http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1936077
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Sources: Team to introduce Fratello, top assistant
ESPN.com news services
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's Marc Stein on Wednesday.
Fratello's agent, Lonnie Cooper, declined comment to The Associated Press. Musselman did not immediately return a phone message.
Interim coach Lionel Hollins led the Grizzlies on Wednesday night at New York before Fratello and Musselman take over, but expressed uncertainty about whether Wednesday's game would indeed be his last.
"I don't have any clue what's going on, and it doesn't really matter because I've been asked to take over on an interim basis, however long that may be," Hollins told AP before the game at Madison Square Garden.
Memphis lost 90-82 to the Knicks for it's fifth straight loss, four of the defeats coming since the unexpected resignation of coach Hubie Brown last week.
"It's probably more difficult for the players than it is for me," said Hollins, who felt a speedy resolution to the coaching situation would benefit the team.
Stromile Swift agreed.
"It would be better for it to happen sooner so we can just get settled and everybody can be comfortable with what we're going to do and who's going to be here," Swift said. "I just feel like the sooner the better, but we really have no idea."
This is the second head coaching stint for Hollins, who guided the Grizzlies for 60 games during the 1999-2000 season when the franchise was based in Vancouver.
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 of Golden State, where he posted a record of 75-89.
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Hehehe I love this pic of the Czar!!!!
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Sources: Team to introduce Fratello, top assistant
ESPN.com news services
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's Marc Stein on Wednesday.
Fratello's agent, Lonnie Cooper, declined comment to The Associated Press. Musselman did not immediately return a phone message.
Interim coach Lionel Hollins led the Grizzlies on Wednesday night at New York before Fratello and Musselman take over, but expressed uncertainty about whether Wednesday's game would indeed be his last.
"I don't have any clue what's going on, and it doesn't really matter because I've been asked to take over on an interim basis, however long that may be," Hollins told AP before the game at Madison Square Garden.
Memphis lost 90-82 to the Knicks for it's fifth straight loss, four of the defeats coming since the unexpected resignation of coach Hubie Brown last week.
"It's probably more difficult for the players than it is for me," said Hollins, who felt a speedy resolution to the coaching situation would benefit the team.
Stromile Swift agreed.
"It would be better for it to happen sooner so we can just get settled and everybody can be comfortable with what we're going to do and who's going to be here," Swift said. "I just feel like the sooner the better, but we really have no idea."
This is the second head coaching stint for Hollins, who guided the Grizzlies for 60 games during the 1999-2000 season when the franchise was based in Vancouver.
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 of Golden State, where he posted a record of 75-89.
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Hehehe I love this pic of the Czar!!!!
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