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djsunyc
Posts: 44927
Alba Posts: 42
Joined: 1/16/2004
Member: #536
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Who's next to be fired?
posted: Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Congratulations to everyone who had Seattle's Bob Weiss in the fired coaches pool. We listed him as a 3-1 second choice behind Sacramento's Rick Adelman, in a Dec. 22 column. The odds of Adelman being the next coach fired have dropped to 1-5, and we're listing Washington's Eddie Jordan as the second choice at 8-1, with Sam Mitchell of Toronto and Jeff Van Gundy of Houston tying for third choice at 12-1.
Who do the fans feel should be the next coach fired? ESPN SportsNation is conducting a coaches' approval rating poll today. Click here to vote.
Great take on the ins and outs of the Weiss firing and Bob Hill hiring from columnist Art Thiel in this morning's Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Our favorite excerpt: "Abetting the players' gutlessness was management's helplessness in replacing the lost defensive capabilities of free agents Jerome James and Antonio Daniels. An incredibly wealthy ownership, nevertheless quivering at continued operational losses, must have limited the talent search to the bench of the Los Angeles Clippers, where they found guard Rick Brunson and center Mikki Moore. Each has contributed about as much as the most recent first-round draft choices, Johan Petro and Robert Swift -- a four-man whiff unseen locally since the bottom of the Mariners lineup."
If you care to navigate through the most cumbersome registration process in the history of the Internet, you can read Frank Hughes' take here. Hughes all but predicted the firing in a column in mid-December.
It is time to update our monthly look at the races for the league's individual awards, which we will continue to rerank in this blog early each month.
MVP: (1) Dirk Nowitzki. (2) Chauncey Billups. (3) Steve Nash.
A month ago I really liked LeBron James and Elton Brand. But they lose out, along with Vince Carter and Allen Iverson, to Nash in a close race for No. 3.
Rookie of the Year: (1) Chris Paul. (2) Andrew Bogut. (3) Channing Frye.
Frye drops from No. 2 and Deron Williams drops out. Frye could drop further if David Lee keeps his starting spot with the Knicks.
Coach of the Year: (1) Flip Saunders. (2) Avery Johnson. (3) Pat Riley.
Riles is 8-3 since Stan Van Gundy resigned, but Jerry Sloan might nudge him out next month if the Jazz keep winning as much as they have lately.
Defensive Player of the Year: (1) Bruce Bowen. (2) Alonzo Mourning. (3) Samuel Dalembert.
The Sixers' center makes the list by virtue of his 14 blocks in the past three games, along with 20 defensive rebounds. Gerald Wallace drops out.
Sixth Man: (1) Mo Williams. (2) Derek Fisher. (3) Devin Harris.
Big Mo is averaging 15.5 points and shooting 43 percent on 3s for Milwaukee.
Most Improved: (1) Tony Parker. (2) Boris Diaw. (3) Andre Iguodala.
Parker is fourth leaguewide in field goal percentage (53.3), quite a feat for a point guard. He also leads the NBA in points in the paint with 400.
Executive of the Year: With nobody making a trade during the entire month of December, this award will be vacant in this blog entry. We gave first place to Rob Babcock in early December for the Mike James-Rafer Alston deal, but there's no way Rafael Araujo's strongest (only?) supporter gets the nod twice in a row.
Updating a few items I've referenced in past blogs, columns and chats:
• Chris Herren has left his team in Iran and recently failed a physical with the Polish club Anwil Wloclawek, and Polish club Polpak Swiecie released Darius Rice, who was cut by Miami during training camp. In a story published during training camp but no longer viewable on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Web site, Heat beat writer Ira Winderman chronicled Rice's travails in China last season. According to Rice, team officials in China took his passport and stationed officers outside his door to keep him from leaving when he heard the Mavericks wanted to give him a tryout. He waited until late at night when the security officer fell asleep and snuck out. At the front desk, he offered all the cash in his safe-deposit box in return for his passport, then handed the clerks an envelope full of paper, absconded with his cash and passport and paid off a cab driver to keep going when the hotel called the cab and ordered him to turn around.
• Among other ex-NBA American expatriates still trying to make a living on the basketball court, Dickey Simpkins was released by a team in Lebanon and Chris Morris was released in Jordan.
• Also, Serbian guard Milos Vujanic, whose draft rights went from the Knicks to the Suns in the Stephon Marbury deal, is out at least eight months after reinjuring his surgically repaired knee in one of his first games for FC Barcelona. He'll miss the World Championship in Japan this summer. Vujanic supplanted Marko Jaric as the starting point guard when the Serbian national team, then called Yugoslavia, won the gold medal at the Worlds in Indianapolis in 2002.
• The coach of the 2002 Yugoslavia team, Svetislav Pesic, has been rehired as coach of the Serbian national team, which might mean that Vladimir Radmanovic will be sitting out in Japan, too. Pesic and Radmanovic feuded in 2002, with Pesic banning Radmanovic from the bench and the medal stand in 2002. Radmanovic watched the gold medal victory over Argentina from the stands at Conseco Fieldhouse.
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1/5/2006 1:52 PM