Utah Jazz fill asst. coach vacancy, promote new lead assistant

The Utah Jazz have rounded out their assistant coaching staff, promoting Alex Jensen to lead assistant and hiring Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris.

Although it was sad to see the Utah Jazz lose assistant coach Igor Kokoskov, you can’t help but feel happy for him receiving a chance to coach at the highest level as the new head coach for the Phoenix Suns. Not only that, but it must have come as a relief to Jazz fans when Igor ultimately didn’t take any of the remaining Jazz coaching staff with him. Instead, the rest of the crew would stay intact in Utah.

With this being the case, initially Jazz assistant coach Antonio Lang was promoted to the front of the bench, essentially filling a hole left by Kokoskov there. Now, the coaching vacancy that still remained has officially been filled as it was announced on Saturday that the Utah Jazz have hired Fotis Katsikaris as their newest assistant coach.

Katsikaris hails from Greece and, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, he “has coached throughout Europe, including stints in Greece, Russia, Spain and Israel. In 2013 while coaching Spanish league team Bilbao, he was named Coach of the Year in EuroCup, the second-tier continental European league behind EuroLeague. He last served as head coach of Iberostar Tenerife.”

Some further interesting notes about the new coaching addition are that he formerly coached Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo as head coach of the Greek men’s national team. He’s also reportedly the first Greek coach to serve on an NBA coaching staff.

His addition to the Jazz organization adds further international flair to a team already bursting with several players from varying countries. With the likes of Joe Ingles, Dante Exum, Rudy Gobert, Thabo Sefolosha, Jonas Jerebko, Raul Neto and Ricky Rubio, the Jazz are easily one of the most diverse squads in the league.

Interestingly enough, their varying backgrounds haven’t prevented them from developing a chemistry that is second to none in the league. It’s also allowed them to blend several unique styles to create an exciting and exceptional team focused solely on success on the hardwood. Katsikaris’ background and experience should only help further this trend.

There’s also been some speculation that his connection with the Antetokounmpo family could perhaps further put the Jazz in the running to pursue Giannis’ younger brother, Kostas Antetokounmpo, with their No. 52 pick. Some mock drafts have Kostas being selected late in the second round, so while I don’t necessarily see it being likely, I’d venture to guess that it wouldn’t be outside of the realm of possibilities.

Kostas has a long, long way to go to be anywhere close to the skill level of his older brother Giannis. But with picks in that range being such question marks anyway, he could potentially be an intriguing pickup that late in the draft, particularly in order to see how he could do paired with new Greek assistant coach Fotis Katsikaris.

The Katsikaris report wasn’t the only assistant coach news to surface this past week either. With Igor Kokoskov out as lead assistant, the Jazz needed to make some adjustments to his former position as well. The aforementioned Salt Lake Tribune report has indicated that Alex Jensen has been promoted to the new lead assistant spot.

In other words, in a heated game when Quin Snyder lands a second technical foul or if for some reason he’s ill or otherwise unable to lead the team, Jensen will be the man to step up in his place. In other good news, it was also reported that assistant coach Johnnie Bryant, who will remain at the front of the bench with Snyder, Jensen and Lang, has also been extended.

Bryant has been a heralded piece of Utah’s development staff, so it’s great to know that they’ll be holding on to him for the foreseeable future.

Next: With draft looming, Utah Jazz in somewhat of a ‘panic’

Losing a brilliant basketball mind such as that of Igor Kokoskov is always a tough pill to swallow. However, it’s good to see that most of the rest of the bench has remained intact and it will be exciting to see how Katsikaris fits into his new role with the Jazz.

Despite these changes, rest assured that, particularly with Quin Snyder at the helm, the Utah Jazz will remain in excellent coaching hands.