Another little nugget from Dave D’Alessandro‘s report while at Prokhorov’s brunch for the media. He wants a coach with NBA experience:
When the subject of a new coach was broached, Prokhorov all but dismissed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“The new coach must have NBA experience,” Prokhorov said. “Coach K does not have NBA experience.”
This is some pretty big news because everyone was expecting Prokhorov to make a big play for Coach K, but that probably won’t happen now. Also, this takes another name out of play. Ettore Messina is a coach who worked for Prokhorov in t he past when Messina coached the Russian team that Prokhorov owned. He has interviewed for a couple NBA jobs and many people consider him the only international coach who would be able to make the jump from overseas to the NBA. Without NBA experience though, I would be surprised to see Prokhorov go after him now.
As reported by Dave D’Alessandro today:
Kiki Vandeweghe’s days as Nets general manager are numbered.
New owner Mikhail Prokhorov said as much this morning in a brunch with reporters, when the subject of management was raised.
Asked specifically about Vandeweghe, Prokhorov replied “His contract is up, and I wish him luck.”
Earlier, Prokhorov reiterated that he is negotiating an extension for team president Rod Thorn.
Kiki was put in a tough situation this season, but this was pretty much a done deal since the whole Del Harris situation. Kiki was never a coach before and he really took a hit to his reputation for the good of the team (and he did a great job during the rebuilding process – dumping salary and getting young guys on their rookie deals), so it is a little sad to see him go, but this is a must.
Replace “Georgia Tech” with “New Jersey” and next fall is closer than you think.
So… Hey guys. Remember that piece I did a week ago? About that Kentucky point guard who was pretty good? Please forget all of that. I hear he’s going to bust. He’s no good. Too turnover prone, too interested in highlight reels, and no amount of cleansing can get John Calipari’s stink off you.
Man, I wish I could believe that.
I was planning on doing an exciting, awesome mock draft where I could put the words “1. New Jersey: John Wall, PG, Kentucky,” and then just laugh jubilantly with the future of our team in mind. But alas, my dreams are for naught, lost in an alternate universe where having a 25% chance and the fact that the Washington franchise is a miserable excuse for a team with no future and who traded away their star player for peanuts at the deadline and had two players brought up on gun charges actually matters. Excuse me while I go shoot myself instead. Actually, Washington could help me with that. Anyone seen Gilbert around?
Anyway, without further ado, the first of my weekly updated mock drafts. You’ll be seeing a different one of these every Wednesday, and while the first couple will only be the top 14, by the end we’ll have expanded to the entire first round (and the Nets pick at 31).
Read more…
After my two esteemed colleagues discussed the potential of Mike Kryzamalamadingdong and Tom Thibodeau, now comes my chance to look at a guy who could also very realistically be manning the sidelines for our New Jersey Nets next season: Sir Jeff Van Gundy. JVG, who spends most of his time these days having Super Soaker Wars in Mark Jackson’s backyard (Mike Breen is not invited), spends his nights doing color commentary for TNT. While he seems perfectly content with his job, the lure of coaching remains over his head, and there are a few reasons why he might return to the sidelines.
First, I think we can all be sure that he hasn’t slept with Gloria James. So that’s one point in his favor.
Read more…
