Clippers coaching aspirants Dwane Casey, Vinny Del Negro due back for final interviews

The long and winding coaching search for the Clippers has reached the final stage.

The team will be bringing in the two finalists Tuesday for a final series of interviews, a Clippers official told The Times. The candidates are Dallas Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey and former Chicago Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro.

If this all sounds vaguely familiar, well, it is. It’s a repeat of the intense contest between the two for the Bulls head coaching spot in 2008. Del Negro won that race and coached the Bulls for two seasons, going 41-41 in each and losing in the first round of the playoffs both times. The Bulls dismissed him May 4, and there is one year and $2.2 million left on his contract.

This battle has had its twists and turns. Casey, also a finalist in Atlanta recently, was the front-runner almost immediately and remained so even when the field was trimmed to two.

But Del Negro pulled even after the first series of interviews in Los Angeles late last month. Casey met with Clippers executives and owner Donald Sterling, and Del Negro went through the same process the next day.

That’s when the dynamics of the race shifted. Not because of anything Casey did or didn’t do; it was Del Negro’s strong presentation during the first round of interviews that changed things, impressing the front-office officials and Sterling.

The solution? Bring them back for Round Two.

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