Strickland Airs Gripes Over Coach
A missed flight that sent him to the bench left Portland Trail Blazers point guard Rod Strickland angry enough with coach P.J. Carlesimo to threaten to leave the team at season’s end.
Carlesimo benched Strickland after he missed the team flight from New Jersey to Philadelphia, where the Blazers lost to the 76ers 86-85 Friday night.
“I don’t like him, and you can write that,” Strickland said after the game. “I didn’t like him in the beginning, and I don’t like him now. I’m just going to play these last 14 games and that’s it.”
He said he would travel to Indiana for today’s game against the Pacers and play the remaining games on the schedule, but he would not make any promises about staying with Portland after the season ends.
Carlesimo denied there was any longterm problem.
Scouting in Seattle
NBA scouts flocked to Seattle this week, but not to look at Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Donald Williams, Corliss Williamson, Scotty Thurman, Ed O’Bannon or Big Country Reeves. They’ve seen them enough by now. The scouts instead went to get a handle on three senior guards: Okie State’s Randy Rutherford, UCLA’s Tyus Edney and Arkansas’ Corey Beck.
Nets dilemma
Derrick Coleman further dimmed the Nets’ chances of making the playoffs by strongly suggesting he might miss the team’s final 11 regular-season games with a severely sprained left wrist.
“If it’s still bothering me, then I won’t be back,” Coleman said outside the APA Recreation Center in North Bergen, N.J., where the Nets practiced. “When I feel like I felt before it was hurt, then I’ll be back.”
Coleman injured his shooting wrist for the second time this season with 1 minute, 28 seconds remaining in the Nets’ loss to Portland Thursday night.
Your opinion …
Should Michael Jordan capture any votes for postseason awards?
The league office has mailed ballots to the writers and broadcasters who cover the league on a regular basis. The ballots must be returned by the final weekend of the regular season.
If Jordan does not suffer an injury, he will play in 17 games this season. That is approximately one-fifth of the league’s 82-game schedule.