The recently fired Mark Jackson returned to ESPN for the NBA playoffs and he’s not the only talker turned coach/GM turned talker again, the Detroit Free Press staff writes. Longtime Bears coach Mike Ditka was fired in 1992, signed on with NBC, left to coach the Saints in 1997, and eventually came to ESPN. Staying in the NBA, Doug Collins, now with ESPN, knows a thing or two about going back and forth from the booth to the sidelines as well. Here’s more from around the league:
- The sense in coaching circles is that Dave Joerger would become a head coaching candidate for the Wolves if he were to be let go by the Grizzlies, Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets. Stein notes that Joerger is a long-time associate of Minnesota president of basketball operations Flip Saunders.
- Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times has heard that the Lakers haven’t and won’t open formal talks with any coaches before the lottery, but they have put out feelers for some (Twitter link).
- In another tweet, Pincus says it’s safe to consider Byron Scott a fallback coaching option for the Lakers, presuming that Scott will be around no matter how lengthy L.A.’s process becomes.
Zach Links contributed to this post.