The New York Post’s Marc Berman reports that Knicks assistant Mark Aguirre, the former DePaul/Mavs/Pistons star who had a spell breathing down Lenny Wilkens’ neck when New York ran out of seats, was involved in a “screaming match” with Maurice Taylor during the Jan. 13 game with Atlanta.
The player-coach spat underscored Aguirre’s reputation of yelling at players on the floor ” a trait that irritated past coaches Lenny Wilkens and Herb Williams, sources say.
Aguirre is Isiah Thomas’ closest friend, both from Chicago’s West Side. Aguirre sits this season in the second row. But Brown told Aguirre to sit next to him for that game because assistant Dave Hanners was sick. It was the first time this season Aguirre sat on the bench.
One source by the bench said when Rose came out in the fourth quarter, Aguirre leaned over to say something to Rose, who start screaming at Aguirre. The person said Rose shouted at Aguirre, “Stop screaming at me when I’m on the court, stop telling me what to do.”
During the next timeout, assistants George Glymph and Herb Williams calmed Rose.
When Larry Brown was hired in July, a league source said Isiah Thomas told him to hire his own staff. Brown decided to keep Aguirre because he didn’t want anyone losing a job and he works well with big men. Aguirre was hired as Don Chaney’s assistant two weeks after Thomas got to New York. When Wilkens came aboard, he was ordered to keep Aguirre.
Line of the week from the LA Times’ Mark Heisler :
Utah’s Carlos Boozer, who hasn’t played since Feb. 14, asked Olympic team boss Jerry Colangelo to consider him. Said a Utah insider: “If there’s an injured list at the Olympics, Carlos wants to be on it.”