As of this writing, the Brooklyn Nets are in the process of routing the Chicago Bulls in Game One of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal, and if that result holds up, interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo would find himself with a record of 36-19 since taking over for the hastily fired Avery Johnson. A reasonable person might surmise that unless owner Mikhail Prokhorov has a scheme in place to hire Phil Jackson (or resurrect Red Auerbach), an extension for Carlesimo is long overdue. Alas, as the Newark Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro asserts, we’re not dealing with reasonable people (“the Nets finished with the No. 4 seed, despite the fact that their franchise player was a lardbody with a bad wheel until the break, their $20 million shooting guard had his worst season in a decade, and their $10 million small forward has a 39 percent stroke that makes spectators shield their children’s eyes”)
“Oh, of course it’s an audition,” P.J. Carlesimo conceded. “There’s no doubt about it.”
And he is okay with this — because he’s P.J. Because he comes from a world where you learn not to have expectations, where you work for men you cannot see, even after saving their business when it was looked close to hopeless only four months ago.
He showed a flawed team of mismatched parts how to win. And he did it on the fly, without a camp, transforming the Nets from a punch line to a team that is going to be a very tough out for however long they survive this postseason.
If the Nets win this series, P.J. Carlesimo will have accomplished something pretty special. And even that might not earn him an encore.
The people who make the decision probably believe the public can only be engaged by hype and flash and images the owner can recognize on a billboard. That’s the business they’re in, one that comes from the viewpoint of pristine ignorance. That’s the only corporate knowledge they understand.
And even that might not earn him an encore.
The people who make the decision probably believe the public can only be engaged by hype and flash and images the owner can recognize on a billboard. That’s the business they’re in, one that comes from the viewpoint of pristine ignorance. That’s the only corporate knowledge they understand.