Jay Triano just acquired lame duck status (again). Joining Triano and assistant coach Mark Iavaroni will be veteran NBA coach and assistant PJ Carlesimo, according to reports that he has a verbal agreement with the club. Carlesimo has coached in Portland, Golden State, Seattle and Oklahoma City. His career coaching record is 204-296. In three years with the Blazers, Carlesimo went to the playoffs every year but lost in the first round. After leaving Portland Carlesimo was stuck with poor rosters which caused his coaching record to decline. Carlesimo is best known for being choked by Latrell Sprewell at practice in 1997. Spree said he might've literally killed Carlesimo had teammates not pulled them apart. The popular notion was that Iavaroni was brought in to be a replacement for Triano should the need arise, but Iavaroni's poor performance as a defensive coordinator for the Raptors (Triano was given full control of defensive schemes after Toronto's legendary dismal start to the 2009-10 season defensively) hurt his stock considerably. It is possible Iavaroni may move on this summer. So continues Colangelo's quest to stockpile Italians.
PJ has a rep as a ballbusting x's and o's coach. Dunno how much weight that will carry with our roster of nitwits and pushovers.
