game 7 at home in the Pepsi Center against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Included in the separate meetings were Denver assistants Wes Unseld Jr. and Jordi Fernandez and Trail Blazers’ assistant David Vanterpool, sources said.

Cleveland front office also interviewed Steve Hetzel an assistant with the Orlando Magic. That interview was also held on Saturday in Denver.

The Cavaliers were granted permission to interview Nate Tibbetts, who is another assistant with Portland, but conflicts with scheduling pushed that meeting until after the Western Conference semifinals best of seven series between the Blazers and Nuggets ends.

Over the last few days, the Cavaliers also interviewed Ettore Messina an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs, assistant coach Jamahl Mosely with the Dallas Mavericks, assistant coach Juwan Howard with the Miami Heat, former head coach of Memphis J.B. Bickerstaff, and assistant coach for Utah Alex Jensen.

Although other teams in the NBA also having vacancies to fill at head coach, Cleveland is not in a rush to fill the position. They know they are at a risk by taking their time of losing coaches from their list of candidates, but would prefer to complete a detailed process to find the best fit.

Last month, the Cavaliers parted ways with head coach Larry Drew, who replaced Tyronn Lue and was 19-57 during his short stint with the team.