Just announced on TNT by David Aldridge.
I agree.The Freak said:Man. This is a big upset to me. He's the one who turned the Grizz into a great team!
LMAO!Gargamel said:Doubt it, Lamar. He'd be kicked out of team meetings again.
Not just good , he was a great coach. This year the Grizzlies have underperformed a little, but he is responsible for their improvement over the years. Well respected by the players and the Grizzlies staff. Big loss for them.SaCTowNFeveR said:was a good coach.
Agreed.Bricklayer said:I actually think the bubble was bursting on his gimic in Memphis -- playing 10 guys, none of them over 30 min is cute and all, but it can only take you so far and is a bad construction for a playoff team.But he still accomplished everything he needed to in his short stint with the Grizz -- and everyone knew when he was hired it had to be a pretty short stint. But he made them respectable, gave them that one nice winning season any bad franchise needs just to establish itself, got them organized etc. Think they probably would have had to eventually go another direction if they wanted to win a title anyway, but for the old coach it was already mission accomplished.
word.The Freak said:Man. This is a big upset to me. He's the one who turned the Grizz into a great team!
well, so much for that ideaLamar_Odom said:It would be ironic if Jerry West hires Phil Jackson to coach his team.
Precisely.Bricklayer said:By all accounts one of the reasons Jerry West left L.A. was because of Phil. Don't see him recreating that relationship.
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Fratello, assistant to be introduced Thursday
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
To replace the most successful coach in their history, the Memphis Grizzlies are making two hires.
Mike Fratello, as expected, will be installed Thursday as the successor to Hubie Brown ... but with the surprising addition of Eric Musselman as Fratello's top assistant, league sources told ESPN.com on Wednesday.
Grizzlies interim coach Lionel Hollins will handle Memphis' game Wednesday night at New York before Fratello and Musselman take over.
Brown resigned on Thanksgiving, citing unspecified health problems and later saying that he had lost some of the "spirit" he needs to be an effective coach. The 71-year-old earned Coach of the Year honors last season when Memphis went 50-32 -- after never winning more than 28 games in a season -- and reached the playoffs.
Fratello has been a TV analyst with TNT and the Miami Heat since his last head coaching stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fratello spent 13 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, compiling a career record of 592-499, including 20-34 in the playoffs. He coached the Hawks from 1983 to 1990, going 324-253 (including three games in the 1980-81 season) and the Cavs from 1993 to 1999 (248-212). He's a former Brown assistant who also replaced Brown with the Atlanta Hawks.
Musselman was in his first season as an analyst for ESPN Radio after two seasons as the head coach in Golden State, where he posted a record of 75-89.
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, click here to send a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.
That's interesting how Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson may have been a broadcaster.HUBIE BACK IN BOOTH
By PETER VECSEY and DAVE CURTIS
December 2, 2004 -- Hubie Brown will join Al Michaels on ABC’s lead announce team this season, The Post has learned. Brown, 71, who resigned as Grizzlies coach on Thanksgiving Day, resumes a broadcasting career that spanned from 1982-2001 and included No. 1 analyst gigs at CBS and TNT.
His return to the booth comes Christmas Day for the ballyhooed Lakers-Heat game, the first meeting of exteammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
Brown followed the path blazed last year by Doc Rivers, who took a job with ABC after Orlando fired him early in the season. Rivers grabbed the work when it seemed destined for Mark Jackson.
This season, ABC inquired about Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson before going with Brown.
In one of several odd twists, ABC executive producer Mike Pearl, who reduced Brown’s on-air role when he ran TNT’s NBA programming in 2001, made the call on this hire. Pearl’s decision, according to sources, was influenced by Michaels and Grizzlies president of basketball operations Jerry West.
Brown and West split on poor terms in Memphis, a source said, but West spoke with his good friend Michaels about teaming with Brown.
Mike Fratello, the soon to- be Memphis coach, worked at TNT before jumping back into coaching.