Advertisement - scroll for more content
While it was public acknowledge University of Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson interviewed for the Bucks job, it was never reported the Bucks had offered him the job, as three sources insist. Sampson was an assistant coach for then Bucks head coach Scott Skiles from 2008-2011 and has a good rapport with Bucks general manager Jon Horst. Sampson took the Houston coaching reigns in 2014 and transformed a downtrodden program into a national power.
Horst used analytical statistics to look at the coaching staffs and teams Griffin worked with in his 15-year, 11-playoff appearance assistant coaching career with the Toronto Raptors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls and the Bucks (2008-10). “Scott Skiles, who I had a chance to work with, is really a brilliant basketball mind,” Horst said. “Tom Thibodeau... Billy Donovan, Nick Nurse. These guys have all approached the game in really unique creative ways and that will show up in their analytical profiles.
On January 18, 2016, Grier made a deal. The Magic and coach Scott Skiles, another former MSU star, called and wanted to sign Appling to a 10-day contract. Grief called and gave his client the news. Appling’s response? “He actually told us he was firing us as we gave him that great news,” Grier recalled.
Organizationally, I asked? “Yeah, organizationally, in terms of the plan,” Gordon continued. “I think (Magic front office executives) John Hammond, Jeff Weltman, those guys are amazing people — amazing people, and very talented managers as well. But I feel like they got kind of cast into the revolving door out there as well in Orlando. So many coaches — five coaches in seven years (Jacque Vaughn, James Borrego, Scott Skiles, Frank Vogel and Steve Clifford). And it was kind of a different organization after the passing of Mr. (Rich) DeVos (in September 2018) as well. It was just a lot. A lot of uncertainty, an insecure kind of feeling. But I have no doubt in my mind that John and Jeff are going to get that organization back to where it needs to be.
Paul Shirley: Behind the scene of the 2003-04 Bulls team. Shirley: That was a really poisonous locker room. I don’t want to speak too out of turn because when I was in Chicago that was also the time that I had my kidney and spleen rupture 12 days into my time with the Bulls and finished out the year with the team but spent some of that time in a hospital bed and was afraid I might die. However, I do remember that there was even like a pamphlet, like a weekly pamphlet, that would circulate in the locker room written by an anonymous sort of rabble-rouser basically saying Scott Skiles doesn’t know what he’s doing and other guys should be playing and all this sh*t. It was real bad. Eddie Robinson was on that team, and I actually really loved that guy because he just didn’t care whatpeople thought of him. He wasn’t playing because Skiles said to him if you don’t do X, it was something in warmups, then I’m benching you. Robinson was like, let’s see if he’ll do it, and then he did it.
Advertisement
Then-Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles raised his hand and told Stern, after a preamble of “no disrespect,” that the locker room was his “sacred space.” Based on multiple coaches’ retellings of this legendary league story, Stern dispatched the response with withering sarcasm. “Well, let’s see,” the smiling commissioner began. “On the one hand, we have eight billion dollars from our broadcast partners. And on the other hand, we have … Scott Skiles!” Stern then lit into him, telling Skiles in so many words and curses to shut up and that he didn’t want to hear any more out of him. Skiles went quiet, as did the room.
“He was neutered,” one coach relayed of Skiles. “Scott thought he was brave. And after Stern was done with him, he wasn’t brave no more.” All the coaches in the room got the message. Commissioner Stern wasn’t asking. He was telling. And woe be unto whichever clipboard clinger flouted the dictate.
When asked about the incident recently, Skiles told The Athletic, “I no longer do interviews about basketball. But whatever you are referring to is completely false. The commissioner never went at me or anyone in a harsh manner. You’ve gotten incorrect info.” Last week, Stern himself said, “No recollection at all. Not denying.” Make of that what you will.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Scott Skiles has been contacted about his interest in replacing David Blatt as coach of Greece’s Olympiakos, his agent Keith Glass tells ESPN. Skiles has coached four NBA teams, most recently with Orlando in 2016. “Coaching still interests Scott,” Glass said.
Advertisement
Alex Kennedy: Rajon Rondo had a career-high 25 assists in 30 minutes to beat BKN. Rondo is just the 7th player in NBA history to record 25 assists, joining Scott Skiles, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Nate McMillan, Isiah Thomas. At 31, Rondo is oldest to do it. HIGHLIGHTS via NBA: pic.twitter.com/EmbwFdB3WW
In the wake of firing general manager Rob Hennigan, Magic CEO Alex Martins admitted that former coach Scott Skiles was right about the failed GM and should have stuck around until the team figured out what to do about it. Skiles quit after only one season because he did not like the roster Hennigan had put together or the lackadaisical culture Hennigan and assistant GM Scott Perry had cultivated among its core of young players. “Scott certainly had his concerns; I don’t think that was any secret,” Martins said when I asked if he should have listened to Skiles instead of Hennigan. “He made that very well known. He and I had several conversations about things during his tenure here.”
From talking to people close to the situation and listening to Martin’s public comments, it appears Skiles felt Hennigan and Perry coddled players and undermined the coaching staff’s ability to instill accountability. Skiles is a no-nonsense basketball lifer who didn’t like the work ethic of his young players or the culture created by the inexperienced Hennigan. “The culture is the atmosphere and the expectations you set up around your basketball team,” Martins explained on our Open Mike radio show Friday. “How are those expectations communicated? How are you holding everybody accountable? What is the true message about the level of commitment we expect? … What do we expect from them [players] day in and day out?
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement