With the start of the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League only two weeks away, details of the coaching staff for the LA Clipper’s team have begun to emerge.
Last Year’s Summer League coaching staff (Presumed to return):
Head Coach:
Brendan O’Connor | St. Anselm: ’14, ’15, ’16
Assistant Coaches:
Sam Cassell | Florida State: ’15, ’16
Armond Hill | Princeton: ’14, ’15, ’16
Patrick Sullivan | North Carolina: ’15, ’16
J.P. Clark | Flager: ’14, ’15, ’16 – Asst. Players Skill Coach
Brian Adams | Connecticut College: ’15, ’16 – Coaching Associate/Video Scouting Director
Trey Platt | University of Texas-San Antonio: ’16 – Head Video Coordinator
Based on the past couple years of Summer League, it would be safe to assume that Brendan O’Connor will be returning as the coach of the Clipper’s Summer League team with Cassell, Hill, Sullivan, Clark, and Adams returning as assistant coaches. With Platt being the Head Video Coordinator, his return to the Summer League staff is also likely.
However, since the Clipper’s now have a G-League coaching staff that they will need to fill, the Summer League team’s staff will probably have more members than last year. It would be assumed that each member of the Summer League staff that is already part of the Clipper’s full-time staff, such as O’Connor, will remain with the team and not be moved down to the Agua Caliente Clipper’s staff.
Per Sportando.com, CSKA Moscow Assistant Coach Andreas Pistiolis is one of the first reported additions to the Clipper’s 2017 Summer League staff. Pistiolis has been the Assistant Coach for PBC CSKA Moscow since 2014, helping the team win four straight VTB United League Gold Medals along with two third place finishes and one first place finish in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Another international coach that is reportedly joining the Clipper’s 2017 Summer League coaching staff is Antonio Herrera, an assistant coach of Spanish team Unicaja de Malaga. Herrera is heralded as one of the most promising young coaches in Spanish Basketball and has been with Unicaja since 2013. Herrera told ACB.com that he wants to learn about the NBA’s training techniques while checking how international players coming to the NBA are integrated into the team and its programs. In return, he hopes to show the Clipper’s staff his European coaching methods and to broaden their knowledge of the European player market.
In the weeks leading up to the League’s start on July 7th, expect for more players to be added to the growing Summer League roster and watch for more additions to the team’s coaching staff.
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