Toronto Raptors assistant coach Scott Roth, Philadelphia 76ers player development coach Quin Snyder and former University of Utah head coach Jim Boylen are the three finalists for a position on the staff of new Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown, according to sources close to the situation.
Roth and Snyder have already interviewed for the position, sources said, with Boylen scheduled to meet Monday with Brown.
Brown has already hired famed Italian coach Ettore Messina to serve as a coaching consultant and likewise intends to hire John Kuester, recently fired by the Detroit Pistons, to focus on the Lakers' offense as Kuester did when he coached under Brown in Cleveland.
Chuck Person has also been offered the opportunity to join Brown's staff as the only holdover from Phil Jackson's coaching team. He coached with Brown in Indiana under then coach Rick Carlisle. Person also interviewed for one of the assistant coach positions under new Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale. He is expected to make a decision on this future sometime this week, according to a source.
Roth is a veteran NBA assistant who spent the 2010-11 campaign as an assistant coach in Toronto under the recently dismissed Jay Triano. He has worked as an assistant coach in Dallas, Memphis and Golden State and worked as a scouting director for the Milwaukee Bucks. Roth has likewise served as a head coach in the D-League with the Bakersfield Jam and with the Dominican Republic's national team and worked closely in his Grizzlies days with Pau Gasol after Memphis traded for him after Atlanta drafted the Spaniard in 2001.
Snyder likewise just completed his first season in Philadelphia as a member of Doug Collins' staff, overseeing player development for the Sixers. Before that Snyder coached the D-League's Austin Toros for three seasons after a seven-season stint as the head coach at the University of Missouri. Snyder broke into the NBA as an assistant under Larry Brown with the Los Angeles Clippers in 1992-93 before moving to Duke as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski from 1993–1999.
Boylen was fired by Utah in March after a four-season run. The Utes job was his first head coaching position after more than a decade as an assistant at both the pro and college levels. In the NBA, Boylen has worked as an assistant in Houston, Golden State and Milwaukee.
Dallas Mavericks special assistant coach Tim Grgurich has also been linked to Brown's staff, according to multiple sources. Brown considers Grgurich a mentor and the 68-year-old would fill a Tex Winter-like role as a "behind the bench" coach for Brown.
The Lakers are looking to keep costs under control when filling the new coaching staff, but adding Grgurich as an extra man would not break the bank because the team retained Craig Hodges and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as special assistants in the past. Abdul-Jabbar and Hodges have been told, along with approximately another dozen training staff, video staff, equipment staff and scouting staff employees that they will not receive extensions on their contracts when their deals expire at the end of June.
Despite Brown's relationship with Grgurich and the fact that the veteran coach already owns a house in Manhattan Beach, it won't be easy for the Lakers to land Grgurich, as Carlisle has lauded Grgurich's contributions to the Mavs' championship run on numerous occasions since Dallas' Game 6 victory in Miami.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told Lakers.com last week that Brown, who was officially hired June 1, has been contacted by an estimated 100 coaches hoping to be hired for three to four positions.
Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.