CLIPPERS GET DUNLEAVY!!

[sinctybldh]

THANK GOD!! Here is the story.

ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported Thursday night that the Los Angeles Clippers have hired Mike Dunleavy as their new coach, replacing interim coach Dennis Johnson.

Dunleavy

Dunleavy will be introduced in his new role at a 4 p.m. ET news conference today, but it's not yet known whether Johnson, who replaced the fired Alvin Gentry on March 3, will remain with the club.

After losing out to Jeff Van Gundy for the Houston Rockets' job, Dunleavy was also a candidate for the up-for-sale Atlanta Hawks, the only team in the league that hasn't named its coach for next season.

ESPN.com reported in mid-June that Dunleavy -- the only candidate to meet face-to-face with owner Donald T. Sterling -- emerged as the Clippers' leading candidate. The sides finally reached terms on multiyear deal after a month of on-and-off negotiations, and it's believed that Dunleavy will earn at least $1 million more per season than Gentry, who was at the bottom of the coaches' pay scale when dismissed at $1.5 million.

Returning to Los Angeles will be a homecoming of sorts for Dunleavy. In his first season on an NBA bench, Dunleavy guided the Lakers to the 1991 NBA Finals.

Dunleavy has a 398-390 career coaching record in 10 seasons coaching the Lakers, Milwaukee and Portland. He twice reached the Western Conference finals with Portland but was fired after the 2000-01 season when the volatile Blazers -- still reeling from their Game 7 meltdown against the Lakers in the previous season -- were swept by L.A. in the first round.

It remains to be seen how the Clippers fare in free agency, with Dunleavy said to be concerned throughout negotiations by the uncertain state of the team's roster. Center Michael Olowokandi and swingman Eric Piatkowski are unrestricted free agents. Elton Brand, Lamar Odom, Andre Miller and Corey Maggette are restricted free agents. All of those players have drawn significant interest from other teams.

[TheDude]

as it says in the article, leaving the Atlanta Hawks as the only team NOT to have hired a coach..

man is our team pitiful...let me restate that, man is our organization pitiful...

but i'm glad dunleavy is gone...

[capstone21]

I think this means we may keep Stotts which is ok with me. I think he is more then capable and he got some good experience to bring to training camp this year.

[Lascar78]

we may not have anyone yet, but all other jobs are taken and Carlisle and Fratello (my top 2 choices) are still available, I'm not complaining. But I do think we need one of those instead of Stotts. You can't have an inexperienced team AND an inexperienced, weak coach. We need someone to get all up in players' faces when they're being lazy

[jezmund]

Although Stotts seems like a good guy, we need Fratello or Carlisle in here.

[Traceman]

have him than Dunleavy. If we go after Fratello or Carlisle, that will certainly be okay with me as well but unless McDavid gets the deal done soon, I don't see that happening.

Here's a scary thought though. What if the McDavid thing continues to drag out and Stotts decides that he need security and takes another job? We could be in a bad situation because both Carlisle and Fratello will be unlikely to take the job until new ownership is in place. Who knows, we may end up with Alex English as head coach and Nique as an Assistant by default.

[JaHawk10]

Now that "McDavid's guy" is gone. We need to seriously pursue Fratello and/or Carlisle. If only this sale could be completed so we can do that. This has to be the most up and down offseason in Atlanta Hawks history...

J

[emeans]

Carlisle should be the next Atlanta Hawks Coach, simply because he is a defensive minded coach. He would do wonders with this team.

[dj_me]

inexperienced. How many years did he work as an assistant? I think he is more than qualified. Plus, during the season I heard a lot of people b*tching and moaning cause we let our assistant go on to coach the Warriors last year. Do you want the same thing to happen again? Don't get me wrong, I like these other two; but who knows what the future holds for Stotts? I hate to miss the second coming of a Phil Jackson. Again, I'm not saying Stotts will be like Phil Jackson, but maybe he is enough to get us over the hump. Give Stotts a chance.

peace.

dj_me

[TheDude]

i hate phil jackson... i wish you had said something like red auerbach or something... but that's ok..i'd be satisfied at this point with stotts.

[KB21]

We aren't an inexperienced team. Jason Terry, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Glenn Robinson, and Theo Ratliff are all veterans.

We are a team that lacks chemistry, but we are a team that did start developing some chemistry last season under Stotts.

Stotts is an inexperienced coach, but he's a highly regarded assistant.

I agree though. Carlisle or Fratello would be better because they would bring instant credibility, but remember what Fratello was when he got his first chance to coach? A highly regarded assistant of Hubie Brown when he was coaching the Hawks and Knicks.