Carmelo Anthony thinks everyone should leave Gary Washburn alone, from Al Iannazzone of Newsday: “Carmelo Anthony wishes everyone would leave Gary Washburn alone. The Boston Globe writer gave Melo the one first-place MVP vote that kept LeBron James from being the first unanimous winner. “I don’t know why he catch so much flak for that,” Anthony said. “He has the right to vote for whoever he wants. Lebron won the MVP. Why everybody so mad that he didn’t win it unanimously? Then Anthony ended his answer by saying, “Thank you” – to Washburn.
- Phil Jackson may be open to coaching again, but his interest is not with the Brooklyn Nets, from Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York: “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, who was dismissed after serving as interim coach for most of last season. Although Jackson passed on the Nets’ job, a source with knowledge of the Hall of Fame coach’s thinking told ESPN.com that he remains open to the possibility of coaching again if he had “influence” over personnel, similar to the arrangement Miami gave to Pat Riley.”
- Detroit Pistons are looking at Bernie Bickerstaff’s son as a candidate to be their next head coach, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “Houston Rockets assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff will interview for the Detroit Pistons’ head coaching job on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Bickerstaff, 34, has risen rapidly in the eyes of NBA executives as a head coaching candidate. Bickerstaff will be the fourth known candidate to interview for the Detroit opening. Ex-Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan, San Antonio Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, and Phoenix Suns interim coach Lindsey Hunter have met with Pistons GM Joe Dumars so far. As the son of longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff, J.B. Bickerstaff has long been immersed in the profession. Before joining the Rockets in 2011, he spent four years as an assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves (2007-’11) and three years under his father with the Charlotte Bobcats (2004-’07).
Chauncey Billups hopes to play for two more seasons, from Eric Patten of NBA.com: “Chauncey Billups is never short on confidence. He has long built a reputation as a clutch shooter, leader and one of the better playoff performers in recent history. It came as no surprise, then, when Billups, 36, proclaimed that after an injury-plagued 2012-13 season he would be back to full strength. Close? “I won’t be close,” Billups said a day after the Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs in six games by the Memphis Grizzlies. “I’ll be there next year. I’ve finally got my body back in position where I’ve turned a corner and I feel good. Now, it’s all about me putting in the work and going through it.” Billups is a free agent and said he wants to play at least two more seasons before moving into a role in a team’s front office.”… “This year was a really, really tough year for me personally,” Billups said after the season. “I’m happy that I got back. I feel good. Ironically, it’s crazy, this is probably right now the best my body has felt since before the injury. That kills me. That sucks.”
- Reggie Miller was booed as an analyst in MSG on Tuesday:
Ray Allen is trying to fix LeBron James’ free throw shooting, from Couper Moorhead of Heat.com: “If James has a weakness, it’s hitting, not getting, free throws. And he knows it. “I need and I want to shoot in the 80s,” James said during the HEAT’s week off. “That’s my next goal, my free-throw shooting.” As it turns out, the Path to 80 has James not only trying to match Allen free-throw for free-throw after practice, but trying to match Allen’s mechanics in games in the second round of the playoffs… Since Allen has said before that he is always willing to dispense shooting advice but only to those that come to him asking for it, it appears the results of this season led James to the Oracle of the Stripe. “That’s what we’ve been working on, trying not to get him to dip” said Allen, a career 89.4 percent shooter. “That dip is what puts the ball in a weird position. It’s interesting because his mechanics, if you watch them when he misses – I’ve studied him shooting them a lot – that dip puts him in a bad position to where he starts trying to move the ball in different places and he ends up missing in different places. We’ve talked about it. He understands it. I just watch him and try to give him information and he seems like he has better confidence. “I don’t know if he adopted my routine, I think he just goes to what’s comfortable for him. Looks good. He missed two free throws [last night] but he looks like he has a greater deal of confidence when he’s on the line.”
Bulls finished 5th in the East, not 8th as it says at beginning of article.
The 8th-place finish was a reference to where Thibs finished in the COY votes, Jerry. Thanks for reading.