Abdul-Jabbar Feels Snubbed For Not Being a Head Coach Candidate for Any Team

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Kareem: I've been snubbed
By MARC BERMAN

BOSTON – Lakers special assistant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, assigned to Jersey’s center Andrew Bynum, believes he’s been shunned as an NBA coaching candidate because of a trend of hiring former point guards over former centers.

Abdul-Jabbar had had just one interview on the college/NBA level – five years ago with Columbia. “I had hoped I would get an opportunity to be a head coach,’’ the Laker legend and former Power Memorial star. “That hasn’t happened. One thing it’s a real pleasure working with Bynum and I’m glad I got involved. Of course I’d entertain it but it may not present itself. They see I’m coaching. Not like I’m living up in Alaska. I think ballhandlers seem to get the job.’’

Kareem had one head-coaching gig - a year in the USBL in 2002. “Some of it has to do with I was 42 when I retired, took a few years off to deal with burnout and here I’m 45 just starting to try to coach.’’

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/knicks/archives/2008/06/kareem_ive_been.html

[Bob Lanier]

But Michael Curry and an endless string of benchwarming white guys are so much more likable than the best player in the history of the NBA.

[SenorSpur]

He should feel snubbed. It doesn't matter what his reputation was with the media when he played. If anyone thinks Jabbar couldn't impart knowledge and instruction to today's player, they're wrong. I think he'd be a good coach for some team. Same for Ewing. These guys are paying their dues and deserve a shot.

[baseline bum]

Kareem is a dick. I met the guy, and he's a total asshole. Basically, the complete opposite of classy guys like Magic & Worthy.

[JamStone]

Imparting wisdom is one thing. Being able to be a successful head coach is completely another thing altogether. Him being a dick probably had a big part in him not getting many chances. That's his own fault. But, when you have that against you, you have to earn your way up, not just being a "big man" consultant for a team. Coach the CBA, apply for assistant coaching positions. Byron Scott and Patrick Ewing did it that way.

Being a great player doesn't automatically mean you'll be a good head coach.

[tlongII]

He wasn't smart enough to keep his money. I would have reservations about making him my head coach.

[Bob Lanier]

Kareem is a dick. I met the guy, and he's a total asshole. Basically, the complete opposite of classy guys like Magic & Worthy.
I've met the guy several times, and he seems cool to me.

Magic acts like a used-car dealer.

[Bob Lanier]

you have to earn your way up
Or he could chop his legs off at the knees and bleach his skin.

[Pistons < Spurs]

Or he could chop his legs off at the knees and bleach his skin.

So that's the answer. He's not been offered a HC'ing job because he's not short and white. Got it. Thanks.

[Bob Lanier]

So that's the answer. He's not been offered a HC'ing job because he's not short and white.
It's at least as sensible as the prevailing explanation that he's not been offered a HCing job because he's such a monumental asshole. Seriously, he's not Rick Barry. He's not Bob Cousy.

But I stand by my thesis. If he were a gladhanding white scrub on multiple title teams, it wouldn't matter what an asshole he is; he'd have a comfortable job in coaching or management if he wanted one. Ask Danny Ainge.


Got it. Thanks.My pleasure. In lieu of thanks, though, I would have taken your getting back to me on what a head coach tangibly does in this league.

[ChumpDumper]

Whining isn't going to help.

[T Park]

Being a personal big man coach to Bynum isn't exactly an overwhelming reason to make him head coach.

[T Park]

If he were a gladhanding white scrub on multiple title teams, it wouldn't matter what an asshole he is; he'd have a comfortable job in coaching or management if he wanted one. Ask Danny Ainge.


What about Mike Woodson, Eddie Jordan, Terry Porter?

[spurscenter]

Kareem: I've been snubbed
By MARC BERMAN

BOSTON – Lakers special assistant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, assigned to Jersey’s center Andrew Bynum, believes he’s been shunned as an NBA coaching candidate because of a trend of hiring former point guards over former centers.

Abdul-Jabbar had had just one interview on the college/NBA level – five years ago with Columbia. “I had hoped I would get an opportunity to be a head coach,’’ the Laker legend and former Power Memorial star. “That hasn’t happened. One thing it’s a real pleasure working with Bynum and I’m glad I got involved. Of course I’d entertain it but it may not present itself. They see I’m coaching. Not like I’m living up in Alaska. I think ballhandlers seem to get the job.’’

Kareem had one head-coaching gig - a year in the USBL in 2002. “Some of it has to do with I was 42 when I retired, took a few years off to deal with burnout and here I’m 45 just starting to try to coach.’’

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/knicks/archives/2008/06/kareem_ive_been.html

George karl has a 4-24 record since 2001 and he still coaching

if karl was a black man, he be out long time ago

sucks

[Bob Lanier]

What about Mike Woodson, Eddie Jordan, Terry Porter?
They worked their way up through the ranks. Woodson was an assistant coach for a decade; Jordan was an assistant college coach for a number of years, starting as a volunteer (i.e., he begged for a job), then an NBA assistant; Porter did spend only one season as an assistant, so he's the closest of the three to having been handed a job.

You can easily find examples of blacks networking their way into jobs in the NBA rather than "earning your way up," as JamStone romantically called it, but it remains easier for whites; at the other end of the spectrum, it remains considerably easier for blacks to burn their bridges completely. Kareem was nowhere near as much an asshole as, say, Larry Bird, but Bird was immediately given a front office position and got a coaching position as soon as he asked for one.

[exstatic]

Kareem has felt entitled to a HC job since the day he hung up his kicks. He was above doing an apprenticeship as an assistant. He resisted for over a decade, and then only took a "special" assistant job with his old team. That kind of attitude will get you few or no interviews.

Another facet of the HC job is press accessibility. Kareem has failed on that front for decades. Bird was an asshole, but a press-accessable one.

[leemajors]

Whining isn't going to help.

:whine