It's deja vu all over again over in Brooklyn: the Nets fired their second coach of their inaugural season in the borough today. Coach P.J. Carlesimo was given the ax less than a day after the Nets forgot to show up in the first half of last night's disappointing game 7 loss to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. And adding to the deja vu, GM Billy King says he plans to call Phil Jackson to see if he's interested in taking the job. What, are they going to try to trade for Dwight Howard next?
"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," King said in a news release. Despite doing an admirable job steering the team to a 49-33 regular season record after Avery Johnson was fired in December (following a 14-14 start to the year), Carlesimo was always meant to be an interim coach.
And now comes the serious search for a new head coach, one that King says will start with Jackson. Back in December, Jackson was reportedly "intrigued" by the prospect, but not enough to bring him out of retirement. In recent weeks, reports have come out that Jackson is once again fired up to coach, to the point that the Raptors are pulling out all the stops to woo him.
During his exit interview today, star Brook Lopez said that, "We want someone who's demanding. We want someone who's going to push us." Other potential candidates include Jeff Van Gundy, Larry Brown, and Stan Van Gundy—although Stan Van Gundy probably still isn't interested.
