Schrempf finds role with Sonics
Bob Weiss has seen it before – a former player, a few years removed from the game, getting the urge to still be part of the NBA.
The latest case – 17-year veteran Detlef Schrempf.
“You find after you’ve been out of basketball for a little while you start to get the itch again,” said Weiss, Seattle’s first-year coach. “And he’s been working with young people all along with teaching and he’s been good at that. He said he had some interest in getting back in.”
Schrempf, 42, is working as a volunteer during Seattle’s training camp and could carry that role into the regular season. Weiss has given him the go-ahead to attend practices and meetings, work out players before games and work with injured players who may be left behind during road trips.
It’s a move Schrempf initiated late last season with a phone call to former teammate Nate McMillan, then Seattle’s coach. Rumors were that McMillan was going to lose some assistants off his staff, and Schrempf was interested in discussions to see if he could be a fit.
Schrempf didn’t know McMillan was about to bolt Seattle for the Portland Trail Blazers.
“There was a lot of talk about a couple of coaches leaving, and if they were I was at least interested in talking about and seeing if it would make sense,” Schrempf said. “When Bob got hired I told him the same thing.”
Weiss already had an idea of his coaching staff when Schrempf contacted him. Still, he welcomed the idea of having an experienced NBA vet around, willing to work voluntarily.
“If there was ever an opening, he’d be a guy I’d consider,” Weiss said.
•The SuperSonics hired former Cleveland coach Brendan Malone as a consultant on Tuesday.
A longtime NBA assistant, this will be Malone’s second stint as a consultant with Seattle. He held the same position in 1996 when Seattle reached the NBA Finals.
Stoudemire out four months
Eight days after signing a five-year, $73 million contract extension, Amare Stoudemire underwent surgery to repair damage to his left knee and will be sidelined for about four months.
The extent of the injury to the Phoenix Suns’ dynamic young all-star was determined during “diagnostic” surgery by team doctor Thomas Carter, who proceeded with the microfracture repair, Suns president Bryan Colangelo said.
Stoudemire, who turns 23 next month, signed for the maximum allowed under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement with the players union.
James sits out exhibition
LeBron James sat out Cleveland’s exhibition game against the Boston Celtics in Pittsburgh as a precaution after experiencing some pain in his left arm in the Cavaliers’ preseason opener a day earlier.
James is listed day-to-day.
•Chris Webber sat out the Philadelphia 76ers’ preseason opener against the Houston Rockets as a precaution after he was hit in the thigh at practice a day earlier.