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Who's likely to replace P.J. Carlesimo? Could it be Jerry Sloan? Phil Jackson? Brian Shaw?

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Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Who's likely to replace P.J. Carlesimo? There's a long list of possibilities and already speculation has centered on Phil Jackson, Jeff VanGundy and even Jerry Sloan, who Deron Williams endorsed not long after the announcement that Carlesimo was out.

D-Will, in response to a reporters question, said he would love to play for Sloan again. That has long been true. The question is more whether Sloan would want to coach Williams again. Sloan has said recently that he wants back in the coaching game if the right opportunity arose.

Meanwhile, Stefan Bondy reports that Donnie Walsh expects the Nets to reach out to Brian Shaw, a Pacers assistant who is also close to Phil Jackson from their years in Los Angeles.

“I think Brian would be great as a head coach," Walsh told Bondy Sunday. “Just as I thought Mark Jackson would be a tremendous coach, I feel the same way about Brian. They both know the game, you can tell they see it like head coaches. And they also know how to relate to players and get them to do what they need to be successful.”

Here's a list of possibilities. Billy King said he will not go after his old college coach, Mike Krzyzewski, out of fear of the Duke alumni association.

--Former NBA coaches: Phil Jackson of the Bulls and Lakers needs no introduction, but does he want to coach again? Not likely; Nate McMillan of the Trail Blazers (who's also been an assistant coach of Team USA); Jerry Sloan (he wants back in the game, but with Deron Williams again? D-Will has said nice things about his playbook lately), Mike Dunleavy Sr. (Brooklyn native and former Clipper coach and GM); Stan Van Gundy, late of Orlando, who has said he's not interested and may want to take another year off anyway.

--TV commentators: Jeff Van Gundy. Happy he's away from all the pressure, but good on defense and works well with big men, but Adrian Wojnarowski reports, "Far less mutual interest between franchise and coach than I had originally been led to believe." Mike Fratello knows the team and has spent last two summers coaching Team Ukraine ... 666 NBA wins can't be dismissed

--Assistant coaches: Brian Shaw, Phil Jackson acolyte with rings and toughness who's now in Indiana; Mike Budenholzer, Gregg Popovich's top assistant who now appears ready to strike out on his own and has already interviewed with the Pistons; Dave Joerger, the Memphis assistant who keeps missing out on big jobs after stellar career in D-League; Kelvin Sampson of the Rockets has gotten some play in rumors lately but who the Nets profess no real interest and wonder where the reports are coming from.

--CSKA connections: Ettore Messina, coached CSKA Moscow to two Euroleague championships when Prokhorov owned them, later an assistant with Lakers and now back with CSKA; Quin Snyder, Lakers assistant who followed Messina to Moscow and has had interviews for big jobs; David Blatt; an American citizen who has coached Team Russia and several European clubs.

--Long shots: Doc Rivers if he could get out of his contract with the Celtics. D-Will's favorite coach is Team USA and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who has the perfect gig in Durham and he knows it; John Calipari, friendly with most of the Nets hierarchy, most prominently Brett Yormark. He appears committed to Kentucky, if not as much as Coach K is committed to Duke. And there's ALWAYS Larry Brown, who's now coaching at SMU. Brown mentored King when the two worked for the Pacers.

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