Around the League
Raptors falling apart: Look for the Raptors to be blown apart this summer. Over the past five days the papers in Toronto have run stories claiming that coach Kevin O'Neill will be fired this summer, GM Glen Grundwald (whose contract is up) won't be returning and team president Richard Peddie is also likely to get the axe.
At times, the stories have turned down right nasty. First, there were reports that O'Neill was going behind Grundwald's back to stump for GM replacements more likely to renew O'Neill's contract this summer. O'Neill was furious at the reports, and some league insiders wondered aloud whether Grunwald had leaked the story himself in an effort to save his job.
Over the weekend, unidentified sources told the Globe and Mail that O'Neill's outrageous behavior on and off the court would cost him his job. The report also claimed that star Vince Carter would demand a trade this summer if O'Neill wasn't let go. The story alleged that O'Neill once broke a lamp in his hotel room out of anger, constantly swore at and belittled players and even accused him of using forward Michael Curry (who happens to be president of the Players Association) as a locker room spy.
Here's one unidentified player's take on the situation.
"Curry's in there, spying everything out," the player told the Globe. "You don't feel like you can tell the assistants anything because they're all sitting around waiting for you to say something. With Curry in there you don't really feel like you can say anything because you know he's going to go right to him [O'Neill]. And O'Neill, with his coaching style, whining and bitching every time you miss a shot. He yanks you out, doesn't play you for a week. After that you play for a week, you don't play for two weeks. Guys are just kind of looking at him like, 'does he know what the hell he's doing?' "
That was met with a flurry of denial stories by players, including Carter, who claimed that they had no problem with O'Neill and felt that coaching wasn't the problem in Toronto.
"I don't know who that was," Carter told the Toronto Sun. "Whoever it is, I wish they'd come to talk to me first. He has done a great job. He's a fiery guy and he wants to win. One thing about KO, he works his butt off to have us prepared. I don't think his ability to coach should be questioned. Sometimes KO and his demanding ways gets under your skin because we're not winning. But deep down, you know he wants the best for you."
O'Neill admitted to breaking the lamp, but claimed that nothing worse was going on.
"Did Kevin O'Neill break a lamp in Phoenix? Yes he did. He smashed a $272 lamp as hard as he could when he found out that Jalen Rose broke his hand, because I knew what that was going to mean to our team," O'Neill told reporters.
"As far as my 'alleged behavior off the court,' what I do off the court is Kevin O'Neill's business and no one else's. The bottom line is, I have not been arrested. I have not been under any felony investigations, I have not done anything I am ashamed of one bit. And I have absolutely no problem with my behavior off the court in any way."
The next day Peddie held a press conference and claimed that everyone was on the hot seat.
"I think Kevin's done a really good job this year," Peddie told reporters. "Our defensive stats are terrific, our record is better -- we're not winning enough -- but we'll look at Kevin along with everyone else in the off-season.
"Kevin we're judging on one year, Glen we're judging on the seven years he's been general manager and that's something I'll be doing. I'll be weighing all the aspects, everything from trades, to free agents to draft to selection of coaches etc. Over the years I think Glen's done a good job, but that's a decision we'll have to make in the near term. Sooner than later."
So what happens on Tuesday? Reports begin circulating that Peddie himself may lose his job over the whole debacle.
What a mess!
While O'Neill's behavior may have raised a few eyebrows . . . let's be honest. The team knew it was getting a fiery head coach when it hired him. The Raptors wanted him as a contrast to the comatose Lenny Wilkens. It's not O'Neill's fault that the Raptors aren't in the playoffs. His team has no center and no point guard, the two most important positions in the NBA. The team has been ravaged by injuries and has zero depth. Changes have to be made, but all of this back biting, finger pointing and chaos suggests that it's the management that needs to go before anyone starts fixing this team.
Trouble in Big D:
Dirk Nowitzki is just the latest in a long line of star players to take a swipe at his coach and the organization after a disappointing season.
Nowitzki blew up after the Mavericks lost in overtime to the Heat over the weekend.
"From top to bottom, we haven't been on the same page this [season]," Nowitzki told the Dallas Morning News. "The owner and coach have problems and we've had players pouting when they come out of games and not buying into Nellie's system.
"We're one unit. Not only the players, but the coach and the owner, too. You can't do it if some players have problems with the coach."
If the Mavs go out in flames in the first round, as they appear on the brink of doing, you can bet there will be major changes in Big D. The question is . . . what. Even if Mark Cuban fired Don Nelson, what coach in his right mind wants to come in and juggle that many stars? Antoine Walker sounds like he won't opt out. Steve Nash hits free agency, but he's one of the guys you've got to keep. Michael Finley seems expendable with the great play of Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard. But if you watch the Mavs, you know Finley's got more heart than anyone else on the team. Antawn Jamison is surely expendable, but who wants his huge contract?
Cuban, in his eagerness to win a title, seems to have painted himself into a corner in Dallas. If the Mavs are going to make big changes this summer, it looks like they're going to have to erase almost everything they did last summer. But at what cost?
Chiriaev bails on the Hoop Summit: Ivan Chiriaev, the kid who claimed he was going to be the leader of the international Nike Hoop Summit team, won't be playing after all. Visa problems are the official explanation. Chiriaev, who is a Russian citizen, couldn't get the paper work done in time to get entry into the United States.
However, scouts were predicting this for weeks. While Chiriaev has a lot to gain by playing in the Hoop Summit and dominating, he also has a lot to lose. He's an enigma right now, and should he fail to produce (it's always tough to predict how All-Star games will go), his stock could take a serious hit.
That's going to leave him in a very unusual situation. The biggest concern teams have is Chiriaev's lack of competition. (He plays for a Canadian high school.) Missing this opportunity means that scouts must essentially judge him only on workouts.
Raptors falling apart: Look for the Raptors to be blown apart this summer. Over the past five days the papers in Toronto have run stories claiming that coach Kevin O'Neill will be fired this summer, GM Glen Grundwald (whose contract is up) won't be returning and team president Richard Peddie is also likely to get the axe.
At times, the stories have turned down right nasty. First, there were reports that O'Neill was going behind Grundwald's back to stump for GM replacements more likely to renew O'Neill's contract this summer. O'Neill was furious at the reports, and some league insiders wondered aloud whether Grunwald had leaked the story himself in an effort to save his job.
Over the weekend, unidentified sources told the Globe and Mail that O'Neill's outrageous behavior on and off the court would cost him his job. The report also claimed that star Vince Carter would demand a trade this summer if O'Neill wasn't let go. The story alleged that O'Neill once broke a lamp in his hotel room out of anger, constantly swore at and belittled players and even accused him of using forward Michael Curry (who happens to be president of the Players Association) as a locker room spy.
Here's one unidentified player's take on the situation.
"Curry's in there, spying everything out," the player told the Globe. "You don't feel like you can tell the assistants anything because they're all sitting around waiting for you to say something. With Curry in there you don't really feel like you can say anything because you know he's going to go right to him [O'Neill]. And O'Neill, with his coaching style, whining and bitching every time you miss a shot. He yanks you out, doesn't play you for a week. After that you play for a week, you don't play for two weeks. Guys are just kind of looking at him like, 'does he know what the hell he's doing?' "
That was met with a flurry of denial stories by players, including Carter, who claimed that they had no problem with O'Neill and felt that coaching wasn't the problem in Toronto.
"I don't know who that was," Carter told the Toronto Sun. "Whoever it is, I wish they'd come to talk to me first. He has done a great job. He's a fiery guy and he wants to win. One thing about KO, he works his butt off to have us prepared. I don't think his ability to coach should be questioned. Sometimes KO and his demanding ways gets under your skin because we're not winning. But deep down, you know he wants the best for you."
O'Neill admitted to breaking the lamp, but claimed that nothing worse was going on.
"Did Kevin O'Neill break a lamp in Phoenix? Yes he did. He smashed a $272 lamp as hard as he could when he found out that Jalen Rose broke his hand, because I knew what that was going to mean to our team," O'Neill told reporters.
"As far as my 'alleged behavior off the court,' what I do off the court is Kevin O'Neill's business and no one else's. The bottom line is, I have not been arrested. I have not been under any felony investigations, I have not done anything I am ashamed of one bit. And I have absolutely no problem with my behavior off the court in any way."
The next day Peddie held a press conference and claimed that everyone was on the hot seat.
"I think Kevin's done a really good job this year," Peddie told reporters. "Our defensive stats are terrific, our record is better -- we're not winning enough -- but we'll look at Kevin along with everyone else in the off-season.
"Kevin we're judging on one year, Glen we're judging on the seven years he's been general manager and that's something I'll be doing. I'll be weighing all the aspects, everything from trades, to free agents to draft to selection of coaches etc. Over the years I think Glen's done a good job, but that's a decision we'll have to make in the near term. Sooner than later."
So what happens on Tuesday? Reports begin circulating that Peddie himself may lose his job over the whole debacle.
What a mess!
While O'Neill's behavior may have raised a few eyebrows . . . let's be honest. The team knew it was getting a fiery head coach when it hired him. The Raptors wanted him as a contrast to the comatose Lenny Wilkens. It's not O'Neill's fault that the Raptors aren't in the playoffs. His team has no center and no point guard, the two most important positions in the NBA. The team has been ravaged by injuries and has zero depth. Changes have to be made, but all of this back biting, finger pointing and chaos suggests that it's the management that needs to go before anyone starts fixing this team.
Trouble in Big D:
Dirk Nowitzki is just the latest in a long line of star players to take a swipe at his coach and the organization after a disappointing season.
Nowitzki blew up after the Mavericks lost in overtime to the Heat over the weekend.
"From top to bottom, we haven't been on the same page this [season]," Nowitzki told the Dallas Morning News. "The owner and coach have problems and we've had players pouting when they come out of games and not buying into Nellie's system.
"We're one unit. Not only the players, but the coach and the owner, too. You can't do it if some players have problems with the coach."
If the Mavs go out in flames in the first round, as they appear on the brink of doing, you can bet there will be major changes in Big D. The question is . . . what. Even if Mark Cuban fired Don Nelson, what coach in his right mind wants to come in and juggle that many stars? Antoine Walker sounds like he won't opt out. Steve Nash hits free agency, but he's one of the guys you've got to keep. Michael Finley seems expendable with the great play of Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard. But if you watch the Mavs, you know Finley's got more heart than anyone else on the team. Antawn Jamison is surely expendable, but who wants his huge contract?
Cuban, in his eagerness to win a title, seems to have painted himself into a corner in Dallas. If the Mavs are going to make big changes this summer, it looks like they're going to have to erase almost everything they did last summer. But at what cost?
Chiriaev bails on the Hoop Summit: Ivan Chiriaev, the kid who claimed he was going to be the leader of the international Nike Hoop Summit team, won't be playing after all. Visa problems are the official explanation. Chiriaev, who is a Russian citizen, couldn't get the paper work done in time to get entry into the United States.
However, scouts were predicting this for weeks. While Chiriaev has a lot to gain by playing in the Hoop Summit and dominating, he also has a lot to lose. He's an enigma right now, and should he fail to produce (it's always tough to predict how All-Star games will go), his stock could take a serious hit.
That's going to leave him in a very unusual situation. The biggest concern teams have is Chiriaev's lack of competition. (He plays for a Canadian high school.) Missing this opportunity means that scouts must essentially judge him only on workouts.
