Friday Bolts – 5.8.15
Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal on firing successful coaches: “In some scenarios, teams may feel the need to shake things up to find someone who better connects with today’s generation of players; many of whom were one and done in college. According to Basketball-Reference, 16% of the players who suited up this season were 22 or younger on opening night—up from just 9.7% of players in the 1999-2000 season. Still, there are cases where firing a successful coach clearly backfires. Denver’s failed experiment with Brian Shaw after ousting Karl is the most recent example. Before that, the Detroit Pistons fell flat on their faces in 2008, hiring Michael Curry—someone they’d fire after one season—after scrapping Flip Saunders, who’d won a whopping 72% of his games.”
Anthony Slater looks at assistant coaching candidates: “While a lead assistant under Mark Jackson in Golden State, Malone was a driving force in the Warriors’ improved defense, which has made them a title contender today. It earned him his first head coaching job in Sacramento, where he seemed to be changing the culture. Kevin Durant has been vocal with his respect for Malone. But the Kings front office, apparently, wasn’t intrigued by a grind-it-out defensive style. So they shockingly fired him, which angered their star DeMarcus Cousins. If he’s not hired as a head coach this offseason, a year or two as Donovan’s lead assistant in OKC would likely work out great for both parties.”
A couple staffers that will hang around: Darko Rajakovic, Vin Bhavnani and shooting coach Adam Harrington.
Darnell Mayberry: “The Professional Basketball Club, LLC, the group that owns the Thunder, purchased land this week from Everett Stewart Lincoln Walnut, LLC, according to public records. The land, which sits to the immediate east of the Thunder’s practice facility at 9530 N Oklahoma Ave., was purchased for $1,545,000, public records show. When reached for comment Thursday, a team spokesman said the land was purchased to have the flexibility for strategic opportunities down the line but added there are no imminent plans for development. Given the proximity of the land to the Thunder’s practice facility, it appears the team could be planning an eventual expansion of its training center.”
Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times: “I’m getting a complex about Oklahoma City. They keep stealing our stuff. First it was the Sonics. Although seven years have passed, and whatever they renamed that team still hasn’t won an NBA title. So we’re over that. Right? Then it was our elephants. Personally, I was over that immediately. But now it’s our Boeing engineers. About 900 Boeing defense workers, mostly engineers, are being spirited away — at least their jobs are — to “The Big Friendly,” which is what some boosters want everyone to call Oklahoma City these days. The Big Poacher is more like it. Why can’t they take something we’re all sick of? Like the anarchists.”
Kyle Singler tells Kris Henry of the Mail Tribune he’d like to stay in OKC: “You look at what I did there (in Oklahoma City), it’s probably not glaring of success or even production on my part but it was a tough transition for me. Coming in I didn’t really know what to expect and what my role was going to be. I never had a chance to get too comfortable with certain things, but I’m confident in my skills as a basketball player. Knowing the guys coming back on the team, I feel comfortable being able to produce and be a player that can help the team win.”
