Inside the NBA: Big decision on horizon for Iavaroni
In the matter of NBA coaching vacancies, there are two ways of thinking: 1) If you’re a candidate for a job, you better be careful. If you sign on with a bad franchise, you’ll never get a fair chance to win, and your headcoaching career could be buried forever.
2) There are only 30 of these jobs in the world. If you get a chance at one of them, grab it!
Such a decision probably will be facing Marc Iavaroni, the Suns’ assistant coach, who is among the most well regarded of anybody in his position.
Already, his name is associated with vacancies in Memphis and Sacramento and perhaps Seattle.
Iavaroni, of course, if focusing on his Suns job, where he’s the lead assistant and heavily involved in the Suns’ defense and in guiding the team’s big men.
He’s mum on the subject of other opportunities.
But fellow Suns’ assistant Alvin Gentry, who has considerable NBA head-coaching experience, has a definite opinion.
Speaking in general terms rather than about any particular opening, Gentry said, “There are only 30 jobs. And there’s a million guys trying to get those jobs.
“You have to take it and hope for the best.”
The number of coaches who get to step into a winning situation are few and far between.
“Avery Johnson (of the Mavericks) is one of the few guys that ever have been able to come in as a young coach for a really good basketball team,” Gentry says.
Otherwise, “If you’re taking a job . . . it’s a bad job that you’re trying to make a good job.”
An example is Byron Scott.
Scott did a great job taking the Nets twice to the finals before getting fired.
When the Hornets job came open, he got plenty of warnings that the job was a dead-ender, one that could bury his career, and that he should wait for the Los Angeles Lakers job to open.
But he took the job and has won praise for keeping the team in the playoff race the past two years.
Back to the present:
The Grizzlies also could be looking at David Griffin, the Suns vice president of basketball operations, for their general manager’s job.
Another likely candidate is Kiki Vandeweghe, who rebuilt the Nuggets into a playoff team (though he also drafted Nikoloz Tskitishvili in 2002 over Amaré Stoudemire).
Jerry West, who is stepping down as team president, is believed to favor the Iavaroni-Griffin combination.
The Grizzlies have not set a timetable on making their hires, though they are expected to wait for the Suns’ season to end.
DEATH OF A GIANT
David Halberstam, one of America’s greatest journalists and authors, died in a car accident last week near San Francisco.
Though Halberstam was best known for his study of the Vietnam War, “The Best and the Brightest,” he wrote a number of sports books, including “The Breaks of the Game.”
The book loosely follows a season of the Portland Trail Blazers, as the Blazers’ team was coming apart after winning the NBA title in 1977.
“The Breaks of the Game” probably still stands as the best book on the NBA.
Halberstam was perceptive enough to interview two up-and-coming figures in the game: Jerry Colangelo, the Suns’ general manager, and Paul Westphal, the Suns’ all-NBA guard.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS’ FUTURE HAZY
One year ago, the Los Angeles Clippers were on the rise.
Today, they seem on the verge of collapse.
A couple of unexpected late losses caused them to drop out of the playoffs.
More important, the once-promising Shaun Livingston – who could have fetched Allen Iverson in a trade – may miss next season with a knee injury.
And Sam Cassell, at 37, may finally have worn out.
Los Angeles Clippers fans now can rue the draft pick of Yaroslav Korolev in 2005 (they passed up Danny Granger to take him).
Their biggest hope is to resurrect Chris Kaman, who signed a $52 million deal in the offseason then went bust.
Chris Kaman “has to have a major work-ethic summer,” coach Mike Dunleavy said.
“We think we have a group of guys that can get us to where we want to get to. They have to get better. They have to improve.”
See more at www.eastvalleytribune.com
