We're sorry to hear that Mike Dunleavy's dad was
fired as coach of the Portland Traiblazers, not least of all because the
general manager admitted that a lot of his moves were boneheaded, but still
fired the coach.
Scottie Pippen said that the players had confidence in Dunleavy, but that
it's always the coaches who get fired and not the players. In case you're
wondering who he is talking about, we can think of two guys: Shawn Kemp and
Rasheed Wallace. Kemp of course is a a recently admitted cokehead who has
the burden of supporting numerous illegitimate children. Between his two
expensive habits - cocaine and child support - he's lucky to keep any money, let
alone have any time to practice.
As bad as he's been, though, he's been unreliable since the strike season,
when his weight shot up.
Rasheed Wallace, though, is a guy who has the potential to be one of the top
ten players in the league. His lack of self-control killed his team,
though, as they increasingly found themselves in situations where they had to
finish games without their best player since he'd been thrown out after a
tantrum. And he has apparently alienated a number of them as well.
It got so bad, in fact, that the NBA is considering passing a rule which
would mandate a suspension after a certain number of technicals.
We're sure Dunleavy did the best he could, but with Kemp and Wallace, and
then adding Rod Strickland to the mix, well come on. No one should be asked to
coach that trio. The guy who went out and got them is the
one who should be fired, and that's the GM, not the coach.
On a sidenote, that picture on the ESPN article - is it us or does he look
like Tony Soprano? Maybe if the Blazers make him their new coach,
he can get those knuckleheads to behave.
 
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