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Former Portland Trail Blazers player and current San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Ime Udoka will meet with Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores in the coming days about the team’s head coaching vacancy, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Former Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey is also a candidate.
Woj notes that Udoka and others have recently interviewed for the position with the Pistons front office, and that it was not his first interview this offseason:
Udoka made strong impressions in interviews in Toronto and Orlando, and it appears to be an inevitability that he will become an NBA head coach within the next few years.
Michigan Wolverines head coach John Beilein was also a finalist for the job, but will reportedly return to Michigan.
Dwane Casey met with Detroit owner Tom Gores on Tuesday, league sources tell ESPN --- and now, Michigan's John Beilein has pulled out of Pistons search. Beilein had talked separately with Gores and Detroit management in process, league sources said. https://t.co/xORqCFIn5Z
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 6, 2018
Udoka, a Portland native, spent the 2006-07 season with the Blazers, averaging a career-high 8.4 points in 75 games (all starts). He spent seven seasons in the NBA as a player. The former Jefferson High and Portland State standout has been an assistant coach with the Spurs since 2012.