Sixers: Sam Cassell and Dave Joerger should be on the Celtics radar

The Sixers just completed their gentleman’s sweep of the Washington Wizards and while the team is focused on facing the Atlanta Hawks in the second round, one of their rivals should be keeping tabs on the Philadelphia 76ers‘ coaching staff.

That rival is the Boston Celtics and they are in search of a new head coach after they had an organization shakeup. Long time president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has stepped down from that position and former head coach Brad Stevens has replaced Ainge with the same title and role, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

Some readers may be asking themselves why this should concern the 76ers? It’s a fair question because as written above, Philly’s in the middle of a postseason run. However, as the Celtics are now in the search of a new head coach, the 76ers have at least two very qualified candidates for the job in Sam Cassell and Dave Joerger.

Celtics should be interested in Sixers assistant coaches.

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Joerger has experience as a head coach if Stevens wants a guy with some experience to take over for him. Joerger coached both the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings and had a combined record of 245-247. Joerger is the offensive coordinator for the 76ers and they are a top-15 team on offense this season.

The down part with Joerger is that his two stops ended poorly. There were rumblings that he clashed with front office executives in both Memphis and Sacramento. With Stevens being new to the job, he may not want to bring in someone with that type of history. However, people can change and it’s possible that Joerger has at this point.

Cassell is a much more interesting prospect for Boston as he has connections with the city. He was on the 2008 team as a backup point guard when the Celtics won their last championship. He’s also been a primary assistant with the 76ers’ head coach Doc Rivers since the 2014-15 season.

Having a strong connection with the Celtics certainly helps his case, but not having any head coaching experience will certainly hurt his candidacy as well. However, Cassell has been a high-profile assistant that should be in line for a head coaching job for the last several offseason.

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Both of the Sixers’ top assistants have pros and cons regarding their candidacies, but they are certainly worth a look by the Celtics as they plan to replace Stevens’ vacancy at the head coach position. Hopefully, Boston will wait to pursue these candidates until after the Philadelphia 76ers postseason run.