The Utah Jazz should be making every possible effort to hire Shane Battier.
NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN mentioned during his podcast last week that Shane Battier, a former champion at both the college and pro level, is now a candidate to join the Utah Jazz front office.
Windhorst suggested there are implications in the timing of the Battier-to-Utah chatter:
"“He resigned from the [Miami Heat] front office two weeks ago in kind of a surprising move because he was regarded as a guy who might be with the Heat for a long time. There has been some speculation throughout the league that maybe [a move to Utah] was in the works since then, and Battier would be a candidate.”"
Obviously, if the 42-year-old Battier becomes the next executive vice president of basketball operations in Salt Lake City, then he would reunite, so to speak, with former Miami Heat teammate and current Jazz minority owner Dwyane Wade.
Remember, without Battier’s six 3-pointers in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, Wade and the Heat likely wouldn’t have won back-to-back titles. So one would think Wade has plenty of motivation to desire Battier back on his side.
Another critical connection between Shane Battier and the Utah Jazz
Now, it’s also important to note that Dennis Lindsey stepped down from Utah’s VP position and into an advisory role in late June amidst talk of his deteriorating relationship with head coach Quin Snyder. This came days after the No. 1 seed Jazzmen suffered a frustrating exit in the Western Conference Semifinals.
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With that in mind, the addition of Battier would make even more sense given the fact he already has a bond with Snyder. See, Battier and Snyder are both Duke basketball alums. In other words, they each owe credit to Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski for a chunk of their hoops knowledge.
Furthermore, Snyder was an assistant under Coach K in Battier’s first two seasons as a Blue Devil (1997-98 and 1998-99).
Plain and simple, Shane Battier with the Utah Jazz would seem like a natural fit.