Nets Hybrid Affiliation Could Lead To New Coach For D-League's Springfield Armor

The Springfield Armor have only won 20 of their 100 games since entering the NBA Development League as an expansion team in 2009, but the New Jersey Nets plan to change things quite a bit when they officially take over as owners of the team's basketball operations next month under the "hybrid affiliation" model.

The biggest change, at least to begin, is deciding whether or not to keep former NBA player Dee Brown on as head coach as he's led the team to just a 20-80 record while moving just one player to the NBA in his two year history. That player, JamesOn Curry, lasted just three days with the Los Angeles Clippers before he was released.

Though Brown seems like a nice enough guy, I have to agree that opening the search to the rest of the basketball coaching community is the right idea.

"I spoke to Dee Brown and I spoke to his assistant Kevin Whitted and I told them we would be looking for coaches,'' Billy King, Nets general manager, said Monday morning on a conference call. "They will be candidates, they will not be ruled out. We will be talking to them and talking to other candidates to try and find the best fit for Springfield.''

According to the Springfield Republican, King said the goal is to have the staff in place by the NBA Draft on June 23. It'll be interesting to see what kind of candidates pop up for this job considering the NBA ties that will inevitably come along with it.