Toronto Raptors slated to choose among three Europeans for head coach vacancy / News - Basketnews.com

The Toronto Raptors have narrowed down their focus on three European tacticians to select the one who will take the head coaching position. Sergio Scariolo has been one of the main candidates for weeks, but two more cases have emerged over the past few days.

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The Philadelphia 76ers have hired Nick Nurse, the Detroit Pistons have signed the biggest contract in franchise history in Monty Williams, and Frank Vogel is on the doorstep of the Phoenix Suns.

Free throws this season

78%18,4Points made:18,4Accuracy:77,8%Place in standings:16Record max:34Record min:5Most made FTs:Pascal SiakamTeamNBAStatisticsSchedule

That leaves theToronto Raptorsas the only NBA team without a head coach right now. However, that's about to change soon, as the Canadian-based club have been on the lookout for quite some time. What's more, there's a strong chance that they will land a European coach.

Former ESPN and New York Times journalist Mark Stein pointed out that Serbian expert Darko Rajakovic, Spain NT and Virtus Segafredo Bologna coachSergio Scariolo, as well as Sacramento Kings associate head coach, Jordi Fernandez, are still in the race for the head coach position.

Rajakovic has been working as an assistant for the Memphis Grizzlies for three years. He worked for two years as a coach in the development league, but also as a scouting consultant in the Summer League, with the San Antonio Spurs. Before joining Tennessee, he spent five years as an assistant coach in Oklahoma, one season in Phoenix, and according to reports from the United States, it's only a matter of time before he gets the chance to lead a team on his own.

Scariolo is well aware of the developments in Toronto, having worked as an assistant to Nick Nurse in 2019. He's been working at Virtus, with whom he won the EuroCup last year, since 2021 and he's also the head coach of Spain.

As for Fernandez, he's been in the NBA for a long time. He worked as a player development coach in Cleveland with Mike Brown, then headed the Canton Charge, and spent six years on the bench of the Denver Nuggets next to Mike Malone. Last summer, he renewed his cooperation with Brown in Sacramento, replaced him for a couple of games as head coach, and left an excellent imprint.

TNS sports reporter Josh Levenberg says that Scariolo and Fernandez are the two finalists for the head coach position. According to him, the final interviews will be completed by the end of the week, and a final decision is expected soon.

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