P.J. Carlesimo

NBA

P.J. Carlesimo’s next job will be with…

Posted on: May 19th, 2013 by Max Weisberg 1 Comment

 

ESPN.

The New York Daily News reports that former Brooklyn Nets head coach P.J. Carlesimo has been hired by ESPN to work as a studio analyst for the 2013 playoffs and fill the void that was left when Flip Saunders was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves to become their President of Basketball Operations.

Says Carlesimo:

“The conversations have been let’s do the playoffs,” Carlesimo said. “Then we’ll sit down and talk about the future.”

"I’ve got to look at both options. But the likelihood is that I’ll be broadcasting next year,” Carlesimo. “I’m looking at broadcasting as what I’m going to do moving forward."

Carlesimo's experience with broadcasting includes stints with NBC Sports, Spurs television, FOX Sports West, and ESPN Radio.

Similar to Avery Johnson after he was let go by the Mavericks in 2008, it is likely that Carlesimo hopes the ESPN gig will keep his name afloat in the event that any coaching positions become available in the future.

"I have enjoyed television and radio way more than I thought when I first started,” Carlesimo said. “But if I told you it is the same as coaching I would be lying."

Carlesimo was released by the Nets following the team's Game 7 loss to the Chicago Bulls on May 5th.

Read More: New York Daily News -- Garden wall vanishes for ESPN & Mike Woodson after Knicks victory in Game 5

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Nets

P.J. Carlesimo receives one first-place vote, one second-place vote for Coach of the Year

Posted on: May 8th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 4 Comments

 

P.J. Carlesimo

P.J. Carlesimo (AP)

Former Brooklyn Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo received one first-place vote and one second-place vote in the NBA's annual vote for Coach of the Year, tying him for tenth place with Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro among all coaches. Denver Nuggets coach George Karl won in a landslide, earning 62 of the 121 first-place votes given by sportswriters and broadcasters. Carlesimo took over for Avery Johnson on December 27th, going 35-19 in the regular season and 3-4 in the playoffs.

Less than 24 hours after the Nets lost Game 7 of their first-round series against the Chicago Bulls, the Nets released Carlesimo, officially opening their coaching search for the 2013-14 season.

Related:
An updated list of coaching candidates
Gallery: The many glorious faces of P.J. Carlesimo

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Nets

Debate: did P.J. get a fair shot?

Posted on: May 7th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 6 Comments

 

P.J. Carlesimo

"OK P.J., now do a Dr. Seuss face." (AP)

After 54 regular season games and one seven-game playoff series, the Brooklyn Nets will not bring back interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo. After a 35-19 regular season record and a few bounces short of the second round, did he get the short end of the stick? Max Weisberg and Justin DeFeo debate.

Max: Here's how I see P.J.'s impact this season: P.J. Carlesimo took square peg and tried to force it into a round hole. It just doesn't work. I often imagine him trying so hard to pound it into the hole, that eventually it just breaks and goes in.
... MORE →

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Nets

The Nets coaching search begins: Phil Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, & the usual candidates

Posted on: May 5th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 1 Comment

 

Putting the pieces together from around the web today on the Brooklyn Nets coaching search:

  • Billy King: "It was a difficult decision, and we talked about it, but looking at the long-term and the future of this organization, I felt it was best to look elsewhere to try and find the right fit. I thanked him, he did a hell of a job for us in a difficult situation, but by doing it now, there's a lot of jobs open -- hopefully it gives P.J. a chance and gives us a chance with a lot of candidates out there to explore and that's what we'll do in the next couple weeks."

  • King added that Phil Jackson will get a call. The only person King would rule out? His former coach at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski, joking that he didn't want to anger his alumni base.

  • Jeff Van Gundy to Barbara Baker on the Nets opening: "My comment is I have no comment. Good to see you, though."

  • David Aldridge: Larry Brown, the Van Gundy brothers, and Phil Jackson -- but Phil doesn't want a coaching role.

  • Deron Williams would "love" to play for Jerry Sloan again.

  • More Deron Williams: he'd like a "creative offensive coach."

  • The Nets have not reached out to Brian Shaw, thanks to an unwritten NBA rule: you don't ask during the playoffs. Shaw is one of my favorite candidates for the job.

  • Shaw has no head coaching experience at the NBA level, which could be an issue for Williams and Reggie Evans, who both say the team needs an experienced head coach, but not for Billy King, who cited Eric Spoelstra and Tom Thibodeau as examples of first-time coaches who found success.
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Nets

The Official Statement from the Nets Firing PJ Carlesimo

Posted on: May 5th, 2013 by William Rausch No Comments

 

Here is the official statement about PJ Carlesimo:

"The Brooklyn Nets organization would like to thank P.J. for his efforts with the team in his roles as both head coach and assistant, and for his contributions to the team's success both on and off the court. We wish P.J. and his family only the best in the years to come."

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Nets

Nets-Bulls Playoff Preview: Head Coach

Posted on: April 19th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 1 Comment

 

The Brooklyn Nets will face the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, starting Saturday night at 8 P.M. Today and tomorrow, we'll take a look at how the teams match up.

P.J. Carlesimo

P.J. Carlesimo (AP)

... MORE →

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Nets

P.J. Carlesimo’s wide-ranging interview on WFAN: Playoffs, D-Will, his coaching future, and more

Posted on: April 16th, 2013 by William Rausch No Comments

 

P.J. Carlesimo

P.J. Carlesimo (AP)

Brooklyn Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo joined "Beningo and Roberts in the Midday" on WFAN 660 AM/101.9 FM this afternoon. It was the first time Carlesimo appeared on the show, hosted by Nets season ticket holder Evan Roberts and Knicks fan Joe Beningo. The Brooklyn bench boss covered a range of topics from the healing power of basketball to Deron Williams resurgence and potential playoff match-ups.

After a few opening moments of jocularity about the Knicks/Nets rivalry, things took a turn for the serious when Roberts thanked Carlesimo for last night's Nets/Wizards game given current events.  "It was a great distraction," said Roberts. "Obviously the real world stinks right now with everything going on in Boston."

Carlesimo... MORE →

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Nets

Nets won’t sit their starters again Wednesday

Posted on: April 16th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

After resting starters Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Reggie Evans, and Brook Lopez, along with bench players Keith Bogans and Jerry Stackhouse, with various hilarious ailments that I wish anagrammed to "We're resting our guys for the playoffs you idiots," I asked Brooklyn Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo in the post-game press conference if he'd run a similar rotation -- or lack thereof -- Wednesday night against the Detroit Pistons in the season finale.... MORE →

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Nets

P.J.: Blatche’s conditioning an issue

Posted on: April 16th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian No Comments

 

Andray Blatche

Andray Blatche (AP)

The Brooklyn Nets started four players that normally come off the bench last night, giving multiple bench players their season-high in minutes played in a 106-101 victory over the Washington Wizards. No player played more than backup center and former Wizards forward Andray Blatche, who started for the eighth time this year and played a season-high 38 minutes in the win.

Despite Blatche's solid play against his former squad, Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo was concerned about stretching Blatche out that much, citing his conditioning as an issue.

"Dray was the only (player) I felt bad about (playing so many minutes), and frankly, he needs conditioning," Carlesimo said. "So I thought it was okay. He needs some conditioning. ... We kept saying, we could've put MarShon back in and played Toko at 4 and played small. It wouldn't have bothered me to do that.

"But we just thought Dray was going good, and the conditioning was good for him."

Blatche finished the night with 20 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 9-21 from the field. Though he made some big plays down the stretch -- including scoring through contact to put the Nets up for good with under a minute left -- he admitted that playing so many minutes wasn't something he was accustomed to.

"I mean it's surprising when you play 37 minutes, compared to playing 12," Blatche said after the game, before stammering a bit: "It caught me off -- I mean, it wouldn't catch me off -- it did, it did catch me off guard.

"When you play 12 minutes, then you go out there for 37... it caught me a little bit."

Blatche, who was exiled from Washington via the amnesty clause after numerous brush-ups with the law and the franchise, again reiterated that the win matters just a little more than others.

"(Winning) meant a lot for me," Blatche said to laughter from the media.

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Nets

P.J. makes it clear: “Gerald’s gotta play”

Posted on: April 16th, 2013 by Devin Kharpertian 1 Comment

 

Gerald Wallace

Gerald Wallace (AP)

If there were any doubts about Gerald Wallace's rotation spot, Brooklyn Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo cleared them up quickly after Monday night's 106-101 victory over the Washington Wizards.

"Gerald's gotta play," Carlesimo stressed.

Following Sunday's loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Brooklyn Nets locked themselves into the fourth seed of the playoffs, and Carlesimo made it clear that he was going to "get guys some rest."

He did just that, sitting two bench players and four starters, but surprisingly left forward Gerald Wallace, who'd sat with injuries Sunday, in the starting lineup. Playing with the bench, Wallace shot 1-3 in 22 minutes, missing all three of his free throws. Carlesimo was happy with the performance.

"I thought he looked good. He's upset with Timmy and I that he didn't play more. But the whole point was to get him out and get a little cardio work and make sure that his foot was all right. Hopefully if he comes out of it well tomorrow, we can play him some more minutes on Wednesday. I think it's exactly what Timmy wanted, and we were pleased."

Wallace expressed last week that his confidence was "totally gone," and that he was afraid to shoot for fear that his missed shots would cause him to lose playing time. Carlesimo addressed that directly.

"I don't count how many times he shoots," Carlesimo added. "I feel he's gonna come out of it. He's shot it too well, he's scored too much throughout his career, that he'll be fine. I just think that the combination of the injuries and the way he's been struggling. But he's gonna play. He's gonna play minutes, for sure."

In 25 games since the All-Star break, Wallace has shot just 33% from the field on 6.4 field goal attempts per game, a punitive 13.7% from three-point range, and 60.8% from the line -- all well below his career averages. He's shot over 50% in a game just once since February 8th and played 31 minutes against the Charlotte Bobcats on April 6th without registering a field goal.

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Nets

P.J. on interim status: “whatever happens, happens”

Posted on: April 9th, 2013 by William Rausch 2 Comments

 

Ever since then Nets assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo took over the head coaching job of the 14-14 Nets in December, Nets brass has been clear that the coaching job is Carlesimo's... for now.

Interim coach Carlesimo has shepherded the Nets to a 30-18 record, tying him with Kevin Loughery for the best start by a coach in franchise history. Under P.J. the Nets have also clinched their first winning road record in franchise history.  But as resolute as Nets GM Billy King has been about Carlesimo's job status this season, King has said the team would revisit P.J.'s interim status after the season.

Recently Carlesimo, a Scranton, PA native, talked to Scott Walsh of The Times Tribuneabout his return to head coaching, the interim title and Carlesimo's future with the Nets. Carlesimo, who has been thrice hired and fired as an NBA head coach -- with Portland, Golden State and Seattle/Oklahoma City - - had this to say about taking over for Avery Johnson: "It was a shock to all of us and we were disappointed for Avery. It was an unfortunate circumstance, but that's the way it is in the NBA. I've been on the other side of it three times also."

Carlesimo credits much of his success as coach to  the groundwork Johnson laid as Nets bench boss.  "A vast majority of the stuff that we put in is Avery's stuff," Carlesimo said. "Yeah, we tweaked a couple things here and there. But essentially it has been a smooth transition for the players because it's the same stuff and the same coaches."

While Carlesimo may be modest when talking about the job he has done, Gerald Wallace was more willing to offer praise:... MORE →

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Nets

Johnson, Carlesimo agree: Health is Key

Posted on: April 7th, 2013 by Benny Nadeau No Comments

 

P.J. Carlesimo, Joe Johnson

AP

To say that Brooklyn Nets basketball has suffered without Joe Johnson on the court would be an understatement. At times, they've looked like a lottery team: sloppy, underwhelming and disappointing. with Johnson on the court, the Nets are +3.5 per 100 possessions, best of any player on the roster. With him off the court, they're a -4.3 -- the worst of any off-court player on the roster.

The Nets have taken their time with Johnson, unwilling to rush him back too early with the playoffs right around the corner. "I am alright," Johnson said after the game. "I'm maybe a little limited on some of the things I can do out there on the court, but the guys and the coaches are telling me that my presence being out there makes the difference. So I'm giving all I got."

Johnson, who missed five games with a quad contusion and is also shaking off a sore heel, says it's not something he thinks will linger.

“It is actually getting better," Johnson told reporters after the game. "Slowly, but I'm just doing the necessary things to really stay on it by icing it and stim to try and make it feel better each and everyday.”

"My only concern with Joe is the time and his health," Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo said after the game. "If he’s able to recover from his injury in a timely manner, that would be great. We need Joe Johnson and his big shots."

Joe Johnson has been the Nets closer this year, hitting a barrage of game-winners and playing solid man defense. With just six games remaining in the regular season, the Nets seem locked into the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference. A possible playoff matchup with the Chicago Bulls looms -- a series that the Bulls won 3-1 this year -- and if they want any chance of moving on to the next round, they'll need Johnson 100%.

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