Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger reports:
Assistant coach John Loyer has left the Nets to join Lawrence Frank’s coaching staff in Detroit and Sam Mitchell is still on the Nets’ staff, for now, Nets coach Avery Johnson said today in an informal sit-down session with reporters at the team’s East Rutherford practice facility.
“John Loyer is going to Detroit,” Johnson said. “We’ll have Popeye Jones taking John’s spot. We’ll figure out where we go from there with the rest of the bench.”
Jones was on the Nets’ staff last season, but he will now be moved up to the front row of the bench, sitting in Loyer’s spot.
Mitchell, who was the lead assistant last season, was a candidate for the head coaching job of the Minnesota Timberwolves until the T-Wolves settled on Rick Adelman to take over for the fired Kurt Rambis. Asked whether Mitchell would return to the Nets, Johnson said yes. Asked if he will be with the team when training camp begins (after the lockout ends), Johnson said, “As of right now, yes. That’s what we anticipate.
