Setting the record straight (again)
Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com writes from the NBA Finals that Laker Phil Jackson is not interested in coaching the U.S. Olympic team in 2012.
"No, no. Absolutely not," Jackson told Sheridan. "I've never asked for it. Fortunately for me in this business, my summers have been pretty much taken up by NBA games -- having gone to so many Finals -- and the summers extend into June. I really believe in my own personal down-time. So I have never volunteered or made an effort to get into that situation."
Sheridan points out that coach Mike Krzyzewski and managing director Jerry Colangelo will complete their commitment to the program after the Olympics in Beijing.
So, who will coach the U.S. in 2012?
Gregg Popovich was the lead assistant in 2004 who was bypassed in favor of Krzyzewski, so he might be as disinterested as the Jazz's Jerry Sloan, whose was similarly snubbed in 2000 and has told me he probably would not get involved with Team USA again because of it.
Perhaps you remember Sloan's case, which obviously left him confused and disillusioned. He was Lenny Wilkens' No. 1 assistant for the Olympic team that won the gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. Because of past precedents, it was expected he would be the named the head coach for the 2000 Olympics in Australia.
Instead, the United State's top professional players decided they would not play in the 1998 World Championships in Athens because the ongoing labor dispute in the NBA. As soon as head coach Rudy Tomjanovich got the news, he called then-Olympic boss Rod Thorn and threatened to quit because his team had been gutted.
At that point, Tomjanovich came up with a compromise that Thorn embraced. If he stuck with Team USA through the World Championships, Tomjanovich wanted the job as Olympic coach in 2000, with an announcement coming after his work in Athens, when the politicking would be easier to explain.
Sloan? Too bad.
After Tomjanovich guided Team USA to a third-place finish in the World Championships, he was named the Olympic coach. And Sloan was as upset as I have ever seen him. He took it personally.
"What did I do wrong?" he said. "I don't mind criticism. Did I do something wrong? I'd like to know."
Supposedly, Tomjanovich was rewarded for the superior job he did during the World Championships. In fact, Thorn called me and politely told me that my version of the events were wrong. But I have impeccable sources that know exactly what happened to Sloan's quest to be the Olympics head coach. I was told just a few days after the NBA players pulled out of the 1998 World Championships, "Jerry's screwed."
That's an exact quote.
I know for a fact that Tomjanovich getting the head coaching job in the 2000 Olympics had nothing to do with the way his team played its way to a bronze medal in the World Championships. It had everything to do with politics, personalities and back-room deals.
That's why, even if he was asked to coach the Olympic team in 2012, I doubt Sloan would be interested.
-- Steve Luhm
"No, no. Absolutely not," Jackson told Sheridan. "I've never asked for it. Fortunately for me in this business, my summers have been pretty much taken up by NBA games -- having gone to so many Finals -- and the summers extend into June. I really believe in my own personal down-time. So I have never volunteered or made an effort to get into that situation."
Sheridan points out that coach Mike Krzyzewski and managing director Jerry Colangelo will complete their commitment to the program after the Olympics in Beijing.
So, who will coach the U.S. in 2012?
Gregg Popovich was the lead assistant in 2004 who was bypassed in favor of Krzyzewski, so he might be as disinterested as the Jazz's Jerry Sloan, whose was similarly snubbed in 2000 and has told me he probably would not get involved with Team USA again because of it.
Perhaps you remember Sloan's case, which obviously left him confused and disillusioned. He was Lenny Wilkens' No. 1 assistant for the Olympic team that won the gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. Because of past precedents, it was expected he would be the named the head coach for the 2000 Olympics in Australia.
Instead, the United State's top professional players decided they would not play in the 1998 World Championships in Athens because the ongoing labor dispute in the NBA. As soon as head coach Rudy Tomjanovich got the news, he called then-Olympic boss Rod Thorn and threatened to quit because his team had been gutted.
At that point, Tomjanovich came up with a compromise that Thorn embraced. If he stuck with Team USA through the World Championships, Tomjanovich wanted the job as Olympic coach in 2000, with an announcement coming after his work in Athens, when the politicking would be easier to explain.
Sloan? Too bad.
After Tomjanovich guided Team USA to a third-place finish in the World Championships, he was named the Olympic coach. And Sloan was as upset as I have ever seen him. He took it personally.
"What did I do wrong?" he said. "I don't mind criticism. Did I do something wrong? I'd like to know."
Supposedly, Tomjanovich was rewarded for the superior job he did during the World Championships. In fact, Thorn called me and politely told me that my version of the events were wrong. But I have impeccable sources that know exactly what happened to Sloan's quest to be the Olympics head coach. I was told just a few days after the NBA players pulled out of the 1998 World Championships, "Jerry's screwed."
That's an exact quote.
I know for a fact that Tomjanovich getting the head coaching job in the 2000 Olympics had nothing to do with the way his team played its way to a bronze medal in the World Championships. It had everything to do with politics, personalities and back-room deals.
That's why, even if he was asked to coach the Olympic team in 2012, I doubt Sloan would be interested.
-- Steve Luhm
12:18 PM
| 
2 Comments:
I do hope that they ask Sloan to coach in 2012, he deserves it. He is a hall of fame coach who deserves the opportunity to represent his country. Whether or not he chooses to do it is another story, but he at least deserves to have the opportunity to tell team USA to stick it.
Sloan and/or Popovich should be the coaches of the Olympic team until they decide not to do it anymore. That's the way it should be.
Post a Comment
<< Home