LET’S connect the polka dots. No sooner does Larry Brown resign his vacuous vice president’s job – or whatever title it was – with the 76ers than the 32-50 Bobcats turn Sam Vincent into Sam Vincent van Gone.
Hey, I’m no Agatha Christie – I’m not even Julie Christie – but I’m not mystified in the least.
Down deep, Next Town Brown has a lot of groupie in him when it comes to (Charlotte boss) Michael Jordan. I dare say he’d probably work for nothing (admittedly a “slight” exaggeration; Larry definitely wears Michael’s underwear brand) to hang around His Airness on a regular basis.
I visualize Dean Smith as Brown’s behind-the-bench consultant for home games, a la Tex Winter holding down Jackson.
If my conclusion-jumping is off target, the Grizzlies’ presidency and coaching jobs are there for the scoop should Brown want them. Again, he was never in Bulls GM John Paxson’s interviewing equation, which has expanded beyond Rick Carlisle. In fact, sources say Paxson is scheduled to meet with Mark Jackson in Los Angeles sometime this week, though the original point god made it clear, all negotiating details being near equal, his goal is to coach the Knicks.
A report that Jackson met last week (Thursday, actually) with Donnie Walsh in Phoenix (Scottsdale, actually) is true.
It is categorically untrue that Jeff Van Gundy turned down an opportunity to be interviewed for the vacant position since he was never asked and was never a consideration.
It’s equally untrue Walsh reached out (supposedly too late) to Scott Skiles. When agent Keith Glass called repeatedly to get an interview for his client to no avail he focused attention on real suitors for Skiles’ services, the Bucks, who signed him for four years, and the Grizzlies who very much still have a president (Chris Wallace) and a coach (Marc Iavaroni) and precious few (any?) replacement options.
According to an inflexible memo sent out by Billy Hunter, the Player’ Association plans to crack down on agents (like Glass) who represent players and coaches; the union forbids doing both, but has overlooked the conflict of interest for 20 years or more. Those days are over, warned Hunter. An agent who represents players and coaches said he plans to make a choice in the coming weeks rather than face a stiff fine.
A Philly friend swears Walsh, as a favor to Brown, met with John Calipari shortly before he signed an extension with Memphis. Evidently their (unconfirmed) meeting offered no hope of him returning to the NBA in New York. Not that we should feel bad for Calipari. Someone close to him disclosed his rather rewarding Memphis contract includes a $10 million annuity payable should he stay 10 years.
Yesterday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed Mike D’Antoni could wind up in Toronto with former Suns exec Bryan Colangelo should Phoenix make him the designated scapegoat for its playoff failures and Sam Mitchell be fired by the Raptors. Both men have two years left on their deals. Money owed is a major concern or complication. Once alleged imperfections start to leak out in the local media, which is the case in both circumstances, time is about to expire. The whispering campaign regarding Mitchell is supposedly he’s not a hard worker or on top of the league’s current events. A few months ago, before the Raptors were to play the Lakers, he addressed the team by telling them, “We’ll worry about the guy who got 81 in a second, but first I want to talk about Andrew Bynum and how he killed us last time.” A hush engulfed the locker room. “Hey, coach,” Chris Bosh interrupted. “Bynum’s been out for weeks with an injury.”
D’Antoni’s purported defects aren’t restricted to his failure to make adjustments from game-to-game, much less while in the heat of battle.
For instance, Shaquille O’Neal does not do anything behind the pick to challenge Tony Parker and the Suns haven’t trapped him coming off the screens either? Said a member of the Spurs, “We keep waiting to adjust to something but . . . ”
When I visited Phoenix for Shaq’s first game I heard several stories about management’s dissatisfaction with D’Antoni’s attention to detail and his failure to set rules, boundaries and limitations.
Obviously, I’m watching dog trainer Cesar Milan too much.
Suns’ insiders compared D’Antoni to Paul Westphal in terms of not being a disciplinarian (specifically concerning Amare Stoudemire), recalling how he allowed pet Charles Barkley to do as he pleased.
Last week D’Antoni’s easy going style (I love dealing with the guy) was being underlined by team sources to the local media as a detriment. And that was before the Suns lost convincingly at home in Game 3 in large part due to Parker’s 41 points and 12 assists, and fell behind the Spurs 0-3.
Why did D’Antoni start Steve Nash on Parker rather than hide his defensive shortcoming on Bruce Bowen? By the time he switched the assignment to Boris Diaw and then Grant Hill, Parker already had flushed 6-7 from the floor and handed out four dimes.
“Your Matrix [Shawn Marion] argument is mute,” said a Spur. “We won eight of 11 games when Neo was complaining about his $18M salary, nightly double-doubles and 40 minutes a night playing alongside Nash.
“The Shaq move was still a good move, I just think they needed a first round series against someone else. That confidence would have been good for them given their lack of time together.
“They’re missing a perimeter threat to give Steve more room to operate,” continued the Spur. That’s the key. “We used to be very concerned with their three-point shooting, but we can offer more interior help without a pure shooter there.
“Moreover, they never played us healthy this season. Take a look at the season box scores to see who was out to verify but that is saying something. We are getting hungry now.
“This team has been waiting for the playoffs to start since winning last year so our focus [injuries haven’t helped] has been off. But I’m starting to see and feel that swagger that comes with knowing what we are capable of doing.”