FanHouse P.j.Carlesimo

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Thursday, there are 68 days remaining.

I remember noticing the abrasions on P.J. Carlesimo's neck as soon as I walked into the gym that day on Dec. 1, 1997. There was no way not to notice them.

"You cut yourself shaving?" I asked him. Carlesimo laughed uncomfortably but didn't offer a response. "Seriously," I said. "You use a dull razor? What happened there?"

"No comment," Carlesimo replied, which I thought was odd. Then again, it was the first moment I had an inkling something wasn't quite right that day. I didn't know it at the time, but less than an hour before Latrell Sprewell had assaulted Carlesimo and then came back and tried to do it again.

This is the story penned by Matt Steinmetz that ran in the Contra Costa Times on Dec. 2, 1997, the day after the Warriors' Latrell Sprewell assaulted coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice.

OAKLAND – Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell physically attacked coach P.J. Carlesimo on Monday afternoon, first choking, then throwing a punch at the coach during two separate incidents at the team's downtown training facility.

The confrontations were the latest and most serious between the three-time National Basketball Association All-Star and the first-year Warriors coach, who have been feuding since training camp began in early October.

The news blurb that stated P.J. Carlesimo would return as head coach of the, um, Sonics was kind of sad. Not that P.J. was coming back -- you could argue either way whether he deserved to be in charge of a team that has little or no direction except East for the immediate moment. It was sad because the term "Seattle" did not get thrown around once.

Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo will return next season, the team said Thursday, ending speculation he would be fired after the team won just 20 games in his first year with the Sonics.

General manager Sam Presti said at a news conference that Carlesimo would be back. Two weeks ago, Presti gave only a vague answer when asked if there would be any coaching staff changes, Carlesimo included.

See? Crafty newspapers. Point being that Carlesimo will be back to coach Kevin Durant in 2009. We might not know where he will be coaching KD at this particular moment, but he will be back.

I find it hard to envision that Carlesimo is the coach of the long term future plans for Seattle, but his quasi-disciplinarian attitude that focuses on defense is a good fit for a young team that is still establishing it's identity. 20 wins isn't "great" or even "good", but the Sonics put up some fights this season, and given that they were basically punting this year anyway, props to P.J. for sticking around.

Donyell Marshall wasn't exactly excited about leaving the playoff-bound Cavaliers for the basement-dwelling Sonics, but in the weeks since being traded he's warmed up to his new team.

In the latest entry on his blog, Marshall explains how he found out about the trade (from a reporter calling his cell phone), his blown-out-of-proportion flap with P.J. Carlesimo (it was over by halftime) and what he sees his role being with his new teammates, since he's not, you know, actually playing:

It was difficult, but I believe one reason that they brought a guy like me here was to mentor the young guys. And just like I was close to LeBron – within the first week me and Kevin Durant and Jeff Green talked a lot. Kevin said he really liked having me here and a lot of the players really don't talk to him. I sit down and have conversations with the young guys, and I guess it really wasn't like that before.

I don't know about you, but reading that kind of depressed me. I can imagine that some veterans might resent Durant for being hailed as the franchise's cornerstone even though he's the league's youngest player, but it also shouldn't have taken until the trading deadline for an older player to get into his corner. I know the salary cap dictated most of the team's deadline deals, but hearing this makes me wonder to what degree Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Kurt Thomas showed the rookie a cold shoulder.

It was more than 10 years ago when Latrell Sprewell choked P.J. Carlesimo in a Golden State Warriors practice gym, earning worldwide notoriety (as well as an improbable Beastie Boys call-out). Spree recovered, taking the Knicks to the NBA Finals and getting Kevin Garnett further than he'd ever been. P.J., though... not so much.

Working for the best franchise in the NBA is terrible, of course, but it's clear Carlesimo has wanted another shot at a team's top spot. But thanks to The Choke, P.J. hasn't sniffed a head coach gig since the Warriors jettisoned him. Carlesimo's mediocre track record with the Blazers and Dubs doesn't help, nor does the fact that he's unavailable for interviews until pretty late in the game every damn year.

The sea may be changing for Carlesimo, though: P.J. is the front-runner for Seattle's open head coach job, according to both the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Gary Washburn and the New York Post's Peter Vescey. Carlesimo's agent has also been contacted by the Sacramento Kings, though no interview between the parties has been scheduled, according to the Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick.

Seattle is actually a good situation for Carlesimo. Ray Allen is the resident superstar, and he's about as benevolent as they come. Kevin Durant gets nothing but rave reviews on the attitude scale, and Danny Fortson is long gone. Whether P.J. can get the Sonics to win is one thing; it's a pretty good bet he wouldn't set off a series of explosions, though.

Sacramento? With Ron Artest, Mike Bibby and the Maloof brothers? Not so much.