Don Nelson leading candidate for Kings job? Porter, Carlesimo also candidates
Don Nelson was at his home in Maui when he learned Tuesday that two friends, Sacramento Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, were suddenly looking for a new coach.
The location is important because it represents one of the obstacles Sacramento would face should it make a full-steam pitch to recruit Nelson as its Rick Adelman replacement.
Nelson was one of three names I heard most in the hours after Adelman was informed that his Kings reign was over. The others: Ex-Kings guard and assistant coach Terry Porter and San Antonio Spurs assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo.
However ...
If you believe, as I do, that choosing Adelman's replacement rests more with the Maloofs than team president Geoff Petrie -- and if you believe that the Maloofs are looking for a candidate with a more decorated résumé than Adelman's and the best shot at managing Ron Artest -- you can expect to hear more about Nelson in coming days.
Nelson is the only available coach who meets those requirements and he won't discourage the idea. The 27-year coaching veteran told ESPN.com via phone that, while still very content in X-and-O retirement and not quite ready to publicly discuss the opening, he'd listen to a Kings proposal because he's so fond of the Maloof brothers.
Nelson, though, has enjoyed what he often refers to as "the year of my life" since resigning as coach of the Dallas Mavericks in March 2005. The Kings have the financial wherewithal to offer the $5 million annual salary likely needed to lure Nellie back to the bench, but they would also have to convince the 65-year-old -- who turns 66 on Monday -- to give up the freedoms and luxuries of his new lifestyle.
ESPN.com reported in February that Nelson, according to multiple associates, has dropped hints about a possible return to coaching next season. Sacramento immediately emerged as the most obvious destination for a few reasons.
1. Nelson is sufficiently eccentric in his own right to click with Sacramento's new cornerstone player and the Kings need a coach who can reach Artest if they're committed to an Artest-centric future.
2. The Maloofs are undoubtedly willing to pay top dollar for a coach and are known to like making splashes, as evidenced by their gamble to trade for Artest in January and their not-so-secret attempts a year ago to hire Phil Jackson before Jackson returned to the Los Angeles Lakers.
3. Nelson is already working for the Maloofs. The madcap brothers own the production company that, with George Clooney as a producer, is putting together a basketball sitcom in which Nelson coaches a fictional expansion team in San Diego.
The Kings, furthermore, are not required to ask Dallas for permission to speak to Nelson. NBA coaching sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that Nelson, presently serving as a Mavs consultant, is a coaching free agent at season's end and thus free to entertain job offers for 2006-07.
Yet it remains to be seen if Petrie or even the Maloofs would replace Adelman with an offensive-minded coach, amid su ions that they would rather not. Neither brother could not be reached for comment Tuesday and Petrie, who resisted the ouster of his longtime pal to the end, didn't reveal much about the search for Adelman's successor at a Tuesday news conference.
Nelson has the biggest sideline presence of any available coach and, by all accounts, has developed a close bond with the Maloofs. But Artest's arrival gave the Kings a top-shelf defensive presence for the first time in Adelman's run of eight consecutive playoff seasons. Nelson critics will say he's too free-wheeling to make the best use of Artest; Nelson backers will say that you don't have to be a defense-first coach if Artest is on your team.
If the Kings want to get closer to the San Antonio model, Carlesimo is a natural target. Porter, meanwhile, remains popular with Kings fans from his playing days, although I've also been advised by NBA coaching sources that -- after a year off following his ouster in Milwaukee -- Porter is a prime contender for Flip Saunders' staff in Detroit as the replacement for N.C. State-bound Sidney Lowe.
It also remains to be seen if Nelson can be lured back by anyone, even if he did emerge as the Kings' top target. Despite his official le, Nelson isn't consulted for much by Avery Johnson's Mavs. So he stays busy making real-estate transactions in Hawaii and on the mainland.
He recently took a vacation to New Zealand with wife Joy that he called his first-ever trip abroad for non-basketball reasons. He has also opened a new sports bar in downtown Dallas where he can be found playing shuffleboard whenever he's in Dallas.
He's enjoying it all, too.
"I'm not planning on coming back, but I don't know the future," Nelson said in a March radio interview with ESPN 103.3 FM in Dallas. "I just don't. I wish I did, but I don't know what's going to happen."
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/colum...marc&id=2439668
playing days in sacramento?Carlesimo is a natural target. Porter, meanwhile, remains popular with Kings fans from his playing days, although I've also been advised by NBA coaching sources that -- after a year off following his ouster in Milwaukee -- Porter is a prime contender for Flip Saunders' staff in Detroit as the replacement for N.C. State-bound Sidney Lowe.
He coached there, but never played...........
Maybe T Park would like PJ to take Manu with him.
Cannot believe that ANYONE in their right mind would think about a 65-yo guy who has done less in the playoffs (with more resources) than Adelman. Wasn't that the reason they let Rick go, because he couldn't win the big game? And now you're going to put The Genius of Gimmick, The Dude without Defense, in charge of Sacto?
Dumb, dumb, dumb. If the Maloofs do it they deserve the results.
first of all thats not gonna happen. i can almost guarentee don nelson wont be the coach here. the maloofs got rid of adelman for a reason. why the would they go after someone who is even worse at coaching defense if thats even possible. nobody said he was a top candidate for the job. that mark stein just looking for something dumnb to right. and as for pj i wouldnt mnind having him at all.
Very cheap article. As T Park astutely observed, Porter never played with the Kings.Ex-Kings guard and assistant coach Terry Porter . . . Porter, meanwhile, remains popular with Kings fans from his playing days . . .
thats because it came right out of BSPN. i dont believe anything that comes out of that crappy place. whoever thinks don nelson is going to the kings is ing crazy.
Can't believe you guys let this gem pass:
Nellie The Thespian.3. Nelson is already working for the Maloofs. The madcap brothers own the production company that, with George Clooney as a producer, is putting together a basketball sitcom in which Nelson coaches a fictional expansion team in San Diego.
I think it'd be a horrible move for Sacto to hire somebody who, even when he was in his prime, was more interested in playing the role of Genius than winning les.
Porter is unproven even though he got royally screwed over in Milwaukee.
PJ and Artest? Hmm, well, I guess that's really getting back up on the horse.
i think pj would be great here. if i was an owner of a basketball team he would be one of the first people i would call.
How bout Larry Brown?
He hasn't switched jobs in what...oh 10 mos or so??
Mike Monroe: Spurs staff members are hot commodities
Web Posted: 05/11/2006 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....1c861ed0.html
Even as the Spurs face what has become a best-of-five Western Conference semifinal series with the Dallas Mavericks minus the home-court advantage, other teams are coveting members of their staff.
Denver owner Stan Kroenke held general manager Kiki Vandeweghe responsible for bringing Kenyon Martin's negativity to the Nuggets, so he ditched the man who turned one of the NBA's worst franchises into a division champion. The move made the Spurs' bright, young assistant GM, Sam Presti, a target for Kroenke's headhunter, along with Spurs director of pro player personnel Dell Demps.
Denver's interest in Presti and Demps is no mere rumor.
The Maloof family council met after the Sacramento Kings pressed the defending champions before falling in six tough games in the first round. It was decided that Rick Adelman had taken the Kings as far as he could push them, so the family dumped a man who won 395 games in eight seasons.
Spurs assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo was immediately included among the candidates to replace Adelman. Three other former NBA head coaches — Don Nelson, Terry Porter and Eric Musselman — also are on the informed list of candidates, along with John Whisenant, who coaches the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs.
Truth be told, if Gregg Popovich decided that living within driving distance of Northern California wine country outweighed the stability he has in San Antonio and would make himself available to the Kings, the Maloofs might be willing to pay him more than the $10 million per season Phil Jackson commands from Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Of course, Popovich is under contract to the Spurs through the 2007-08 season. An honorable man, he won't renege on a deal, let alone leave Tim Duncan.
But such is the esteem the Maloofs hold for Popovich and his defensive-minded approach to the game, which should make Carlesimo's candidacy for Adelman's job grow serious sooner than later. He is, after all, Popovich's No. 1 assistant and the man who takes over when Popovich occasionally gets ejected.
There is no real urgency for the Kings to have their new coach in place weeks before the draft because GM Geoff Petrie and his vice president of basketball operations, Wayne Cooper, are more than capable of making draft decisions any coach would be happy about. Thus, a long playoff run by the Spurs wouldn't necessarily hurt Carlesimo's chances.
After the go-go years under Adelman, when 50-win seasons were expected and defense seemed to be a dirty word to the Kings, the Maloofs appear to have seen the defensive light. They pushed Petrie to trade Peja Stojakovic for Ron Artest. Joe Maloof told the Sacramento Bee the owners now understand there is no success in the playoffs without an emphasis on defense.
That's why it is impossible to buy into the presumption that Nelson is the Maloofs' leading candidate. Hasn't anyone paid attention to the Mavericks' status as a legitimate NBA le contender because Avery Johnson got them to buy into a Popovich-like grit at the defensive end after years of relative neglect under Nelson?
Nellie is an offensive innovator and the master of manipulating matchups, but when it comes to coaching defense, he is no Chuck Daly.
Besides, why would a 66-year-old with a beautiful retirement home on Maui give up the stress-free life for an NBA hot seat?
As for the others who have been mentioned, former Spurs guard Porter did not seem to have full support of the front office in a prior stint as a Kings assistant; Musselman is highly regarded as an assistant but might have been too intense when he was head coach of the Warriors; and Whisenant's candidacy likely was doomed by Michael Cooper, who failed as the only WNBA head coach to make the jump to head coaching in the NBA.
If the Maloofs are smart, they also will ask to interview another former Spurs guard, Mario Elie. He's an assistant in Golden State and has both a commanding presence and Popovich's approach to defense that the Maloofs seem to want.
Here's the morning line on the candidates for the Kings job: Carlesimo, 5-2; Nelson, 5-1; Musselman, 10-1; Porter, 12-1; Elie, 15-1; Whisenant, 20-1.
I highly doubt the Maloofs would want The Don going there seeing as they let Adelman walk and reportedly said they want a "defensive minded coach"
I think the Kings were stupid to fire Adelman. It takes more than one season to turn a transition team like the Kings into a defensive powerhouse...and the Kings were actually a pretty good defensive team during one of their running years under Adelman, first or second in the league in opp FG%...the year they took LA to game 7. Adelman gave the Kings an exciting brand of ball that filled up their stadium and put Sacremento basketball on the map....
Rick Adelman has never had the personnel to win an NBA championship IMO, and the fact that he has almost done it several times has a lot more to do with his coaching ability than it does the talent level of the teams he has coached....the best player he ever had was Drexler...a poorman's Jordan...and he almost won a le with him.
Any man that can nearly bump off the Shaq Phil Kobe Lakers with 3 chokers the caliber of Peja, CWebb, and Hedo is one of a good coach and has my respect!
If only they'd hit their free throws in game 7...Something they were just about the best in the league at doing.
Yep that'd be stupid...although Nellie does know how to coach D and put a defensive team together, and he's always been a master of goon defense...he just doesn't like to do it. But if he has the personnel he can do it.
They can't have Carlesimo- even though he totally deserves the job.
He's great and I want us to keep him.
Adelman had good coaching sense. He did a lot with what he had this year. The fact that Bonzi Wells was out for 30 games and that Artest did not come aboard until midway through the season speaks a lot for the man who actually got them to the playoffs. The Maloofs were impatient and got rid of him in order to make a fresh start. I forsee them making a bonehead move for coach and will live to regret it.
Larry Brown would love coaching that team. He has former relationships with Brian Skinner, Kenny Thomas, and Corliss Williamson. They should've done this last season.
Spurs need new coaching blood so hopefully someone hires PJ this summer. It's always good to get new ideas into the fold every couple years.
Oh and Adelman deserved to get fired after his coaching job in Game 6. That was one the worst coach game I've ever seen. The Spurs couldn't stop Wells and Artest so what do he do?
Runs play after play to get Mike Bibby going
Yeah, thanks for playing right into the Spurs' hands. Pop couldn't have drawn up a better gameplan to give to the Kings.
They can't have Carlesimo- even though he totally deserves the job.
He's great and I want us to keep him.
Me too, I don`t want to see PJ in SAC
New coaching blood will not help. Pop knows it all.
Brian Skinner isn't on the Kings. Kenny Thomas and his nasty contract can join Brown in New York. He'd be a perfect PF in the east, small and able to rebound.
Carlessimo deserves a chance!
I'd be a good candidate to run an organization
if i had to guess i would say carlesimo would be the coach of the kinmgs pretty soon. i cant wait to find out who its gonna be.
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