SH Blog: D’Antoni resigns as coach of Lakers and Lionel Hollins already interested, Rivers changes tune on Shelly Sterling

Mike D’Antoni has coached his last game with the Los Angeles Lakers.

With so much assurance from the front office throughout the year, most expected the coach to return next season. However, there were certain conditions he hoped Mitch Kupchak would agree to, and those conditions weren’t met. ESPN has details:

The Lakers and D’Antoni have been discussing his future with the team since the season ended, multiple sources told ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne. Last week he asked them to pick up the team option on the final year of his contract in order to empower him to coach the team without constant speculation about his job status.

But, sources said, when the Lakers said they were unwilling to do that, the team and his representatives began working out a solution that was amenable to everyone. It is believed that D’Antoni did not leave the full $4 million that was guaranteed to him next season on the table.

D’Antoni’s agent, Warren LeGarie, told ESPNLosAngeles.com that his client and the Lakers “hit an insurmountable impasse” and that “Mike will no longer be the Laker coach.”

Barely hours after the sudden news, there is already at least one viable candidate who has interest in the suddenly-vacant Lakers’ head coaching position, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:

ex-NBA coach Lionel Hollins has interest in the Lakers head coach opening, a source said. Hollins coached Memphis to West Finals last season

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) May 1, 2014

The situation certainly turned out to be quite unfortunate for both parties. The Lakers turned down the chance to acquire Phil Jackson – something they are still scrutinized for – in favor of D’Antoni and needless to say, things have not worked out. For D’Antoni, disaster struck almost immediately when Steve Nash suffered a broken leg in their first season together with the Lakers. For a system that largely depends on the play-making abilities of a point guard, that was obviously a big problem, especially for a brand new team trying to incorporate stars together. This season has been even worse, with Kobe Bryant basically out the entire season due to two separate devastating injuries while Nash was once again ineffective due to various injuries of his own.

At the end of the day, D’Antoni never got a fair shake with the Lakers, but such is the life of a coach sometimes when you’re trying to make an impact with a big market team.

BIG NAMES INTERESTED IN BUYING THE CLIPPERS: 

Oprah Winfrey may seriously be interested in ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, from ESPN.com:

Oprah Winfrey, David Geffen and Larry Ellison will join together in a bid to buy the Los Angeles Clippers if the NBA’s board of governors votes to force Donald Sterling to sell the team, Geffen told ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap on Wednesday.

Geffen said he and Ellison would run the team, while Winfrey would be an investor.

“Oprah is not interested in running the team,” Geffen told Schaap. “She thinks it would be a great thing for an important black American to own [another] franchise.

“The team deserves a better group of owners who want to win. Larry would sooner die than fail. I would sooner die than fail. Larry’s a sportsman. We’ve talked about this for a long time. Between the three of us, we have a good shot.”

Winfrey’s spokesperson, Nicole Nichols, issued a statement later Wednesday, confirming Geffen’s claim.

“Oprah Winfrey is in discussions with David Geffen and Larry Ellison to make a bid for the Los Angeles Clippers should the team become available,” Nichols said in the statement.

Geffen, a music and film mogul with a net worth that Forbes estimates at $6.2 billion, reportedly tried to buy at least a controlling stake in the Clippers in 2010 for $600 million but was rebuffed by Sterling.

Geffen also told Schaap that LeBron James was interested in playing in Los Angeles when he was a free agent in 2010 and that James, who ultimately signed with the Miami Heat, told him he would not play for Sterling.

“[The] reasons are perfectly clear,” said Geffen, would not specifically disclose why James didn’t want to play for Sterling.

“I’m a fan. I bring something to the table, it’s fun and I can afford it,” Geffen said. “I live in L.A., that’s one thing that makes it attractive.”

Also interested in ownership of the Clippers? Boxer Floyd Mayweather, from Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports:

“Actually, I called Al today about that, to see if me, Leonard [Ellerbe], Richard [Schaefer], Al and a couple of my billionaire guys could come together and see what we could come up with,” said Mayweather, a devoted bettor on NBA games. “Let’s see if we can do it, and it’s not just talk. I wouldn’t mind. Once I get ownership in the Clippers, I could no longer bet. I’d have to stop that completely.

“You know with me, I can’t come in here and talk about, ‘Mayweather’s only going to get three percent, four percent.’ I’ve got to get a solid percentage. Do we want to buy the Clippers? Yes, we do. We’re very, very interested in buying the Clippers.”

“Donald Sterling, he’s been getting a lot of negative press,” Mayweather said. “My thing is this: I don’t have nothing negative to say about this guy. He’s always treated me with the utmost respect. He has always invited me to games. Always. He’s always told me, ‘Floyd, I want you to sit right next to me and my wife.’ I don’t know about the mistress, but I’m talking about him and the wife. But the mistress has always tried to send girls by me and I’d be like, ‘No.’ I was always like, ‘No, this is my guy’s seat.’ “

First of all, he’s defending Sterling, so lets just stop there in terms of his judge of character. Secondly, Floyd also happens to have a history of making racist remarks in the past, so it doesn’t really make much sense for the NBA to consider him as a legitimate candidate to buy the team, given that racism is the reason Sterling is in the current situation that he is in.

Another player of interest is Magic Johnson, who initially denied a report about his desire to buy the Clippers. His tune has quickly changed, from Mark Medina of Daily News:

Despite his initially public denials, Magic Johnson confirmed the obvious.

He would like to be a part of an ownership group that buys the Clippers.

“I will be owning an NBA team sometime,” Johnson told a gathering of business leaders Wednesday at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills, as reported by KPCC. “Is the Clippers the right situation? Of course. It’s one of the premiere franchises.”

DOC RIVERS NO LONGER SUPPORTIVE OF SHELLY STERLING?

Initially, Doc Rivers was fully supportive of Donald Sterling’s wife Shelly Sterling, from Spears of Yahoo Sports:

“It’s a tough one for Shelly [Sterling], really,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said following a 113-103 Game 5 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. “She didn’t do anything wrong either. You have compassion for her. I kept hearing about the girlfriend. I kept thinking, ‘Shelly is the wife.’ You know what I mean? I talked to her [Tuesday] and she has been through as much as anyone as well.”

“It doesn’t sound like it, to be honest,” said Rivers, about the possibility of Shelly Sterling owning the Clippers. “And I think she knows that. But she still wanted to be [at Game 5]. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but to me it was right.”

Rivers said he convinced Shelly Sterling to attend Game 5 and passed on a message from her to the players.

“She asked if she could come, which I thought was a very nice gesture,” Rivers said. “And she just wanted the players to know, she told me to tell them that she loved them. I thought, ‘Why not?'”

However, he has since been given some new information about her by Mark Medina of Daily News, written by Nathan Fenno of LA Times:

In a 2009 deposition, a tenant at one of the Sterling’s apartment buildings in Los Angeles County said that Rochelle Sterling called him a “black m—f—” during a discussion at the building.

“I asked her again, I asked her, ‘would you reduce the rent?’” Darrell Rhodes said in the deposition. “And she said, ‘who do you think you are, you black m—f—.’

“The way in which she said m—f— was more lower voiced, under her breath. She said black loud enough for me to hear, she said mother loud enough for me to hear. F— part was a little lower. I had to look at her lips to hear her say it. And I did.”

Rhodes, who filed a federal lawsuit against the Sterlings in 2007, alleged he was the target of discriminatory behavior by the Sterlings.

“Inflammatory remarks made directly to Darrell Rhodes by Shelley Sterling on several occasions indicate bias,” Rhodes wrote in a 2006 letter to the Sterlings that was entered into the court record. “We have been singled out in what we believe to be a discriminatory action.”

Here’s how Rivers reacted after reading that article:

I showed Doc the Times report about Sterling’s wife http://t.co/y02pAqs3Z4. Rivers was unaware:”We’re going to find out new things everyday”

— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) April 30, 2014

In all likelihood, Rivers won’t be encouraging Mrs. Sterling to attend any more games, as she appears to be as much of a racist as her husband. In fact, Rivers has changed his tune to the point of calling her a possible distraction, from Arash Markazi of ESPN LA:

Doc on Shelly Sterling’s presence being a distraction: “Yeah, it could be.”

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) April 30, 2014

 

MARK JACKSON DENIES GRANTLAND REPORT:

Mark Jackson was told about a report indicating he wouldn’t allow team consultant Jerry West to attend most practices, and here is what he had to say, from Sam Amick of USA Today:

In response to a Grantland report indicating he had asked that Warriors adviser and Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West not attend most practices and team activities, Jackson chose to go on the offensive.

“That’s a lie,” Jackson told USA TODAY Sports after the Clippers’ 113-103 Game 5 win Tuesday. “Come on. That’s a lie. That’s disrespectful.”

When asked directly if West — who joined the team when the group led by Joe Lacob took over ownership in the summer of 2010 — was welcome at his practices, Jackson said, “Absolutely. He has been at the practices. He’s there. That’s a flat-out lie.”

A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed that West has been at recent practices. That is in accordance with the initial report, as it was not indicated that West was absent from all of the team’s sessions or activities. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.

DAHNTAY JONES EXPLAINS PACERS’ BIGGEST ISSUE: 

Former Indiana Pacers player Dahntay Jones explained why the team is struggling so bad, from Scott Agness of Pacers.com:

“From the perspective of once being there and then from being at home just watching it, it just seems as if the level of hunger isn’t there,” said Dahntay Jones, who played 186 games in a Pacers uniform over three seasons (2009-12) and is now an analyst on NBA TV.

“They’re not out to prove points anymore. They just expect to have their place amongst the elite. You have to be hungry. You have to be consistent and consistently hungry to prove a point. Some of them seem to just expect to win and aren’t playing as hard as they used to.”

“I know the guys on both benches,” said Jones, who played 28 games with the Hawks last season. “I know that the Atlanta guys are extremely hungry and out to prove a point. … I know Shelvin Mack and I know Mike Scott are hungry; they spent all their time in the gym last year to have this moment. I’m proud of them because they’re at a point in time where Lance [Stephenson] and Paul [George] were about two years ago. Shelvin Mack was on a non-guaranteed deal at the beginning of the year, and so was Mike Scott. Those guys spent their whole time putting in work, putting in work and they’re hungry to prove a point, hungry to win, and hungry because everyone is doubting them.”

Maybe it’s about hunger. It could also simply be fundamental issues on the offensive end and a bad case of mismatches.

SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR:

Congrats to our friend Jamal Crawford, who won this season’s Sixth Man of the Year award. It was first reported by Marc Stein of ESPN: “Story going online now: ESPN has learned that Clippers G Jamal Crawford is the NBA’s Sixth Man Award winner for second time in his career”

James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.