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Could the Brooklyn Nets' next head coach be Scott Skiles?

Multiple reports have linked Skiles to the Nets, with the Star-Ledger hearing over the weekend that he's the front-runner for the job.

Skiles has coached in the NBA since 1999-2000 and owns a 443-433 career record.

He most recently coached the Milwaukee Bucks, but resigned 32 games into the 2012-13 season.

Lionel Hollins, Brian Shaw and Larry Brown are also considered candidates for the position, according to reports. Collins coaches the Memphis Grizzlies, who are currently in the Western Conference finals.

What do you think about Skiles coaching the Nets? Let us know in the comments section.

Nets GM Billy King is currently in Chicago at the NBA Draft Combine.

The Nets hold the 22nd pick in the first round of the draft, which will be held at Barclays Center on June 27.

“You’re just trying to see guys’ skill level,” King told NBA.com. “You’ve already seen a lot of them at college. So at this point, you’re just seeing how they interact, how they take instructions from the coaches, and see how hard they play.”

You can listen to all of King’s comments here.

ESPN Insiders can get a look at Chad Ford’s top 30 prospects here.

The Brooklyn Nets reportedly won’t be able to talk to Doc Rivers.

Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge told the Boston Globe Thursday that Rivers will be their coach next season.

“Yeah [he’ll be back], Doc and I are talking about our team next year,” Ainge said. “[No suspense] from my perspective. We've got a great coach. We’ve got a coach everybody would love to have and he’s got three years left on his contract and I think Doc likes Boston, too. Coaches get tired, though. It’s a hard job.”

Rivers was thought to be a candidate for the Nets' head coaching vacancy if he had been granted permission to speak with them.

On Wednesday, we gave you three reasons why Brooklyn Nets fans should be optimistic heading into the 2013-14 season.

Today, we'll give you three reasons why Nets fans should be pessimistic heading into next year.

1. LeBron: Normally, we’d start with the Nets. But that would be unfair to the man who has dominated them for years. LeBron James currently owns a 17-game winning streak against the New Jersey/Brooklyn franchise. You’d have to go back to March 12, 2008, to find the last time the Nets beat James -- and he had 42 points in that game. If the Nets want to get through the East, they’re very likely going to have to get through the Heat -- who may very well repeat as champions -- and that’s not going to be easy.

2. Their core is good, but ...: OK, so now, the Nets themselves. GM Billy King did a nice job building a playoff team, a team that is very much relevant in this city. But is the core of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez and Gerald Wallace enough? It wasn’t enough to get out of the first round last season -- even if it was their first season playing together. D-Will (28 going on 29), Iso Joe (31 going on 32) and Crash (30 going on 31) all have a lot to prove when it comes to health and consistency.

3. Limited flexibility to improve: Expanding on the above, the Nets are currently well over the salary cap and don’t have much flexibility to improve their roster, a roster that might only have a 50-win, second-round-and-out ceiling. This is where King is going to earn his money: trying to find gems like Andray Blatche despite having limited financial resources. The Nets GM also has Kris Humphries’ $12 million expiring contract at his disposal if he wants to make a trade to upgrade the roster. King built a solid core. But he has to supplement it with better surrounding pieces.

The Brooklyn Nets won 49 games but couldn't advance past the first round of the playoffs.

Still, here are three reasons why Nets fans should be optimistic heading into the 2013-14 campaign:

1. Core continuity: Yes, they're going to have a new coach. And yes, the roster isn't going to be entirely the same. But GM Billy King believes that, even though the Nets are over the salary cap and don't have much room to improve from a personnel standpoint, they can be a better team next year because they've played together and felt the pain that comes with an early exit from the postseason. The Nets were basically an expansion team in 2012-13; their top four players -- Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace -- had never played together in the same game before the season began. That's no longer the case -- and that should go a long way in finding success next season.

2. D-Will should be healthy: Williams was not healthy for the first 50 games, when he averaged 16.7 points and shot 41.3 percent from the field. But his ankles got better. His numbers -- 22.9 ppg on 48.1 percent shooting in the final 28 games -- did too. D-Will says he is going to take some time off for the first time in three summers. The Nets hope it pays off. If Williams is healthy and producing the way he did after the All-Star break, Brooklyn is likely to notch 50-plus wins in 2013-14.

3. Brook could be even better: Lopez finished fifth in Player Efficiency Rating -- behind LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony -- and made his first All-Star team. Plus he played in his first playoffs and put up solid stats -- 22.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. So much for all that concern about his defense and rebounding after he played just five games in 2011-12. But Lopez was outplayed by Joakim Noah in the elimination Game 7, so King hopes that pain adds fuel to Lopez's fire for next season. Lopez is only 25, so it's possible he can be even better in 2013-14. That would certainly be big for the Nets.

Brooklyn Nets GM Billy King is looking for a head coach who can bring more toughness out of his roster.

“I want to find someone who I feel can take this group collectively and get the most out of them,” King said in an interview with the team’s official website.

“I think P.J. (Carlesimo) did this year -- and got us to where we are -- but I think we could have gone further. ... I think we need to create a culture that becomes the identity of the Brooklyn Nets; something where I think it’s got to be the vision of the Brooklyn borough, where it’s going to a tough-minded, where you know if you come to play us, it's going to be a dogfight every night. That’s what I’m looking for in a coach that will instill that within the team.”

In a perfect world, King, who is going to be patient during his search, would love to bring in someone like Mike Krzyzewski, who coached the Nets GM when he played at Duke.

“I always go back to Coach K because the mindset he always gave us is that people expect to play Duke, and so give them Duke, he always said,” King said. “So when you go out there, people expect that to be it to be a tough game, a defensive-minded game, they’re going to be physical. So that’s what I'm looking at.

“Offensively, you’ve got to be unselfish, the team has to be more important than the individual. If you look at the programs that win, San Antonio, Miami, Chicago, the Lakers over the years, that’s what they’re all about.”

Candidates like Brian Shaw (Pacers assistant) and Lionel Hollins (Grizzles coach) are still coaching in the playoffs, which means the Nets will have to wait until their team’s runs are over to speak with them. Hollins will be a free agent, and the Nets could pay him more than Memphis.

“I can’t be concerned about that. I have a job to do,” Hollins told ESPN.com last Friday.

King thought his team “exceeded expectations” with its 49-win regular season, but felt like it should’ve advanced past the first round.

“I didn’t know how quickly the group was going to gel,” King said. “When you put that many pieces together, that many guys that were so-called ‘their guy’ on their team, you don’t know how it's going to gel. I thought it did quickly ... then it faded. But I think the biggest thing was my vision was for us to have homecourt advantage, to finish in one of the top four spots, which we did. But I thought with that it would help us get to the second round. So that's where the disappointment really came about.”

King reiterated his goal to bring European sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic over for next season.

“He has an NBA buyout, so the object is for him to exercise it, give him the money, get him to come over and I think he wants to come over,” King said. “(But we) can’t do anything until July 1 (the start of free agency), so we’ll look at that when the time comes.”

King also said during the interview that he will look to improve his team’s roster by adding minimum salary players because of the team’s salary cap situation. The Nets have a core in place, but it’s unknown if key bench contributors Andray Blatche (unrestricted) and C.J. Watson (player option for the minimum) will return. King also figures the team will have more continuity next season, considering how many new players were on the roster last year.

“We have to be hungrier to improve, and remember that pain that we felt in Game 7,” King said.

Couple interesting notes on the Brooklyn Nets’ coaching search:

• Colleague Chris Broussard tweeted Thursday that the Nets would be interested in Lionel Hollins if he doesn’t re-sign with the Memphis Grizzlies after the season.

• Regarding Doc Rivers’ possibly trying to get out of his contract to coach the Nets next season, Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge told WEEI radio, “I think Doc will be coaching the Celtics next year.”

ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith has reported that the Nets are expected to ask the Celtics for permission to talk to Rivers.

While nothing has been finalized, the Brooklyn Nets are working to bring over European sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic, and Bogdnaovic’s camp is optimistic that a deal will eventually get done, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN NewYork.com.

Bogdanovic, 24, a 6-foot-8 swingman from Croatia, was acquired by the Nets in a draft-night trade in 2011 after being selected by the Miami Heat with the first pick of the second round.

Bogdanovic is currently playing with Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey, but has just one year remaining on his contract with an opt-out. He is ready to come to the NBA, a source said.

Based on various reports, Bogdanovic would owe his former team between $1-2 million as part of a buyout. The Nets could contribute $570,000 of that buyout, per CBA rules.

The Nets could then offer Bogdanovic either the league minimum, or more likely all of -- or part of -- the taxpayer mini mid-level exception, which starts at approximately $3.2 million. The Nets are limited in what they can offer Bogdanovic because they are already well over the salary cap.

According to statistics from euroleague.net, Bogdanovic averaged 15.5 points and made 40.5 percent of his 3-point attempts in 21 games in 2012-13.

General mangaer Billy King had said the Nets were hoping to add Bogdanovic to their 2013-14 roster last Sunday.

The news of Bogdanovic likely joining the Nets had been previously reported by SNY and the New York Post.

Phil Jackson informed the Brooklyn Nets that he is not interested in their head-coaching vacancy, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com.

So who will the Nets turn their attention to?

"Larry Brown is going to get a call. Brian Shaw is going to get a call," Stephen A. Smith said on "SportsCenter" on Wednesday morning. "The Boston Celtics, if they haven't been contacted, they will be contacted for permission to talk to Doc Rivers, who is under contract. I wouldn't be surprised if our very own Jeff Van Gundy is thrown into the mix."

Smith emphasized the importance of this hire for Nets GM Billy King.

"Billy King is going to scour the globe. He's going to do whatever's necessary to find who he believes to be the best coach," Smith said. "Remember, he's not the one who hired Avery [Johnson]. ... Basically, this is his first pick since being on the job in Brooklyn, and he knows he's gotta make it a good one.

"Mikhail Prokhorov has put the franchise on notice that he expects the Brooklyn Nets to be just as relevant as the New York Knicks in eyes of New Yorkers. So that's a tall, tall task."

Brown, 72, is a Brooklyn native and Hall of Fame coach. He is currently in the NCAA ranks, coaching SMU in Dallas. He has coached nine NBA teams, most recently the Charlotte Bobcats. He won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Brown coached the Knicks for one season, 2005–06. He was fired after going 23-59.

Shaw, 47, is in his second season as an Indiana Pacers assistant coach. He was a Los Angeles Lakers assistant from 2004-11, mostly under Jackson.

Shaw spent 14 seasons as an NBA player, winning three championships with the Lakers (2000-02).

Rivers, 51, just wrapped up his ninth season as the Celtics' head coach. He guided Boston to a championship in 2008, with a return trip to the NBA Finals in 2010.

Rivers played in the NBA for 13 seasons, mostly with Atlanta. He also spent a little more than two seasons with the Knicks. His son Austin was an NBA rookie for the New Orleans Hornets in 2012-13.

Van Gundy, 51, coached the Knicks from March 1996 until December 2001. New York reached the 1999 NBA Finals during Van Gundy's tenure.

He also coached the Rockets for four seasons. Houston fired him in May 2007, and he has been an NBA analyst ever since.

The Brooklyn Nets' next head coach will not be Phil Jackson.

Jackson informed the team that he is not interested in their head coaching vacancy, a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com.

The Nets had made the 11-time NBA coaching champion their No. 1 target to replace P.J. Carlesimo.

Carlesimo and the Nets parted ways on Sunday, a day after the team was eliminated at home by the Chicago Bulls in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series.

He went 35-19 during the regular season after replacing Avery Johnson on an interim basis.

Jerry Sloan says he's open to coaching the Brooklyn Nets.

"I haven't done the research on their roster, but I would definitely listen if they called," Sloan told Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

The Nets announced Sunday that interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo will not return for the 2013-14 season.

Nets point guard Deron Williams, who some believe was responsible for Sloan's resignation in Utah, endorsed his former coach on Sunday, saying he'd "love" to play for Sloan again.

Williams spoke highly of Sloan's motion offense earlier in the season, and believes he'd get the most out of the team, toughness-wise.

Williams has developed a reputation -- fairly or unfairly -- as a coach-killer. Nets GM Billy King says that's unfair.

"Deron had nothing to do with Avery [Johnson] being fired," King said Monday on ESPN NewYork 98.7 FM. "People can make the assumptions and make the accusations, but he had nothing to do with it. It's on me. And P.J. not being back is not on Deron. I think all the players came out in support of P.J., so it's not on him."

Nets shooting guard Joe Johnson’s first season in Brooklyn didn’t end the way he wanted it to.

Johnson went 2-for-14 from the field in the team’s season-ending loss to the Chicago Bulls in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

“It hurts,” Johnson said Sunday. “But I’ll just try to put it behind me and use it as fuel coming into next season.”

Johnson was plagued by plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Nets GM Billy King admitted Sunday that if the Nets had advanced on to the second round, Johnson wouldn’t have played in at least Games 1 and 2 against the Miami Heat.

“I just gotta rest it,” Johnson said. “But in no way if we made it to the next round was I not gonna play. I don’t make excuses man. I go out there and give them everything I got.”

Johnson was asked what the teams needs moving forward.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I think the chemistry for us learning one another this first year was pretty good, and I think next year us having have that cohesiveness and getting through the trenches, going through the ups and downs together this first year will definitely help us going into this second year. Everybody kind of knows what to expect and everybody kind of knows their role.

“I thought we kind of came into training camp this year blindfolded. We didn’t what was going to happen or how we were going to do everything. We just kind of learned as we went along the season. I think coming into next year we kind of have a vision on what we want to do.”

Johnson, who tends to score off isolation plays, thinks the team needs more ball movement on offense.

“I just think we definitely need it where we can get more movement and put guys in better position to score the basketball,” Johnson said. “In the playoffs, it’s hard to play so much iso basketball, one-on-one, especially when you’ve played a team six times. That was probably one thing that kind of hindered us.”

What would he like to see in the next coach?

“Just hold guys accountable. That’s it,” Johnson said. “And define roles.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Backup center Andray Blatche, now an unrestricted free agent, would like to stay with the Brooklyn Nets.

“That’s the plan. I’m not sure yet right now,” Blatche said Sunday. “I can’t tell you 100 percent yet. But that’s the plan for me.”

Blatche, 26, whom the Washington Wizards exercised their amnesty rights on his contract after seven tumultuous seasons there, was given a second chance by the Nets, who signed him to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract for the league minimum.

He made the most of it, averaging 10.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game during the regular season on 51.2 percent shooting.

Because they don’t have his Bird rights, the Nets can’t offer Blatche that much money: either 120 percent of the veteran’s minimum or the taxpayer’s mini mid-level exception.

But what they have going for them is Blatche is still owed $16 million by the Wizards over the next two seasons.

“I mean yeah, I thought about that,” Blatche said, when asked if he’d take “less” to stay in Brooklyn. “I’ve thought about that idea. I like it here, I got my second chance here and I’m loyal to being here. We just have to see what happens.”

Blatche is interested in seeing who the Nets bring in as their new coach, and that will factor into his decision. “It’s a long process me and my agent got to go through,” Blatche said.

Blatche was a starter in D.C. before serving as a reserve in Brooklyn. Is it important for him to be a starter again?

“Yeah and no," he said. "Just getting the right minutes, really, and playing, helping out.”

Could Blatche start at power forward next season next to center Brook Lopez?

“I played the four my whole career,” Blatche said. "This is my first year playing the five so a lot of people don’t realize. When I was at Washington I played the four the whole seven years there.

“I’m very blessed to have a second chance and for it go the way it did, to be able to help a team go to the playoffs and peak. So this summer, I’m going to take this summer and do the same thing I did last summer -- work hard and be prepared for next season.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- For the first time in a long time, Deron Williams plans to take some time off -- especially from basketball.

“I won’t take too much time,” Williams said Sunday. “Basketball I’ll probably take off for a while. I’ll get back in the weight room probably in a week or two.”

Williams, who had an injury-plagued season up until the All-Star break, when he finally got healthy, had said he regretted not taking breaks over the past two summers. His conditioning was called into question, but toward the end of the season he was playing arguably the best stretch of basketball of his pro career at about 200 pounds.

Williams said he will not require surgery to clean up his ankles, which were inflamed as a result of a bone spur.

“I’m good,” he said.

Williams, 28, who just wrapped up the first year of a five-year, $98 million contract, was disappointed with how his first season in Brooklyn ended.

“Yeah, I mean I felt like we should’ve won this series and been playing still,” Williams said. “It was a season of a lot of ups and downs. We’ve been talking about it all season. So hopefully we say this is a learning experience. I don’t think anyone expected us to win a championship this year, so just bounce back, prepare in the offseason and hope to come back stronger mentally and physically.

“We were kind of going in blind this year, what everything was going to be like. From the arena, the fans to us, how we’re going to play as a group. There’s still a few things we need to figure out, you know. It was a step in the right direction.”

Williams was asked what quality the Nets need more of.

“Toughness,” he replied. "I think that’s what we’ve used a lot. Toughness. I think we got out-toughed in that last series, especially [Saturday], so I think that’s the main thing.”

Williams thinks a coach like his former one in Utah, Jerry Sloan, could get toughness out of his players.

“When I played for Coach Sloan, I think he had that effect -- just the way he coaches and the way he talked to us every day and the way he prepared us for games kind of rubbed off,” Williams said.

Would Williams want to play for Sloan again?

“I would love to,” he replied.

And Phil Jackson?

“Who wouldn’t want to play for Phil Jackson?” he replied.

Regardless, Williams believes the team’s next coach needs to be experienced.

“Yeah, I think so. I think somebody that’s creative on offense and has a good system on defense,” he said. “I haven’t really thought much about it. I think we just need somebody that’s going to lead us, somebody everybody respects for sure; it’s tough.”

That means less isolation and more ball movement.

“When we move the ball and we’re not just iso-ing it,” he said. “Pushing the ball up and down the floor. Getting into a good rhythm, a good flow. I think when we just keep it on one side, the ball kind of sticks, we don’t have success.”

Williams will stay in New York until his children are out of school. Then he and his family will leave.

Williams will be watching the rest of the playoffs. He plans on helping GM Billy King in trying to persuade players to come and play for the Nets.

“To a certain extent,” he said. “There’s only so much we can do with our payroll.”

Williams believes the team’s first-round exit this season will be motivation for 2013-14.

“I think we definitely want to improve on this season. Everything we have, with all the injuries we had, with all the stuff in the media going on, losing a coach -- I think we still finished pretty good,” he said. “We still finished in the four spot. We didn’t have the kind of postseason we wanted to and hoped to and that’s definitely, you know, fuel for next year.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- P.J. Carlesimo won't return as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

Here are the other highlights from Billy King's season-ending news conference Sunday, one day after a Game 7 loss to Chicago in the first round:

• King said Joe Johnson (plantar fasciitis in his left foot) would have missed Games 1 and 2 of the second round if the Nets made it that far.

"It was getting to the point where we were getting diminishing returns," King said.

King said the injury will not need surgery, just time to heal.

"He's not one to make excuses for himself, but we knew -- I found out this morning that if we had gotten through that, he wouldn't have played Monday or Wednesday," King said.

• King said the Nets will look to bring over Eurostash Bojan Bogdanovich in the offseason.

"His contract is up. We've had the discussion about him coming over," King said.

• Does King like his roster?

"We have a core. And now, I've got to complement that core a little better," King said. "I think our guys did a great job. Different guys stepped up different times. But now seeing some of the key pieces work together, I know areas where we've got to add to make it better."

• The Nets are over the salary cap, so it's going to be difficult to upgrade the roster.

Perhaps packaging Kris Humphries' $12 million expiring and other pieces could be an idea.

"I'm not really going 'I've got to make a trade,'" King said. "It could be adding minimum guys. We found Mr. [Andray] Blatche and he was a pleasant surprise. You look at what Chicago did, they got rid of a lot of their pieces, and then they added new pieces and then they stepped in and played well. So there are guys on on other rosters that don't play that may fit here and be productive.

"So it's not just about making trades, maybe it's adding some guys -- because the great thing is that we're in Brooklyn. We're an attractive market."

• Blatche will be an unrestricted free agent. The Nets are limited in how much they can give him. Then again, he's owed $14 million over the next two seasons from the Washington Wizards.

"We have what we have. He's not going to make more money. Hopefully he likes the situation and wants to be here," King said.

• The power forward position was a bit weak. Thoughts on an upgrade?

"I don't know. Maybe it's adding to the bench, or maybe it's Andray Blatche. He played there quite a bit," King said. "The best thing not to do is overreact after Game 7. Now is sit back, talk to coaches first and look at that. I'll sit with my staff and talk organizationally about the roster. We'll start the process."

• King on point guard C.J. Watson, who has a player option for the veteran's minimum, but can become a free agent if he doesn't exercise: "I think C.J. did a good job for us, a really good job. I'm sure I'll have a conversation with [agent] Jeff Schwartz and find out his intentions, and I'll talk to C.J. as well."