As mentioned yesterday, quality D-League coaches like Brad Jones and Eric Musselman are departing the league to take advantage of other opportunities.
Last month, Erie BayHawks head coach Jay Larranaga received a call-up to the NBA of his own, accepting an assistant coaching position with the Boston Celtics.
Larranaga was one of many D-League coaches to move on to greener pastures with an NBA team this summer. With his departure comes an obvious void to fill in Erie.
As Seth from Posting & Toasting notes (via the New York Daily News), Knicks officials will be on the case to hire a head man in Erie, as New York owns the BayHawks as its sole D-League affiliate.
Certainly whoever steps in for Larranaga will have big shoes to fill. He moved on having led the BayHawks to two straight playoff appearances. What's more, Erie was a bit of a hotbed for NBA-level type talent last season, with Larranaga mentoring the likes of Mike James, Joel Graham, Devin Green, Keith McLeod, Knicks' 2012 Summer League particpant Mychel Thompson, and even Knickerbocker assignees such as Jeremy Lin and Jerome Jordan, throughout the year.
As far as what other players may fill up the BayHawks' roster this upcoming season, the team will hold open tryouts on September 29th at Baruch College in the Big Apple, and then again on October 13th back in Erie to see if they can find any undiscovered gems.
The Knicks are also reportedly bringing GWU standout Tony Taylor Jr. for a second workout later this week. Should New York invite the young guard to training camp, the BayHawks would have the option of adding him to the team later on.