The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they have hired Marc Iavaroni and Alex English as assistant coaches. The pair has a combined 42 years of experience coaching and playing in the NBA. They will support Jay Triano, who signed a three-year contract as head coach May 11. Per team policy, financial terms were not announced.
“I am very excited to continue working with Alex and to add Marc to the staff,” said Triano. “They share our philosophy on the direction of the team, yet possess different skill sets that will be valuable to me.”
Iavaroni brings 11 seasons of NBA coaching knowledge to Toronto. He served the past two seasons as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies and prior to that was an assistant in Phoenix, Miami and Cleveland. He spent five seasons (2002-07) with the Suns, during which time they made four trips to the NBA Playoffs, including two appearances in the Western Conference Finals. In Miami (1999-2002), Iavaroni worked under Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley. He was also the director of player development for the Heat. With the Cavaliers, he served under longtime NBA coach Mike Fratello.
Iavaroni played seven seasons in the NBA with Philadelphia, San Antonio and Utah. He was a starter as a rookie on the 76ers’ 1983 World Championship team, voted one of the 10 best teams of all-time by the media as part of the league’s 50th anniversary celebration in 1996. Iavaroni’s teams qualified for the playoffs every season of his playing career.
Triano has worked in the past with Iavaroni at the annual Eurocamp in Italy.
English returns for his sixth campaign with the Raptors and his eighth on an NBA coaching staff. He joined the Raptors after spending the 2003-04 season as an assistant coach with Philadelphia. He served as director of player personnel and assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks during the 2002-03 campaign. English began his post-playing coaching career in 2001-02 as the head coach of the National Basketball Development League’s North Charleston (S.C.) Lowgaters. In his lone season at the helm, he guided his team to a 36-20 record and a berth in the finals of the first NBDL Championship.
English was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 and finished his 16-year playing career with 25,613 points, which ranks 12th all-time in league history. He was an eight-time NBA All-Star and was selected to the all-league second team three times (1982, 1983 and 1986). A second-round selection by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1976 (23rd overall), English played two seasons in Milwaukee, two with the Indiana Pacers, and 11 with the Denver Nuggets before finishing his career in 1990-91 with the Dallas Mavericks.
