The Portland Trail Blazers have interviewed Houston Rockets assistant coach Ben Sullivan for their head coaching position, HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported on Friday.
Sources: The Blazers interviewed Rockets assistant Ben Sullivan for their head coaching job. Sullivan interviewed for the Suns last summer. He’s been an assistant for Ime Udoka (Rockets and Celtics), Joe Mazzulla, and Mike Budenholzer (Bucks and Hawks). He played for the University of Portland.
After getting his NBA start working in the San Antonio Spurs’ video room from 2012 to 2014, Sullivan, 42, served as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks under head coach Mike Budenholzer from 2014 to 2018. When Budenholzer left Atlanta to become the head coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, Sullivan went with him. He served as an assistant under Budenholzer for three seasons in Milwaukee from 2018 to 2021, winning the NBA title in his last season.
Following his stint in Milwaukee, Sullivan joined the Boston Celtics as an assistant on head coach Ime Udoka’s staff for the 2021-22 season, before working under new head coach Joe Mazulla the following season in Boston. Sullivan then linked back up with Udoka in 2023. He has spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach on Udoka’s staff with the Houston Rockets.
Sullivan has deep ties to Portland. He attended Lake Oswego High School and played three seasons for the University of Portland Pilots men’s basketball team, graduating from the school in 2007. The 6-foot-10 center had a brief professional playing career overseas before returning to Portland. Prior to his climb up the NBA ladder, he spent time as a volunteer video coordinator with the University of Portland and then as an assistant coach at Division III Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
Several articles have noted how Sullivan’s connection with Udoka, forged through their ties to the local Portland basketball scene, played a part in getting Sullivan’s foot in the NBA door and landing him spots on Udoka’s staffs in Boston and Houston.
Along with the news about Sullivan’s interview with the Blazers, Scotto also reported on Friday that the Blazers held an interview with Denver Nuggets assistant coach Jared Dudley.
At exit interviews on April 30, Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said the team plans to “cast a wide net” during its head coaching search this summer. News of more interviews with other candidates should be coming down the pipe as the offseason moves along.
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