P.J. Carlesimo at Oregon?
March 9th, 2010 by Dwight Jaynes | 36 Comments | Filed in NBA, Trail BlazersI’ve been hearing it for days and sort of refused to believe it.
I expected Oregon (or rather, Nike) to have a big-name ready to go for this job. The behind-the-scenes manipulations have probably been going on for a long time.
I don’t know that there are too many people around here who are as familiar with P.J. as I am. I covered him during his time coaching the Trail Blazers and had an up-close look.
Let me say first, as a man, I don’t think they come any better. And he’s the best at working a room that I’ve ever seen. He never forgets a name, knows just the right thing to say and I believe, is a very caring person.
As a coach, I’m just not sure about him. He’s had a tendency wherever he has been in the NBA to get on players’ nerves. He’s a talker, one of those east-coast guys who has an opinion on everything and isn’t shy about sharing it. I found him usually very charming and bright.
But among the guys who played for him the feelings aren’t the same. He wore on them. They found him pedantic and often overbearing. Don’t forget, this is the man Latrell Sprewell tried to physically choke during a practice. And the story around that team was that there were plenty of other players who were rooting for Sprewell in that altercation.
I just don’t know about this hire. Will P.J. make the kind of splash that the Ducks are looking to make? I’m not so sure he would. He’d charm money out of people’s wallets for the program and make them feel good about themselves — but how good a coach is he?
Not sure. I’m not sure how good a coach you need to be at that level. A lot of college coaches are posers — they look the part but are exposed when you put them in a situation, like the NBA, where you actually have to coach players rather than bully them.
In college, it’s all about recruiting. That’s why John Calipari, a total failure at the NBA level, is so successful. The guy can get players onto campus like nobody else. Can P.J. recruit? I don’t know but he better be — and with the Nike muscle and new arena behind him, he certainly ought to be able to recruit.
It’s a fascinating idea that I still can’t quite come to grips with. And I’d love to see him succeed because I like him a lot. Can he succeed? That I’m not so sure about. And I’m not even convinced he’s the impact hire that I expected.
Is he a guy you’re excited about?
Tags: Ducks basketball, Dwight Jaynes, P.J. Carlesimo, University of Oregon



