Hooped Up

Is teams Canada’s bid for the Olympics being sabotaged by it’s rookie head coach Leo Rautins? 

First Juan Mendez was sent home, then Denham Brown decided to boycott the team. Today Samuel Dalembert was sent packing after Canada’s 79-77 win over Korea at the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Greece. The Haitian-born Dalembert ,who grew up in Montreal, was not on the bench for Canada’s win against Korea Wednesday and immediately raised eyebrows.

When the Canadian head coach was asked about Delembert’s absence, Rautins responded with this statement.

“He is not on the team,” said Rautins when asked to explain Dalembert’s absence. “Everybody who’s here now wants to be here and wants to be a part of this team. If that’s not your agenda your’re not here.”

Power trip much Leo?
 

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A seemingly nondescript letter arrived at a Manhattan postal facility in 1982, bound for Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight. The letter, however, contained the ravings of a racist extortionist, including a death threat targeting Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach. For 26 years, the anonymous letter’s existence remained secret to the public, the stuff of an unsolved mystery stashed in the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No one revealed that a disturbed segregationist scrawled a hateful diatribe in which he wished unspeakable harm upon Auerbach, a civil rights pioneer who drafted the NBA’s first African-American (Chuck Cooper in 1950), became the first NBA coach to start five black players in a game (in the 1963-64 season), and appointed the league’s first black coach (Bill Russell in 1966). No one disclosed that the letter implored Knight to invite Auerbach to a Big Ten basketball game so the writer could attack the Celtics president. Or that the author described a scenario in which he “would have grabbed a tire iron or pipe and cracked Auerbach’s bald skull into about a thousand pieces.” The vulgar, 12-page letter, obtained by the Globe from the FBI under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act, had been archived since the bureau’s pursuit of the writer quietly ended in vain 26 years ago.

Boston Globe

The Grizzlies are set to hire former Arizona interim head basketball coach Kevin O’Neill as an assistant to head coach Marc Iavaroni.

O’Neill, who also has NBA coaching experience, will join the Grizzlies’ staff as a defensive guru to help one of the league’s worst teams on defense the past two seasons.

The 51-year-old former University of Tennessee men’s basketball coach took over as interim coach when coach Lute Olson took a personal leave of absence last season. After Olson returned in March, he announced that O’Neill would no longer be a part of his staff.

Hooped Up

After reaching the playoffs for the first time in was seems forever, and then taking the Boston Celtics to 7 games before eventually losing.  Mike Woodson will be staying with the Atlanta Hawks.

Woodson’s current deal expires June 30, as do the contracts of his entire staff. But after two weeks of evaluations, new Hawks general manager Rick Sund has decided to stick with Woodson. “What I can tell you is that I appreciate the support my players and staff have shown throughout this time,” Woodson said. “They’ve all been great. And we’re all looking forward to the future and what can be accomplished going forward.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

If the Hawks are healthy next year they should be in the playoff again with the talent they have.

Being an assistant for the Detroit Pistons apparently pays off more the being a head coach. As Michael Curry was named the Pistons next head coach.  This was the second hiring of a former Piston assistant today as Terry Porter was also named coach of the Phoenix Suns.

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Okay this Doug Collins back in Chicago thing has officially blown over. The Chicago Bulls have annoced they have hired Vinnie Del Negro as their new head coach beating Dwayne Casey out who was also at the top of the Bulls list.

The Bulls have offered their head coaching job to Vinny Del Negro, which the Suns’ assistant general manager is prepared to accept, sources said Monday.

A deal still needs to be finalized, but a news conference officially announcing Del Negro as the 17th coach in franchise history is expected this week.

Del Negro, who has no previous coaching experience, first interviewed for the job on Thursday and quickly shot ahead of Kings assistant Chuck Person and former Minnesota coach Dwane Casey.

Chicago Tribune

I’m glad that the recycling of coaches has slowed down and a few new guys are getting a shot at coaching in the NBA.  Now can the Bulls get Dwayne Wade?

The Phoenix Suns finally have a coach after D’Antoni bolted for the New York Knicks in Terry Porter who signed a three-year deal worth about $7 million.

Terry Porter will be the Phoenix Suns’ next coach, ending the club’s monthlong search for a successor to Mike D’Antoni. Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr said Saturday he had agreed to terms with Porter, who was an assistant with the Detroit Pistons for the past two seasons. The 45-year-old Porter played in the NBA for 17 seasons and teamed with Kerr in San Antonio. 

AP/Globe and Mail 

The Pistons are getting long in the tooth and are looking to retool, and in the east one or two moves can make the difference. 

Flip Saunders was removed as head coach in Detroit on Tuesday, but Joe Dumars claims that he will not be made a scapegoat, and that the players will be held responsible for the team’s failure in the Eastern Conference finals again, Larry Lage of the Associated Press writes.

“There are no sacred cows here,” Dumars said. “You lose that sacred-cow status when you lose three straight years.”

Chicago Tribune

Respect to Jeff Van Gundy, but the Lakers are not a dynasty at all.  If they get past the Celtics that would make a stronger case but the league is way to deep to start calling dynasty out.  Especially with free agents looming like James, Wade and Bosh a string of titles is very unlikely in my eyes.

Former NBA coach and current ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy believes that the Lakers are about to begin another dynasty, according to The New York Post.

“My pick, I think the Lakers are the most talented team in the league, and they’re missing their third or fourth best player in Bynum,” said Van Gundy on Monday.

“So when they get [Bynum] back next year, I think they can be a dynasty. The Lakers will win it this year over a very good Celtic team.”

New York Post

The coaching musical chair continues, as Flip Saunders got the boot today from the Pistons.

The Detroit Pistons announced on Tuesday that Flip Saunders will not return as the Pistons’ head coach next season, according to a Yahoo.com report.

Saunders, 53, had one year remaining on the four-year contract he signed with Detroit in June 2005.

But Pistons president Joe Dumars decided it was time to cut ties with Saunders, who posted a 176-70 regular-season record in his three seasons with Detroit.

Yahoo