News began to circulate last night that Toronto had added P.J. Carlesimo to their coaching staff but I decided to hold off on writing anything about this until I could talk with Jay Triano, Bryan Colangelo or Carlesimo about this move.
However, despite the fact Colangelo, Triano and Carlesimo were all in attendance at Toronto’s pre-draft workouts this afternoon, none of the three men talked with the media due to the contract not being signed yet.
According to sources I talked with they informed me the contract would be finalized by Thursday at which time the coaching staff and front office would address this signing.
The addition of Carlesimo means Triano’s assistant coaching staff will now include Carlesimo, Marc Iavaroni, Alex English and Micah Nori – one heck of a team if you ask me.
Also, it speaks volumes to Triano’s confidence in his coaching abilities to have two former head coaches on his staff. Kudos to him for not being afraid of having some other talented assistants on his staff that happen to have experience as head coaches in the NBA.
Alvin Williams and Eric Hughes will return next season in their roles as assistant coaches for basketball development.
Carlesimo last served as a head coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder until he was replaced by Scott Brooks midway through the 2008-09 season. One of the reasons for this change was due to Carlesimo insisting on Kevin Durant playing shooting guard when other people in the organization felt he should be a small forward.
Prior to that, Carlesimo served as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Poppovich for five seasons.