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Knicks to hire Rick Brunson, father of free-agent target Jalen Brunson, as assistant coach
The Knicks are finalizing a contract with Rick Brunson, the father of Jalen Brunson, to become an assistant coach on Tom Thibodeau’s staff, SNY has learned. Brunson, a nine-year NBA veteran, has been an assistant coach under Thibodeau in Chicago and Minnesota. The deal is expected to be finalized in the coming days, per people familiar with the matter. The 49-year-old fills a spot on the Knicks bench created when former assistant Kenny Payne left to become head coach at the University of Louisville.
Marc J. Spears: Former NBA guard Nolan Smith has spoke with Duke’s men’s basketball staff and told them he plans on accepting a job as associate head coach with new head coach Kenny Payne at the University of Louisville, a source told @andscape. Smith’s late father Derek starred with the Cards.
In a letter emailed to University of Louisville president Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, former Louisville men's basketball All-American & Hall of Famer Alfred "Butch" Beard requested that the school "remove my name and accomplishments from any existing or future mention.” Beard cited that “the university’s commitment to young black men" being "far from what it should look like in 2021" as his reasoning for wanting disassociation from his alma mater, and gave a couple examples as to why.
Donovan Mitchell hopes his new basketball sneaker will not only help athletes score buckets, but also make an impact in the lives of students at his beloved University of Louisville. The former Cardinals star has teamed up with Adidas to support current and future Black students at Louisville by donating up to $200,000 of the sales of his “D.O.N. Issue #2 x Louisville” sneaker (nicknamed “A Shoe for Change”) to fund several academic initiatives and scholarships.
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Elite basketball skills trainer Chris Brickley recently caught up with HoopsHype to talk about his future plans with his clothing company. Brickley, who played D-I college basketball for the University of Louisville and was a player development coordinator for the New York Knicks, owns BlackOps Basketball. The gym has become the home of legendary pick-up games on Instagram featuring players like Kevin Durant as well as pop stars like Drake and Quavo. He also launched his own streetwear brand in 2016, called Color Blind, which has since been sported by the likes of world-famous celebrities including Justin Bieber and Khloe Kardashian.
Louisville is the NBA's perpetual bridesmaid. The decades-long dance between the basketball-crazed city and the world's preeminent basketball league began in the mid-1970s. The ABA's Kentucky Colonels, one of the league's most decorated and financially successful franchises, were poised to make the jump into the NBA when the two leagues merged, but owner John Y. Brown decided to cash out by selling star players to other franchises and accepting a $3 million buyout to fold his team. Decades later, Louisville had the then-Vancouver Grizzlies in hand in 2001. "We fumbled on the one-yard line," Steve Higdon, chairman of NBA2LOU, tells CBS Sports. A combination of local politics and the inability to raise funds for a new arena killed the deal, and the Grizzlies landed in Memphis. A year later, Rick Pitino and the University of Louisville exerted their own influence to keep the then-Charlotte Hornets out of Kentucky. Toss in a failed bid at the Houston Rockets, and the home of the 1975 ABA champions had grown sick of losing out on professional basketball.
Louisville had the then-Vancouver Grizzlies in hand in 2001. "We fumbled on the one-yard line," Steve Higdon, chairman of NBA2LOU, tells CBS Sports. A combination of local politics and the inability to raise funds for a new arena killed the deal, and the Grizzlies landed in Memphis. A year later, Rick Pitino and the University of Louisville exerted their own influence to keep the then-Charlotte Hornets out of Kentucky. Toss in a failed bid at the Houston Rockets, and the home of the 1975 ABA champions had grown sick of losing out on professional basketball.
That the situation is fluid “is more true now than it’s been in decades,” says J. Bruce Miller, Louisville’s long-time NBA point man. Granted, Louisville still looks like a long shot. The University of Louisville continues to control the most significant revenue streams at the KFC Yum Center and is poorly positioned to start making concessions to an NBA owner amid layoffs and budget cuts. Meanwhile, modern arenas in Vegas and Kansas City are unencumbered by leases that could cause conflict with an NBA tenant.
When Unseld died Tuesday at age 74, the Hall of Fame center who rose to prominence at Louisville's Seneca High School and the University of Louisville was remembered as one of basketball’s most rugged rebounders and the source of its most lethal outlet passes; comparatively short by the standards of his position, but as solid and as steadfast as an oak. "He was like a big roadblock on the basketball court," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said on the "Rich Eisen Show" on Tuesday. "He was only like 6-7, 6-8, but you still couldn’t get rebounds over him because he just denied (position) on the court. He was awesome in that sense."
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Former University of Louisville and NBA basketball player Felton Spencer, who also had recently served as an assistant coach for the Bellarmine University men's basketball team, will plead guilty to a DUI charge stemming from an incident at the start of 2019.
When Jay Scrubb arrived on the University of Louisville campus for his official visit Sept. 27, he was already sold on playing basketball for the Cardinals. The nation's top junior college prospect was completely won over after attending Louisville Live and playing pickup with the Cards, and on Sept. 28 committed to Louisville's 2020 signing class. But Scrubb "absolutely" still intends to test the 2020 NBA draft waters this spring, his father told the Courier Journal.
During testimony at a trial last October, Sood said he gave about $19,500 in 2017 to the father of top recruit Brian Bowen Jr. to get him to commit to the University of Louisville. After the payments were revealed, Bowen left Louisville. The school also fired coach Rick Pitino. Last year, Sood was among defendants sued by Bowen in federal court in South Carolina.
He added that Louisville would have gotten the original Charlotte Hornets team before they ultimately relocated to New Orleans if it hadn’t been for opposition from the former leadership at UofL.
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