With the NCAA Tourament upon us, it seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone that there is a canyon between coaching in college and coaching in the NBA. There is more than a generation of evidence which clearly illustrates that any NBA team hiring a head coach directly from college is making a huge mistake. P.J. Carlesimo. Tim Floyd. Leonard Hamilton. Lon Kruger. Mike Montgomery. Jerry Tarkanian. Rick Pitino, who failed twice. Even John Calipari, who is
Phil Jackson won’t be awful as president of the New York Knicks. He certainly won’t be as bad as Isiah Thomas was in running the club. And he will almost certainly be better than David Kahn, Bryan Colangelo, Joe Dumars, Otis Smith and Geoff Petrie have been in recent years. But Phil Jackson isn’t Isiah Thomas, or David Kahn, or Bryan Colangelo. He’s Phil Jackson, with a reputation of all things basketball that he touches turning to gold. And that’s exactly what
Can Derrick Rose still come back this season to help the Chicago Bulls against the Miami Heat in the Conference semifinals? Much has been made of why he – despite being cleared to play by doctors some time ago – has still been unavailable to play for the team. Perhaps there wouldn’t have been so much scrutiny on the point guard, who is still in the process of recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in last season’s playoffs, had he
Suddenly, everything is a whole lot clearer. Four teams were eliminated last night, and we’ve got just one more game in the first round of the playoffs. It’s tonight, between the Bulls and Nets, and the winner gets to face the Heat. So maybe not the best reward, but every team in the East knows they’ll have to go through the Heat if they want to reach the Finals. The rest of the second round is set, and we’ve got previews
The first round of the playoffs has turned out to be as tense as could have been hoped, with six of the eight series going six games and at least one going the full seven. Meanwhile, the other 14 NBA teams are getting ready for next season, and for quite a few, that means new coaches, or possibly new management. While the Raptors continue to court Phil Jackson, Jackson himself is signing on with the Pistons in what is described as
Hello and welcome to the Evening News. As the playoffs are under way, we’ll keep you updated every evening. What’s happening today? Here’s the latest news from around the league: [Read more…]
I am publishing a poll. I have already cast the first vote. Based upon what I am hearing from my sources, I think Phil Jackson is going to be the next coach of the Brooklyn Nets — provided Mikhail Prokhorov ponies up money-wise. If you want to believe in the Kelvin Sampson shenanigans, go ahead. Sampson is a choice …. but not mine. [Read more…]
So it’s finally happening: the NBA will punish players for the act of flopping. Will the rule change help clean up the game? Only time will tell, but it’s a start to help distinguish the difference between basketball players and those that may wish to pursue a career in acting. Some will surely be unhappy with the idea of losing money over such a subjective issue – the NBPA is already taking action – but others are quite happy with