Kori Ellis
05-31-2006, 12:14 AM
Mike Monroe: Carlesimo not receiving fair shot
Web Posted: 05/31/2006 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA053106.5C.COL.BKNmonroe.carlesimo.1752c791.htm l
It's difficult to understand why Spurs assistant P.J. Carlesimo has not had a chance to interview for the Sacramento Kings' coaching position.
By all accounts, Kings majority owners Joe and Gavin Maloof are ready to make John Whisenant the first person to jump directly from a WNBA bench to the head coach's seat on an NBA bench. The brothers interviewed former Spurs player/assistant coach Mario Elie, now assisting Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, and former Warriors coach Eric Musselman, now assisting Mike Fratello in Memphis, but not Carlesimo.
Though the Maloofs are said to admire Gregg Popovich more than any NBA coach, a source close to the process said the owners chose not to interview his top assistant.
This is puzzling, especially since the Spurs' second-round playoff exit afforded them a graceful opportunity to talk with Carlesimo. When the Spurs were ousted and Carlesimo did not hear from the Kings soon thereafter, he figured he was not on the Maloofs' short list. Not getting a call, he said, was not as disappointing as interviewing last year with the Timberwolves and not landing the job.
Why would the Kings hire Whisenant, aside from his being the only pro coach in Sacramento able to hang a banner at Arco Arena thanks to the WNBA-champion Monarchs?
This decision seems more about loyalty than basketball.
Whisenant has a long history with the Maloofs, going back to his days as an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico under Norm Ellenberger in the mid-to-late-1970s. The Maloof brothers grew up in Albuquerque, where the patriarch of the family, George J. Maloof, made millions off a Coors beer distributorship. Maloof Sr. bought majority interest in the Houston Rockets in 1978, but he died in 1980, and the family sold the team two years later after the Rockets advanced to the 1981 NBA Finals.
Before the Maloofs got back into NBA ownership by buying the Kings, they tried to purchase the Spurs. During their flirtation with the city and the team's ownership group, Joe and Gavin Maloof brought with them a trusted sports business consultant: John Whisenant.
This is a tough break for Carlesimo, who deserves another shot at coaching his own team, because it looks like the Kings' head coaching job is going to be the only one available in the NBA this summer.
It's official: Commissioner David Stern's defense of the referees working the playoffs this spring has been tepid, at best. In the main, his message is: Sure, our referees make mistakes, but not as many as officials in other basketball leagues and in other sports.
Stern insists NBA refs are right about 92 percent of the time. That is remarkable, given the nature of the game and the pace at which it is played.
But it doesn't help the refs' image when the league's basketball operations department has to officially admit a major mistake was made in a playoff game. Stu Jackson last week was forced to rescind the technical foul referee Dick Bavetta slapped on the Spurs' Michael Finley in the second quarter of Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinal series against the Mavericks.
Bavetta gave Finley a technical for throwing an elbow as players scrambled for rebound position after a free-throw attempt. Jackson, the league's vice-president for basketball operations, ruled it had been called incorrectly. That saved Finley the $1,000 fine that goes along with every technical but didn't do much to make the Spurs feel better about having to watch the Western Conference finals.
Remember, Dirk Nowitzki made the foul shot that followed Finley's technical, and the game was tied at the end of regulation. The Spurs lost in overtime.
Jackson never bothered to phone anyone in the Spurs' basketball ops department to tell them Bavetta had erred. Instead, he just e-mailed, which helps explain why some refer to him as Stu "Not Rod" Jackson, a sad comparison to his popular predecessor, Rod Thorn.
It is absurd to assert that the Spurs would have won the game had the technical not been called. There is no way to project how the second half would have played out with a one-point deduction in Dallas' halftime score, but the rescinding of the technical shook a few more grains of salt into a painful wound.
Web Posted: 05/31/2006 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA053106.5C.COL.BKNmonroe.carlesimo.1752c791.htm l
It's difficult to understand why Spurs assistant P.J. Carlesimo has not had a chance to interview for the Sacramento Kings' coaching position.
By all accounts, Kings majority owners Joe and Gavin Maloof are ready to make John Whisenant the first person to jump directly from a WNBA bench to the head coach's seat on an NBA bench. The brothers interviewed former Spurs player/assistant coach Mario Elie, now assisting Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, and former Warriors coach Eric Musselman, now assisting Mike Fratello in Memphis, but not Carlesimo.
Though the Maloofs are said to admire Gregg Popovich more than any NBA coach, a source close to the process said the owners chose not to interview his top assistant.
This is puzzling, especially since the Spurs' second-round playoff exit afforded them a graceful opportunity to talk with Carlesimo. When the Spurs were ousted and Carlesimo did not hear from the Kings soon thereafter, he figured he was not on the Maloofs' short list. Not getting a call, he said, was not as disappointing as interviewing last year with the Timberwolves and not landing the job.
Why would the Kings hire Whisenant, aside from his being the only pro coach in Sacramento able to hang a banner at Arco Arena thanks to the WNBA-champion Monarchs?
This decision seems more about loyalty than basketball.
Whisenant has a long history with the Maloofs, going back to his days as an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico under Norm Ellenberger in the mid-to-late-1970s. The Maloof brothers grew up in Albuquerque, where the patriarch of the family, George J. Maloof, made millions off a Coors beer distributorship. Maloof Sr. bought majority interest in the Houston Rockets in 1978, but he died in 1980, and the family sold the team two years later after the Rockets advanced to the 1981 NBA Finals.
Before the Maloofs got back into NBA ownership by buying the Kings, they tried to purchase the Spurs. During their flirtation with the city and the team's ownership group, Joe and Gavin Maloof brought with them a trusted sports business consultant: John Whisenant.
This is a tough break for Carlesimo, who deserves another shot at coaching his own team, because it looks like the Kings' head coaching job is going to be the only one available in the NBA this summer.
It's official: Commissioner David Stern's defense of the referees working the playoffs this spring has been tepid, at best. In the main, his message is: Sure, our referees make mistakes, but not as many as officials in other basketball leagues and in other sports.
Stern insists NBA refs are right about 92 percent of the time. That is remarkable, given the nature of the game and the pace at which it is played.
But it doesn't help the refs' image when the league's basketball operations department has to officially admit a major mistake was made in a playoff game. Stu Jackson last week was forced to rescind the technical foul referee Dick Bavetta slapped on the Spurs' Michael Finley in the second quarter of Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinal series against the Mavericks.
Bavetta gave Finley a technical for throwing an elbow as players scrambled for rebound position after a free-throw attempt. Jackson, the league's vice-president for basketball operations, ruled it had been called incorrectly. That saved Finley the $1,000 fine that goes along with every technical but didn't do much to make the Spurs feel better about having to watch the Western Conference finals.
Remember, Dirk Nowitzki made the foul shot that followed Finley's technical, and the game was tied at the end of regulation. The Spurs lost in overtime.
Jackson never bothered to phone anyone in the Spurs' basketball ops department to tell them Bavetta had erred. Instead, he just e-mailed, which helps explain why some refer to him as Stu "Not Rod" Jackson, a sad comparison to his popular predecessor, Rod Thorn.
It is absurd to assert that the Spurs would have won the game had the technical not been called. There is no way to project how the second half would have played out with a one-point deduction in Dallas' halftime score, but the rescinding of the technical shook a few more grains of salt into a painful wound.