Nate McMillan went to North Carolina State University during the 80’s. McMillan has proven to be a solid coach in the past. He did a great job with the Portland Trail Blazers. In the midst of losing Brandon Roy and Greg Oden, Portland managed to be competitive. Savvy trades along with a blue collar work ethic elevated Portland’s presence in the NBA. Credit should go to McMillan for this. He has a knack for bringing out the best in his players. McMillan’s ties to the state of North Carolina would be a smart choice because he is native North Carolinian. His birthplace is Raleigh, North Carolina. In addition, Nate is only 47 years old. He McMillan coming back to North Carolina to save the Bobcats has a nice ring to it. He would bring more N.C. State fans to Bobcats’ games, truly making Charlotte an ACC mecca.

Jul 25, 2008; Las Vegas, NV, USA: USA Mens Basketball team introductions before their game against Canada at the Thomas and Mack Center. Coaches l-r Mike Krzyzewski (left) Nate McMillan (second from left) Mike D

Mike D’Antoni is one of my favorite coaches. I really like his up-tempo style of player. D’Antoni’s offense requires players who are agile, versatile, and intelligent. When Amare Stoudemire was out during the 2005 season, Boris Diaw manned the center position in Phoenix under D’Antoni. D’Antoni was a few games short of playing for an NBA championship. The Phoenix Suns had 62 wins and 20 losses during the regular season in 2005. D’Antoni won over 60 games with a small lineup that consisted of Steve Nash, Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson, Shawn Marion, and Boris Diaw. Charlotte resembles this Phoenix team based on the fact that the team is small, with the exception of Byron Mullens and DeSagana Diop. A smart lottery draft pick, in addition to a couple of veterans and D’Antoni’s coaching sounds like a winning recipe to me. Check out my other column on Roberto Gato titled, “Mike D’Antoni, Michael Jordan, Jeremy Lin, and Harrison Barnes….A PERFECT MATCH!” I breakdown why D’Antoni would be a smart choice on MJ’s behalf. D’Antoni averaged 50.6 wins in Phoenix. D’Antoni’s records while coaching the Phoenix Suns go as follows:

2004 – 21 wins, 40 losses

2005 – 62 wins, 20 losses

2006 – 54 wins, 28 losses

2007 – 61 wins, 21 losses

2008 – 55 wins, 27 losses.

Stan Van Gundy represents another possibility for the Bobcats. Stan Van Gundy has had a nice run with the Orlando Magic. He led the Magic to the NBA Finals loss against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010. In that season as well as the previous one, the Orlando Magic had 59 wins and 23 losses. I am not a fan of his offense because he runs half-court sets. This is my opinion, however because I prefer up-tempo basketball. Van Gundy’s style of play requires dominant low post players. If the Bobcats select Stan Van Gundy, then they need to invest in players who fit his system. Van Gundy could and would be a smart and safe choice as head coach for the Bobcats.

Several factors that will impact the hiring of the next Charlotte Bobcats’ head coach are coaching style, age of the coaching candidate, prior coaching accolades and accomplishments, level of respect from NBA players, and the level of commitment to the Bobcats’ organization.

No D-Will in Charlotte, Mr. Sloan, you won't have to worry about him here... Then again you wouldn't have had to worry about him if you stayed in Utah, either. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

The coaching search is on in Charlotte, and a few candidates have emerged.

The biggest of them is Jerry Sloan, the former Utah Jazz front man, who resigned (couldn’t handle Deron Williams any more) in 2011 after a supposed drawn out spat with his point guard.

Before resigning (getting pissed off with Williams for the last time), Sloan was the longest tenured coach in America’s four most popular sports. He won 1,127 games with Utah, won 50 games 10 times and made the NBA finals twice.

He was also a pretty good player, too; He was a two time all star, made the NBA all defensive team four times and had his number retired by the Chicago Bulls.

Here’s a quick look at the other candidates that have moved to the forefront of the Bobcats coaching search.

Mike Malone

This guy has been an assistant coach for a long time, and he’s on the radar of almost every team that needs a coach next season. He was a college coach for a while, before breaking in with the Knicks in the early 2000s, moving on to Cleveland during the height of King James’ reign, then to New Orleans and finally Golden State. He’s known for improving team defense, and according to NBA.com, the Hornets made the biggest jump in scoring defense in 2010-2011 (his only year with the team.

Nate McMillan

The former Trail Blazers head coach has finished seven seasons (out of 12) with at least a .500 record and he’s made the playoffs five times.

2009 was an impressive year for the Blazers, when, despite an insane amount of injuries, McMillan coached the team to 50 wins.

Most of his Portland teams were top 15 in defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) and top 10 in opponents points per game, but they were also close to last in pace (possessions per 48 minutes) and therefore normally in the middle of the pack when it came to points per game.

There are other names being thrown around, but these are the three I believe are at the top of Charlotte’s wish list.

I’d like to see McMillan end up in the Queen City.

Sloan is a great coach, but I think this team is too young and too much of a project for him, and I trust McMillan’s history over the long time assistant, Malone’s.

Who do you think should be Charlotte’s next head coach?