Miami Gives Gentry Heave-Ho After Team Fades In Playoff Stretch

A late-season slump that cost the Miami Heat a berth in the NBA playoffs cost Alvin Gentry his coaching job Thursday.

Gentry, 40, compiled a 15-21 record after replacing Kevin Loughery during a shakeup 10 weeks ago. Overall, the Heat finished 32-50, three games out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The team lost six of its final eight games.

“I felt we were at a point where we were very stagnant,” Heat executive vice president Dave Wohl said of Gentry’s dismissal. “The team wasn’t moving forward, and what we needed to get out of that plateau was a new approach.”

Like Loughery, Gentry will be offered another position in with Miami, but Wohl said Gentry indicated he will seek a coaching position with another NBA team. Loughery is vice president of player personnel.

Gentry, the Heat’s third head coach in eight years, was unavailable for comment.

Wohl said he has compiled a list of four or five candidates from the college and pro coaching ranks and hopes to have a replacement by June 1. He would not confirm any names.

Among the former NBA coaches available are Don Nelson, who left the Golden State Warriors in January; Chicago Bulls assistant Jimmy Rodgers; Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Mike Schuler; Seattle SuperSonics assistant Bob Weiss; former Portland Trail Blazers coach Rick Adelman, and Notre Dame coach John MacLeod.

Denver coach Bernie Bickerstaff was fined $10,000 by the NBA for his actions during a loss to San Antonio that eliminated the Nuggets from the playoffs.

Bickerstaff was ejected late in the first half of the game, eventually won 99-95 by San Antonio, after being called for two technical fouls by referee Joe Crawford. He was protesting a technical called on Brian Williams.

Saying he was “not in it for the money,” North Carolina’s Rasheed Wallace declared himself eligible for the NBA draft, knowing the decision will make him a millionaire.

With the NBA considering a rookie salary cap, Wallace joined a host of college underclassmen who have decided to forgo their remaining eligibility to cash in on their basketball skills while they can.

“The salary cap played a part in my decision, but it wasn’t dominating,” Wallace said during a news conference at his alma mater, Philadelphia’s Simon Gratz High School.

Jerry Stackhouse’s mother Minnie said her son will announce early next week whether he’ll stay at North Carolina for his junior year or join teammate Wallace in the NBA.