Thunder Fire Carlesimo

The Thunder have fired PJ Carlesimo. Nobody saw this coming :)

Here's to your extended misery, OKC. You deserve it.

about 3 years ago WoodburnDave 19 comments 0 recs |

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Maybe a new coach will finally put Durant at his natural position: Forward

by Norsktroll on Nov 22, 2008 8:09 AM PST reply actions

Was he playing guard?

I thought he /was/ playing forward…

by rmcdougall on Nov 22, 2008 11:02 AM PST up reply actions

Nope, Kevin Durant is laughably playing at shooting guard.

Yet, no matter Durant’s position, he’ll always be a high-volume shooting chucker who flat-out sucks on defense.

Durant’s natural position, by the way, is small forward; however, he’s amusingly played out of position at power forward in college and at shooting guard thus far in his professional career.

by AK1984 on Nov 22, 2008 11:50 AM PST up reply actions

This disproves the theory that Bennet is cheap

Now he gets to pay two (or more) coaches to produce a losing record. Yay team!

by invinoveritas on Nov 22, 2008 8:22 AM PST reply actions

That's crazy

by tominhawaii on Nov 22, 2008 8:46 AM PST reply actions

I find it hard to blame PJ here.

He wasn’t that great when he was in Portland, but you could give Red Auerbach the Thunder and they still would only have one win.

One of Two Official Blazer's Edge Poets Laureate for the 2008-2009 Season

"In vino veritas." - Latin proverb
"Ich sitze hier und trinke mein gutes Wittenbergisch Bier und das Reich Gottes kommt von ganz alleine" - Martin Luther
"μηκέτι ὑδροπότει, ἀλλὰ οἴνῳ ὀλίγῳ χρῶ διὰ τὸν στόμαχον καὶ τὰς πυκνάς σου ἀσθενείας." - 1 Timothy 5:23

by T Darkstar on Nov 22, 2008 8:57 AM PST reply actions

PJ didn't stand much of a chance.

He inherited a pretty bad roster. They traded Allen and let Lewis walk and aside from Durant didn’t have a lot.

by CanadianBlazerfan on Nov 22, 2008 3:10 PM PST up reply actions

it was a puzzling hire to begin with before last year. This doesn’t surprise me, but that team is a complete mess right now.

Rule #1 of nitpicking is to get it right.

by douglast on Nov 22, 2008 9:10 AM PST reply actions

you have to wonder

Who might be dumb enough to even consider takiing the job

by southern oregon on Nov 22, 2008 9:33 AM PST reply actions

I would be.

Not that I’m qualified, mind you. :)

One of Two Official Blazer's Edge Poets Laureate for the 2008-2009 Season

by T Darkstar on Nov 22, 2008 9:45 AM PST up reply actions

The players had stopped listening to him

according to this analysis

"The team, especially its young stable of lottery picks, had clearly given up on Carlesimo. For the last two weeks, they were merely going through the motions.

The body language from Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and others on the sidelines during timeouts spoke volumes. They had tuned out a coach who also wore out welcomes in Golden State and Portland."

by jorga on Nov 22, 2008 9:40 AM PST reply actions

I’m not very inclined to agree with an argument that features body language as the primary indicator of tuning the coach out. Perhaps the team luncheon served bad chicken? (Just to be clear I’m disagreeing with the author of that article and not you)

I watched about 10 minutes of the OKC vs NO matchup while waiting on the Blazers game and the reason PJ got canned seemed pretty obvious to me. Sam Presti got tired of seeing Earl Watson run down the court and jack up contested mid range jumpers 5 seconds into the shot clock on multiple possessions. That seemed to be OKC’s entire offensive game plan as before I turned it off other players did that as well.

I don’t see how they get a guy like Avery Johnson or some other “good” coach to come down there when they have no prospects of winning anytime soon and have shown no commitment to a previous coaching staff when in rebuilding mode. So either they’re going to hire an unknown for the position or are prepared to offer a lot of money for quite a few years to lure a big name head coach IMO.

by invinoveritas on Nov 22, 2008 10:21 AM PST up reply actions

i could see them bringing a guy up from the college level, that's what bad teamms always seem t do

This thread needs more COWBELL!!

by Zaron5551 on Nov 22, 2008 10:43 AM PST up reply actions

Think Skiles might want that job?

It seems like the type of team that would do well with his style.

by rmcdougall on Nov 22, 2008 11:04 AM PST up reply actions

He's coaching the Bucks, isn't he?

by Cablinasian on Nov 22, 2008 11:42 AM PST up reply actions

Skiles is already coaching the Bucks.

Granted, the Bucks aren’t perfect. But they’ve got a lot more going for them than the Thunder. Bucks have been in the top ten in team defense under Skiles, after spending the last 17 years in the bottom half of the league in that category. Still need a little work on offense, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that they make the playoffs in the East this year. It’s also not out of the realm of possibility that they get another #8 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. That said, Skiles isn’t going anywhere for the time being.

One of Two Official Blazer's Edge Poets Laureate for the 2008-2009 Season

by T Darkstar on Nov 22, 2008 4:51 PM PST up reply actions

Never understood why P.J. was hired in the first place

He just doesn’t seem like the kind of coach you’d want, personality-wise, if developing young talent is a big concern.

by Corvid on Nov 22, 2008 11:36 AM PST reply actions

thats Sam Presti's handiwork

I don’t think he’s a bad GM, but he was with the Spurs prior to being hired with the then-Seattle Supersonics, and Carlesimo was Greg Popovich’s #1 assistant, so he seemed to try and form them in the mold of a defense first team, which they don’t have the talent for. Collison is a position defense kind of guy, Petro is still a project at center (shows a little bit of promise though), and outside of westbrook, they really don’t have much in the way of perimeter defense, especially since they gave away Delonte West at the deadline last year.

"Smile! You're on a poster!!" - Mike Rice

by lefty6283 on Nov 22, 2008 5:00 PM PST up reply actions

PJ was never gonna be their long term coach anyway...

He was basically a pawn of the ownership and management, who made the team so horribly unwatchable in order to discourage the fan support in Seattle and thus move the team to OKC. I don’t think the owners ever wanted a coach who could succeed with this team in the short term. Now that they are in OKC I think you will see a different approach.

by JasonT on Nov 22, 2008 3:44 PM PST reply actions