Zach Guthrie, who joined Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder’s staff back in 2015, has left the team for a position with the Dallas Mavericks.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news Sunday morning.
Guthrie has served in several roles under Snyder, beginning as the “basketball strategy and technology manager” before becoming one of Snyder’s most trusted voices on the bench.
They had known each other since their days with the Austin Toros of the NBA D League, maintained contact when Snyder went to Russia to coach CSKA Moscow, and when Guthrie was fired as part of a purge of the Orlando Magic staff in 2015, Snyder picked him right up.
Asked back in January on a trip to Orlando what he saw in Guthrie, Snyder gave effusive praise.
“Every time I’ve asked more of him, he’s not only been able to do it, but he’s excelled at it,” Snyder said. “… He’s got a really creative mind, and he’ll just continue to get better and better, and he’s someone you can look at and really project as a head coach in the league.”
Snyder also credited Guthrie for his work this season with Bojan Bogdanovic.
With Guthrie now joining Rick Carlisle’s staff in Dallas, the Jazz will experience yet another change to their coaching staff. Longtime assistant and developmental savant Johnnie Bryant departed after the season to join the New York Knicks as an associate head coach.
Snyder responded by adding former Pelicans general manager Dell Demps to his bench and hiring former NBA player Keyon Dooling in a player-development role. Utah subsequently hired former 76ers analytics expert Sergi Oliva as an assistant coach as well.
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