Dave Joerger, most recently head coach, Sacramento Kings
Dave Joerger is the only one of the candidates listed here that is not currently connected to the NBA.
Joerger did observe the first practice of the year in the training camp of the Boston Celtics, but hasn’t connected with a coaching job since he was rewarded by the Sacramento Kings for leading the team to its best season since 2005-06 by getting pink-slipped the day after the season ended.
Joerger was 147-99 in three seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies from 2013-16 — where he was replaced by David Fizdale, coincidentally — but won just one postseason series during that span. With Sacramento, Joerger was 98-148, but seemed to have the team on the right track last season, improving from 27 victories in 2017-18 to 39 and a ninth-place finish in the brutal West.
Before replacing Lionel Hollins as the head coach in Memphis, Joerger was an assistant with the Grizzlies under both Marc Iavaroni and Hollins.
Now 45, the Minnesota native was an assistant coach with the Dakota Wizards in the old Continental Basketball Association for three seasons before a four-year stint as head coach, earning Coach of the Year honors twice and winning two CBA titles in that span.
He then spent two seasons with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, winning another CBA title in 2005, and returned to Dakota in 2006-07 after the team jumped from the CBA to the NBA Developmental League (now the G League), winning the league championship and earning an assistant’s chair in Memphis.
With six seasons as an NBA head coach, Joerger is the most experienced potential candidate on this list and after nearly taking the Kings to a .500 record last season, he’s got credibility, even as he’s the only one of the five potential candidates listed here that did not play in the NBA.