NBA Coaching News and Notes

Here some hot NBA coaching news and notes floating around:

-Rick Carlisle interviewed for the Mavericks job today.  I am not sure it really matters who they hire here as unless the Mavs shake up the roster they are going to remain in the second tier of Western Conference teams for the foreseeable future.

-Carlisle is also rumored to be on John Paxson’s list of candidates for the job in Chicago, though I don’t necessarily see that as a good fit.  Carlisle is one of the no-nonsense, my-way-or-the-highway kind of coaches and they just got rid of a guy like that in Scott Skiles because he could not seem to get along with the players.  Carlisle is not deemed as extreme as Skiles, but it just does not seem like a good fit especially given the talent that is there.

-Avery Johnson is rumored to be on Paxson’s list as well.  Of all the candidates currently out there he is probably the best fit for Chicago.  He will get the Baby Bulls to play defense and they have the athletes to run the more up-tempo offense he had in Dallas.

-New York is also rumored to be in the mix for Avery’s services but given their druthers I cannot imagine that a coach worth his salt would be terribly interested in the New York job until they get their crap together.  Hiring Donnie Walsh is a huge step in the right direction but they still have some personnel issues to resolve before they are going to be competitive again.

-Speaking of New York ESPN’s Marc Jackson is rumored to be the leading candidate there.  I have not been able to figure out why Jackson has become such a hot coaching prospect, as his name as popped up in relation to Chicago as well, given he has no coaching experience at all.  I suspect the Knicks end up with a guy like Jackson just because they are going to have a hard time finding anyone who really wants it.

-Mike Fratello has reportedly said he would be interested in interviewing for the Knicks job.  But after his last stint in Memphis I cannot imagine why anyone would entertain Fratello at this stage.  He is a decent enough coach but he has already shown he is just an also-ran coach who will never win at the highest level in the league.

-Coming back around to Dallas, Mike D’Antoni is supposedly the coach Cuban covets but I cannot imagine the Suns would let him go to a conference rival while he is still under contract to them.  They are probably willing to let him go to Chicago, where there is rumored to be interest, or New York if he desires to do so.  Chicago would be a pretty good fit for him as they have the young talent to run the style of offense he likes and he would probably make them a playoff team, but given his complete lack of defensive coaching acumen they would probably never seriously contend for the Finals.

-As far as Phoenix goes they need to be really careful what they do here.  They still have Shaq under contract for next year and if they let D’Antoni walk or fire him and don’t hire the right guy Shaq will shut it down like he did in Miami and then the Suns will be in a world of hurt.  Shaq is only interested in playing for coaches he perceives can win it all and if the Suns go out and get someone like a Mike Fratello or Jeff Van Gundy to captain the ship he will not be happy.