Now with four first-round picks to worry about -- and a unique chance to restart the franchise -- new Minnesota Timberwolves boss David Kahn doesn't have enough hours in the day to focus on his first coaching hire.
We'll do it for him.
Despite an earlier report that television analyst Mark Jackson was his top choice, Kahn should be smart enough to know he can do better than that.
Why settle for someone with no coaching experience when there are seasoned guys -- including three who have coached in the NBA Finals -- who will give Kahn a much better chance of succeeding.
Besides being one member of the three-pronged announcing team that will cover every game of the NBA Finals for ABC, Jeff Van Gundy just happens to have the same last name as the head coach of the Orlando Magic.
Stan Van Gundy is Jeff's older brother, but according to the network, there's no conflict of interest -- despite the fact that Jeff has come right out and admitted that he'll be rooting for the Magic to take home the title.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will spend the next few days trying to figure out how everything suddenly went so wrong, how such a wonderful season and their sweep through the first two rounds of the playoffs became a cliff dive in the Eastern Conference finals.
Then they will decide what to do next. And unfortunately, there will be only one viable option.
Mike Brown will be fired as head coach. Jeff Van Gundy will be hired to battle his brother for supremacy in the East.
The Cavaliers didn't win 66 games by accident this season. They were outstanding defensively, meshing well around the greatest player in the game. They were well-coached, too, during the season, which was obvious after watching them through six games in the final.
If you're old school, it's pretty easy: NBA players shouldn't be texting or twittering or making calls or going on-line during halftime.
Then again, if you're old school, you think the in-game interviews with head coaches are gratuitous, the pre-halftime and postgame interviews with players offer little to nothing, the live miking of coaches is intrusive and the mere notion of cameras in the locker room at halftime is an affront.
There's no doubt that Milwaukee's Charlie Villanueva and Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal twittering during halftime took in-game access to another level. But we should have seen it coming.
For those that missed the petty announcer banter during last night's NBA Finals Game 3 (presumably you missed it because you were attending the most BA Live Blog in the land) about celebrity ladies, well, you better catch up quick.
Basically, Jeff Van Gundy was asked who the hottest celebrity in the Forum was, and he yelled Alyssa Milano's name. Milano, while a diehard LA fan who blogs about the Dodgers, was not there. He was referring to Vanessa Minnillo and proceeded to butcher the pronunciation of Nick Lachey's last name.
In other words, utter Van Gundy celebrity-related chaos. That's where Jimmy Traina, of SI Hot Clicks fame, comes in. Traina caught up with Van Gundy on the phone today to see if he had figured out how to distinguish hot female celebrities and if he wanted to change any of his picks, including his NBA Finals selection. He did not.
We just got off the phone with Jeff Van Gundy. He says he did mean Vanessa Minnillo, not Alyssa Milano. He said Minnillo was sitting behind the broadcast team and "her beauty made me starstruck and I just choked." We also asked Van Gundy if Milano was there, would he go with Minnillo or Milano. "Minnillo. That girl, wow," was his answer. When asked if he pronounced Nick Lachey's name wrong on purpose, Van Gundy said, "no, I had no idea how to say his name." Lastly, we figured we'd get a prediction from Van Gundy. "I said Lakers in 6 before the series and I still think it'll be Lakers in 6."
Aggressive all the way around for JVG, but I totally respect his refusal to back down. Sure, his celebrity knowledge is pretty weak, but I didn't hear Mark Jackson correcting him or anything.
There are lots of things said while announcing that are in the heat of the moment and thus become, after the fact, probably pretty stupid sounding. But, hey, when you get paid an outrageous amount of money to hang out at center court and commentate on games, you better get used to getting hawked.
But usually, it's the snarky blogs (he said sarcastically) that pay attention, not the other announcers. Fortunately for us, Jeff Van Gundy does not let anything get by him. So when Mark Jackson decided to make a ridiculous time filling comparison of Leon Powe and Dr. Julius Iriving, JVG called him on it. Hard.
MJ: And then coast-to-coast ... inexcusable defense ... this looks like Dr. J in the ABA days during a dunk contest. Who's gonna stop the basketball?
[...]Dr. J, wherever you are, listen to me. I apologize for my partner Mark Jackson for making the statement that Leon Powe reminds him of you ... in a dunk contest. That could be the most embarrassing statement uttered on the ABC airwaves.
That would be nearly correct. Except JVG forgot to include "Evah." on the end of the sentence. I get that sometimes he comes off as too brazen and chatty and perhaps just too pessimistic, but frankly, I dig that he is willing to call other announcers on the carpet.
It's much better than the awkward silence when another announcer pretends to not hear what the first guy says, and besides, it's just inexcusable that Jackson could potentially get away with a ridiculous statement that like. Dr. J, man. Come on.
Sitting there trying to reflect on what the possible loss of David West would mean to the Hornets ("devastating" and "series-ending" come to mind at first), I couldn't help but think of what Robert Horry did to Steve Nash last year. That's because Mark Jackson, Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy kept mentioning it. And with good reason -- West was hobbling to the locker room because Horry stuck him in the back with a pick under the post.
It probably was not illegal. And it probably does not deserve a flagrant foul. But it certainly was not what a "winner" would do, as Jackson (who seems less and less concerned with sounding intelligent now that his coaching gig has vanished into thin air) kept proclaiming.
What I want to know is, are all of Big Shot Bob's ridiculously, um, big shots from years past clouding our judgment about the way he's been utilized over the past few years? He's accruing a foul every 3.4 minutes this year, and maybe that's just a direct representation of Greg Popovich's Hack-A-____ strategy thus far. But if it is, doesn't that kind of indicate even further that Horry is his quiet enforcer on the floor?
I don't want to call Horry a dirty player, because he has given the NBA some ridiculously memorable shots over the years (his role in Hitch notwithstanding). However, the quietly discomforting abuse of personal foul rules that the Spurs are using this year has already been discussed publicly by the commissioner.
With Jeff Van Gundy having removed himself from the "race" for the "privilege" to coach the New York Knicks and Isiah Thomas apparently no longer a candidate for re-hire, many people believed that Mark Jackson was the lone horse left heading down the stretch. Donnie Walsh vaguely dispelled some of that notion last night, but today went even further, pointing out that some of the candidates for his coaching gig may currently be in the playoffs.
'Everyone seems to be [giving Mark Jackson the job], because I have said that I like Mark and I would talk to him and would interview him,' Walsh said. 'I guess you don't know that until you sit down and the two of you talk together.'
He added, 'I do think a lot of Mark, and I think a lot of some of the other guys that I'm going to be speaking to.'
Jackson, an analyst for ESPN, is off until Friday and is likely to meet with Walsh before then. Other candidates may have to wait. Walsh confirmed that he had interest in coaches whose teams are in the playoffs.
Spiiiicy. As the Times points out, Avery Johnson could be included in that list as well. Mark Cuban generally has Avery's back, but you have to think that another first round loss could create the potential for a little shake up in Big D. (And thanks to CP3, that first round loss looks almost inevitable.)
Avery, I think, would be an interesting candidate for the job. Much in the way that Scott Skiles was considered a good coach for the Knicks, Avery would bring a control freak/disciplinarian mode of coaching that would probably fit a team like New York well. Mark Jackson, of course, might not provide any guaranteed discipline to a team that desperately needs it.
Remember a couple of days ago when, after the Pistons had an easy time taking down the Knicks, Flip Murray told us that the Knicks basically weren't even trying out there? Well, apparently Jeff Van Gundy remembered it, because he found it ridiculous that a player of Flip Murray's status would be so bold as to make a comment like that, and said so in a recent radio interview:
"Let me start with Flip Murray. How about this? Don't hide behind Tayshaun Prince, Chauncey Billups and those guys that led them to a blowout and then you come out and kill the Knicks. Now if Chauncey Billups wants to kill the Knicks, if Tayshaun Prince, if Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton, if they want to kill the Knicks, that's one thing, But for Flip Murray to take that pot shot at other NBA players, I think is uncalled for."
So it's okay for established NBA superstars to question another team's effort, but it's not okay for a semi-journeyman like RFM to do the same? I sort of see where Van Gundy's coming from here; the last thing you want is for a scrub player from another team calling out your own club's lack of effort. But at the same time, shouldn't anyone that plays in a game where they see an opponent quitting be able to comment on it?
The issue here isn't Murray's comments, or Van Gundy's assertion that Murray doesn't have the juice to be able to make them. It's that the Knicks are a complete disaster right now! From court cases, to player/coach fights, to the entire team being thrown out of practice, to the fans booing, to the Chronicles of Stephon Marbury, the Knicks (and former members of the organization like Van Gundy) have plenty more to worry about than a few comments from a member of the opposing team, don't you think?
Now with four first-round picks to worry about -- and a unique chance to restart the franchise -- new Minnesota Timberwolves boss David Kahn doesn't have enough hours in the day to focus on his first coaching hire. 
Besides being one member of the three-pronged announcing team that will cover every game of the NBA Finals for ABC, 
If you're old school, it's pretty easy: NBA players shouldn't be texting or twittering or making calls or going on-line during halftime.
For those that missed the petty announcer banter during last night's NBA Finals Game 3 (presumably you missed it because you were attending 
There are lots of things said while announcing that are in the heat of the moment and thus become, after the fact, probably pretty stupid sounding. But, hey, when you get paid an outrageous amount of money to hang out at center court and commentate on games, you better get used to getting hawked.
Sitting there trying to reflect on what the possible loss of 
With 
Remember a couple of days ago when, after the Pistons had an easy time taking down the Knicks, 
