Carlesimo fired?

[toki9]

Just read from one of the other forums that PJ was fired? Anyone else hear this?

[Last Comic Standing]

1979 forum

[El Jefe]

I have no links or proof, but I'm hearing Scott Brooks is taking over the head position.

[ss1986v2]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AlHZobqO7MyinbbqZRuy1XA5nYcB?slug=aw-carlesimofired112208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[toki9]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AlHZobqO7MyinbbqZRuy1XA5nYcB?slug=aw-carlesimofired112208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Thanks for the link...sorry to read it's true, though...

[Big Worm]

Was he dat cracker that kinda looked like Jack Trippers father from 3's company wannabe 70s porn star?

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/08j136TgIq4oa/610x.jpg

[mystargtr34]

That team is shit, has no talent either.

Durant pretty much sux, he obviously hasnt worked on his body, he doesnt rebound, cant pass, cant really create of the dribble. Hes pretty much a chucker.

Kieth Van Horn the second right now

[hoopdreams11]

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109778


like I said he might be back

[urunobili]

it'd be bad ass to have Carlesimo back! he is a balsam to our offensive schemes...

[Spurs Brazil]

I don't think he'll be back now.

[Ice009]

I don't think he'll be back now.

Why? Because the coaching staff is set?

[bigfundamental21]

Bring PJ Back!!!

[m33p0]

what did they expect with a young, talent-strapped team? bring PJ back!

[T Park]

The Thunder is a bad team, but I don't think they were THAT bad.

PJ is just not a good head coach.

[Thomas82]

We sure could use him.

[ploto]

PJ simply was not the right guy for a young team and Sam "tried" really hard not to hire him.

[T Park]

Yeah because PJ will magically make the team unbeatable :lol

[DANILO DRASKOVIC]

guess you could say he....chocked.....

[MrChug]

guess you could say he....chocked.....

You fucked up the punchline, but nice attempt. It almost would have been funny.

[m33p0]

he and Pop can do the 'good coach-bad coach' routine.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

A lot has changed since PJ was here last. Can two beards of that caliber peacefully coexist?

[G-Nob]

Thats a damn shame. What did they expect him to do in that short period of time w/o any talent???

[lurker23]

P.J. was a victim of not having much talent. Often it's the coach who makes the first attempt at rebuilding the team that gets screwed, while the second coach reaps the benefits. However, I doubt that will happen here. No player is going to want to be in Oklahoma City for an extended period of time, and I'd be surprised if they have a winning season in their next 5 years.

As far as P.J. goes, I'd love to have him back in San Antonio. He'll probably want a little time off, and would likely just come back here to hang out and be a consultant as far as this season goes, but if they decide to bring him back as an assistant next season, I'd be all for it.

[MrChug]

P.J. was a victim of not having much talent. Often it's the coach who makes the first attempt at rebuilding the team that gets screwed, while the second coach reaps the benefits.

The reverse is also true...see Stan Van Gundy mysteriously resigning to have more "family time" once Shaq and Wade were together on the Heat. :rolleyes

I really hated Pat Riley after that. Still gotta give him a big thanks for embarassing the cocky mavs in historic fashion...

[manufor3]

Bring PJ Back!!!

[Biggems]

i think they shouldnt have fired him so soon........instead, they should have traded some of the young talent and draft picks for some solid veteran leadership. I honestly think they should have made a strong play for Beno Udrih, Jennero Pargo, or Baron Davis. Davis would have been especially nice for them...Joe Smith, Robert Swift, and Damien Wilkins would have been used in trades...

PG Davis, Watson, Westbrook
SG Durant, Weaver
SF Mason, Green
PF Wilcox, Collison, DJ White
C Petro, Sene, Hill

IMO, just the simple addition of Davis makes this lineup much more formidable. I think they could easily compete for a .500 record, as opposed to being a complete bottom feeder right now.

[Ocotillo]

Is that a little bit of tarnish I see on Sam Presti's halo?

[DANILO DRASKOVIC]

You fucked up the punchline, but nice attempt. It almost would have been funny.

sorry
english isnt my first language

[Kori Ellis]

This isn't unexpected. When PJ got hired there, I heard Bennett pushed Presti into taking PJ and that Presti wasn't thrilled with it at all. We'll see what happens next. I don't think he'd be back with the Spurs, but anything can happen, I guess.

[GSH]

P.J. never had a chance. It's rare for any coach to survive a bare-metal rebuilding plan. That squad has 4 rookies, 2 second-year players. Plus, Mouhammed Sene (2 years), Johan Petro (3 years) and Robert Swift (3 years) - none of whom are NBA-ready. Throw in Chris Wilcox, who is a chronic under-achiever, and you have a recipe for another lottery pick season.

Meanwhile, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are doing pretty good for themselves in Boston and Orlando, respectively. Without some veteran leadership on the team, they had to have known that it would take more than one season to turn things around. The team hurt P.J. a lot more than he hurt the team.

Now Presti will get who he wanted as a coach, and P.J. is left holding the bag.

[bigfan]

PJ is a great guy and if he's not picked up by another NBA team as a head coach he should really consider college coaching again.

[K-State Spur]

I do think he misused some guys - specifically Durant. Durant playing at the 2 creates an almost automatic mis-match on the defensive end of the floor at all times.

[T Park]

Is that a little bit of tarnish I see on Sam Presti's halo?

Noooo, not the golden child! :lol

[whottt]

Hopefully PJ will be back...I doubt he will be though, at least not this season.

[mrspurs]

We can also than PJ for sending us Kurt. At least PJ saw just how crappy a basketball player he is. If you cant make your team better. Then send your crappy players to other teams and get a first round pick instead. Good move for them, stupid move for the spurs.

[toki9]

We can also than PJ for sending us Kurt. At least PJ saw just how crappy a basketball player he is. If you cant make your team better. Then send your crappy players to other teams and get a first round pick instead. Good move for them, stupid move for the spurs.

Is Carlesimo back with the Spurs?

Check out this roster:
http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/

[Spurs 21+20+9=50]

Is Carlesimo back with the Spurs?

Check out this roster:
http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/

Very interesting. PJ back already?? Pop probably jumped at the chance to bring back one of his best offensive assistants.

[lurker23]

Is Carlesimo back with the Spurs?

Check out this roster:
http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/

If there's some truth to that, it's very strange, for a number of reasons.
1. Spurs don't even wait for P.J.'s bench seat in OKC to get cold before making their move?
2. Spurs find the money/room to hire an extra assistant?
3. The webmaster is the first to know, before any kind of press conference?

[PM5K]

Too bad for PJ, other than Durant the rest of the players on the Thunder would have a hard time cracking the rotation on the Spurs (maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, maybe).....

[Spurtacus]

Bring PJ back to the Spurs. Didn't we win two titles with him as assistant?

[lurker23]

Is Carlesimo back with the Spurs?

Check out this roster:
http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/


If there's some truth to that, it's very strange, for a number of reasons.
1. Spurs don't even wait for P.J.'s bench seat in OKC to get cold before making their move?
2. Spurs find the money/room to hire an extra assistant?
3. The webmaster is the first to know, before any kind of press conference?

Also, in case you were curious, P.J.'s name was taken off in the past (i.e. - it hasn't just been sitting on that roster page for 2 years with none of us noticing.

Wayback Machine from February 2008:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080203110656/http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/

[galvatron3000]

keep firing head coaches after 1 or 2 seasons and the'll be getting number picks almost every year. got to have some consistency and build on a foundation but they have no foundation and are just as inconsistent as the players wearing their jerseys. what are they looking? what are they trying to establish? what identity are they trying to sculpt?

when you hire a coach, don't you ask them what are they going to bring? what are they trying to do? if so was PJ not doing that or have you decided to go another way already or it's not working?

[timvp]

I'm somewhat surprised PJ got fired. I thought Presti was doing a good job of building for the future. Having a bad record isn't too catastrophic when you already know there's no chance to make the playoffs. I'm surprised Presti wasn't as patient with the coaching as he was with the building process as a whole.

I'm guessing either Presti himself is feeling a little bit of heat, the kids on the team started rebelling against PJ or Brooks was Presti's first choice the whole time. . .

[CubanMustGo]

Yeah, there was a story about how the players had already tuned out PJ.

http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/art_garcia/11/22/carlesimo.reax/

excerpt:

P.J. Carlesimo officially lost his job after New Orleans embarrassed the Thunder before its home fans ... again. Realistically, Carlesimo's fate was sealed two nights earlier against the equally dismal Clippers.

In a slap fight between one-win teams, the Thunder squandered a 15-point lead and lost by 20. The team, especially its young stable of lottery picks, had clearly given up on Carlesimo. For the last two weeks, they were merely going through the motions.

The body language from Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and others on the sidelines during timeouts spoke volumes. They had tuned out a coach who also wore out welcomes in Golden State and Portland.

[mrspurs]

Is Carlesimo back with the Spurs?

Check out this roster:
http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/

Yeah I saw that someone else already. Before this I read this thread.

[mrspurs]

keep firing head coaches after 1 or 2 seasons and the'll be getting number picks almost every year. got to have some consistency and build on a foundation but they have no foundation and are just as inconsistent as the players wearing their jerseys. what are they looking? what are they trying to establish? what identity are they trying to sculpt?

when you hire a coach, don't you ask them what are they going to bring? what are they trying to do? if so was PJ not doing that or have you decided to go another way already or it's not working?

Ask how many coaches Drob went through? And yes you dont get much done with new coaches every other year. Someone should tell the Mavs and Rockets that. All the talent in the world is for nothing, when you keep changing the system their supposed to learn.

[Obstructed_View]

Hopefully he comes back to SA. He's never going to get an NBA head coaching job again, so unless he wants to go find a junior college somewhere, I bet Pop would welcome him back.

[Buddy Holly]

He still lives in San Antonio so maybe a color analyst position?

[Biernutz]

We can also than PJ for sending us Kurt. At least PJ saw just how crappy a basketball player he is. If you cant make your team better. Then send your crappy players to other teams and get a first round pick instead. Good move for them, stupid move for the spurs.

Why an I not surprised that this Asshat would look for a way to run down the Spurs in a PJ thread. http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/systime/SMILEYS%20%20222/thasshat.gif

[galvatron3000]

I'm somewhat surprised PJ got fired. I thought Presti was doing a good job of building for the future. Having a bad record isn't too catastrophic when you already know there's no chance to make the playoffs. I'm surprised Presti wasn't as patient with the coaching as he was with the building process as a whole.

I'm guessing either Presti himself is feeling a little bit of heat, the kids on the team started rebelling against PJ or Brooks was Presti's first choice the whole time. . .



i got some inside feed that PJ may have been riding guys but not EVERYBODY so there may be some truth to that. I find it hard to understand though coming from the Spurs, where treat stars the same as everyone else is standard unless PJ just felt it too hard to do under the circumstances of knowing who he is and his history.

[Kindergarten Cop]

Also, in case you were curious, P.J.'s name was taken off in the past (i.e. - it hasn't just been sitting on that roster page for 2 years with none of us noticing.

Wayback Machine from February 2008:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080203110656/http://www.nba.com/spurs/roster/

Has there been a more recent edit, because I don't see PJ's name on the Spurs' roster when I click the link.

[IceColdBrewski]

Hopefully he comes back to SA. He's never going to get an NBA head coaching job again, so unless he wants to go find a junior college somewhere...


There are plenty of major colleges that would love to have him if he chose to rejoin the college ranks. When he arrived at Seton Hall, they were the Big East doormat. Carlesimo took them from laughing stock to perinnial final four contender.

He may suck as an NBA head coach, but he woulda been one of the college greats had he stuck it out. Coach K wouldn't make it too long as an NBA coach either. He's too much of a hardass on players if they make a mistake, just like Carlesimo. That act wears thin fast in the NBA.

[CubanMustGo]

It was there after PJ was fired, removed the next day. I sent the E-N a note and McDonald replied, saying it was some sort of screwup by the nba.com guys.

[Allanon]

How many ways can a guy be fired? I've gone to the NBA.COM site 3 days now. The headlines have kept changing:

Carlismo out in OKC, replaced by Brooks - Friday Night
Carlismo dumped by Thunder - Saturday
Thunder decide to roll without Carlismo - Today

Hahah, are they trying to make it sound better?

[Biernutz]

Unlike with AJ, I'm fine with PJ coming back after the all-star game.

[K-State Spur]

There are plenty of major colleges that would love to have him if he chose to rejoin the college ranks. When he arrived at Seton Hall, they were the Big East doormat. Carlesimo took them from laughing stock to perinnial final four contender.

He may suck as an NBA head coach, but he woulda been one of the college greats had he stuck it out. Coach K wouldn't make it too long as an NBA coach either. He's too much of a hardass on players if they make a mistake, just like Carlesimo. That act wears thin fast in the NBA.

I think he absolutely hated kissing the ass of 18 year old kids on the recruiting trail. I suspect he'll hang around the NBA as somebody's top assistant.

[DUNCANownsKOBE2]

Bud was my hope for the Suns job....if PJ or AJ are brought in they need to know they are 2nd fiddle on the assistant pecking order to Bud.

[arodz]

Spurs NEED him back. The offense has suffered since his departure. Not saying he's the reason the Spurs offense was great, but I don't think it was a coicidence that they've struggled since he left.

[cool hand]

I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend that he will be back.

[mouse]

maybe the real reason they want him on the Spurs to show Pop how to properly trim his beard.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/14/sports/carle.184.1.jpg

[duncan228]

Charley Rosen chimes in.

Straight shooting (http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8838386/Carlesimo-seemingly-never-adapted)

For what it's worth, I was never a big fan of P.J. Carlesimo. Never mind the persistent rumors that his program at Seton Hall wasn't exactly as pure as the driven snow. Never mind that his overly brusque my-way-or-the-highway courtside manner pushed the volatile and more-arrogant-then-thou Latrell Sprewell over the edge.

I was convinced that Carlesimo had no business being a head coach in the NBA on the basis of an interview that took place during his rookie season in Portland.

Before we spoke, I'd questioned some of the players, who were unanimous in their negative judgments of him.

* Carlesimo was usually the last member of the organization to show up for practice and the first to leave.

* His loud and constant berating of them for every mistake angered the players and was therefore extremely counter-productive.

* His game-time substitutions paid little attention to defensive matchups. Nor was he concerned with having five Blazers on the court whose individual skills were complementary. And when these matchups and dysfunctional fives proved to be clearly disadvantageous, he stubbornly refused to make changes. (Several other NBA coaches seconded this appraisal.)

* He was totally intimidated by his veteran players and had no idea how to communicate with any of the guys on the roster.
But Carlesimo's response to my very first question sealed the deal for me:

"What's the difference between coaching on the college level and coaching in the NBA?"

"There's no difference whatsoever," he said. "The basket is still 10 feet high and 15 feet away from the free throw line."

"And the players?"

"Players are players," he said.

Gasp!

After being fired by the Blazers, and then by the Warriors, Carlesimo spent several season as a trusty assistant to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. While Pop has the same semi-belligerent mind-set, he has the chops to pull it off and earn his players' respect. Carlesimo's reward was to be hired by the Sonics (now the Thunder) to run the show in 2007.

Anyway, after spending parts of seven seasons in some team's command seat, and after compiling a career record of 207-296, Carlesimo has been canned once more.

Not too many NBA watchers were surprised.

And with his latest pink slip, Carlesimo rejoins a long and quasi-distinguished roster of his peers. Like Jim Lynam, Bill Cartwright, Dave Wohl, Dave Cowens, Johnny Davis, Randy Ayers, Phil Johnson, Bob Weiss, Gar Heard, Rex Hughes, Sidney Lowe, Bill Blair, Alvin Gentry, George Irvine, John Bach, Herb Brown, Jim Cleamons, Richie Adubato and Terry Stotts — P.J. Carlesimo is just another example of a guy who was an excellent assistant coach but lacked the charisma and/or the people skills to succeed as a head coach.

Which doesn't mean that he's a bad person.