Tom Izzo Reportedly ‘Leaning Towards’ Taking Cavs Coaching Job, If Offered

According to ESPN’s Andy Katz, Tom Izzo might be more likely than not to take the Cavs head coaching gig, assuming the team offers him the job. This is a third-hand account (Katz’s source is someone who knows someone who’s a “close confidant of Izzo”), so take it with a massive grain of salt, but still...Izzo is touring the Cav’s facilities today. Plenty of smoke here. From ESPN:

The source told Katz that Izzo, who talked to his team earlier this week about his interest in the Cavaliers, is leaning toward taking the job if it is offered.

Of course, Cavs beat man Brian Windhorst counters that despite all the rumors of Izzo’s imminent departure, the coach’s close friends still expect him to remain at Michigan State.

The other nugget from ESPN’s report was that Byron Scott has jumped onto the Cavs’ radar as a possible coach, apparently on par with Izzo. This latest news came via an unnamed “Eastern Conference executive”, who told ESPN’s Chris Broussard that Scott had talked to people in the Cavs front office over the past few days, and that discussions took a “more serious nature” beginning Wednesday night. Scott is reportedly expected to formally interview for Cleveland’s head coaching vacancy some time before the beginning of next week.

Are the flirtations with Scott both a backup plan and a way to leverage Izzo into making a decision sooner rather than later? That would seem to be the case; indeed, while Scott is a proven NBA commodity, he lacks the WOW factor that landing Izzo would bring to a Cavs franchise desperate to retain LeBron.

Stay tuned. If Izzo does jump to the NBA, he’ll likely decide in the next day or so.