While the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen confirms what we all know —- that the Houston Rockets are in dire need of an All-Star caliber point guard, the Daily News’ Frank Isola thinks Jason Kidd is a willing candidiate. Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune’s Sam Smith seriously suggests that the Rockets might be looking for a coach, while also predicting some wholesale changes in Boston.
The Rockets job could wind up being open. Stern could suspend Van Gundy without pay for a year if he doesn’t cooperate in the league’s investigation. Who does Van Gundy think he is, Woodward and Bernstein? This isn’t about national security and a reporter’s right to First Amendment protections. Van Gundy, by extension, works for the NBA. He would be declining to tell the truth to his employer. Employees are fired for that and should be. The Rockets may be in need of a coach quicker than many expected.
There could be an interesting internal dispute brewing in the Celtics’ organization after their playoff collapse against the Pacers, in which they lost three games at home. General manager Danny Ainge wanted no part of Antoine Walker, who got himself suspended for his dumb act of pushing a referee earlier in the series. Ainge wanted to build a young team in the image of his former teams. But you can’t do that with ball-hog pieces like Walker and Paul Pierce (above). The latter was difficult and disruptive all season and neither was much of a role model. Look for Boston to try to deal Pierce and probably let Walker and Gary Payton go.
The Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett is somewhat less doomy & gloomy about Danny Ainge’s summer plans, but that’s the difference between talking to Boston’s GM and making a conclusion based on, uh, what actually happened in the Pacers series.