Collins Passes The Buck
The Detroit Pistons dropped their 10th game, almost two months ahead of last season’s pace. Wrapped-way-too-tight coach Doug Collins blamed his players, an NBA way of bidding farewell.
Said Collins: “It’s not coaching… . I’ve put my heart and soul into his thing for 2-1/2 years. I don’t want to see it all go up in flames because our guys don’t get the message of what you have to do to win.
“It’s on them. I am not trying to step out of it. I am the leader of the ship and I don’t want anybody to think I’m deserting (he got his pay doubled and his contract shortened to one season last summer), but … They can’t feel sorry for themselves, they can’t get down - they have to fight out of it.”
Players actually are united in a common desire to choke Collins. They complain he changes lineups and puts in so many new plays hours before games, they don’t know what they’re doing. At Charlotte, he called a play and rookie Scot Pollard ran into the corner and threw up his hands.
Said an unnamed Piston to the Detroit News: “It’s like he’s bailing out on us.”
Before the season, people wondered how long Collins would be around. The over/under has just been moved up to the All-Star Game.
Cleamons on his way out?
People wondered how long Dallas Mavericks coach Jim Cleamons would last under general manager Don Nelson. As if to highlight their philosophical differences, Cleamons installed the triangle offense that has worked so well in Chicago and gotten coaches fired everywhere else.
In one loss, Dennis Scott got into an ugly shouting match with assistant coach Butch Beard after he was pulled on a defensive possession, then told to go back in.
Scott yelled, “I’m not a … yo-yo, Butch, so don’t talk to me like that!” He continued shouting at Beard from the floor, while teammate A.C. Green tried to cool him down.
Scott apologized. Two days later, the shaken Mavericks lost 83-62 to the Milwaukee Bucks, their lowest-scoring game in franchise history.
“Guys are like robots out there,” Samaki Walker said. “We have a couple of guys (playing) and the rest are just standing around. It’s definitely embarrassing.”
Sprewell in demand
San Antonio has expressed an interest in Golden State guard Latrell Sprewell. Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich was an assistant with the Warriors when Sprewell came into the league, and the two have a good relationship.
Detroit, which wants the Spurs’ Will Perdue and has the salary cap room to erase Sprewell’s base-year restriction, would have to be used to facilitate any trade between the Spurs and Warriors.
Sprewell isn’t the only Golden State player who could be moving. The Warriors are actively trying to trade Joe Smith. The club appeared ready to pull the trigger on a deal for Popeye Jones and a first-round pick, but Toronto reportedly backed down because it feared it would be unable to re-sign Smith at the end of the season.
The time is right
People in Chicago are baffled by the timing of Scottie Pippen’s demands to be traded.
They shouldn’t be. The reason Pippen spoke out now is because he enjoys something he hasn’t had since he signed his contract five years ago.
Leverage.
Pippen’s importance to Chicago has become apparent during his absence. He is the person who gets the ball up the floor and the Bulls into their offense. It’s doubtful that this team will be able to win their sixth title in eight years without a healthy Pippen and Michael Jordan on the floor.
Pippen, a free agent at the end of the season, knows this. He also knows owner Jerry Reinsdorf has invested more than $60 million in the payroll to keep this group together for another title run. Pippen can botch all that up if the Bulls don’t try to appease him.
On the courts
Michael Jordan scored 29 points and the Bulls rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the Washington Wizards 88-83 Saturday in the final NBA game at the US Airways Arena in Landover, Md. At Miami, Ray Allen scored 24 points and Terrell Brandon added 19 as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a 17-game losing streak against the Miami Heat with a 93-87 victory.
At Atlanta, Steve Smith scored 23 points in his first game back in Atlanta’s lineup and Christian Laettner added 20 as the Hawks defeated the Charlotte Hornets 98-80 at the Georgia Dome.