The great Coach Hunt
Thunder general manager Sam Presti is a patient man: the slow, methodical steps he’s taken to rebuild this team are evidence of that patience.
But when he moves, he moves quickly, as former coach P. J. Carlesimo found out last night before he was supposed to get on the plane to New Orleans. Carlesimo’s assistant Paul Westhead was also sacked.
Bend It Like Bennett, the blog of our own Fake Clay Bennett, put it this way:
Late last night after being thoroughly humiliated on national television, I led the diseased, skeletal remains of PJ Carlesimo’s head-coaching career out behind the Ford Center tool shed, loaded my rifle, and steadied my aim just long enough to mercifully put a bullet through its skull. Today, I am a man.
Scott Brooks, another member of the coaching staff, will take over on an interim basis. Sentiment on local message boards seems to run toward offering the job to ex-Dallas coach Avery Johnson, who was fired following the Mavs’ early exit from last season’s playoffs. Johnson’s record is a stellar 194-70; I don’t know why he’d want to sully it messing around with this bunch, but maybe he likes a challenge. (When he replaced Don Nelson at the Dallas helm in March 2005, after serving as an assistant, Johnson led the Mavs to a 16-2 end-of-season burst and into the second round of the playoffs.)
Interestingly, Carlesimo’s last game was his 500th as a head coach, and his 296th loss.
