And-Ones: Aldemir, Brewer, Olynyk

With only seven black head coaches in this season, the league has its lowest total since opening night in 1999, when there were six, as Howard Beck points out in his investigative piece on the issue for Bleacher Report. In 2012, according to Beck’s research, the league had 14 black head coaches, an all-time high, but the number has decreased ever since. A big reason why, Beck suggests, is because NBA teams are looking to hire college coaches, foreign coaches and former video coordinators and are no longer hiring as many former players (and many former players are black).

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

• Furkan Aldemir‘s four-year deal with Darussafaka Dogus of Turkey is for more than $4MM, reports international journalist David Pick (Twitter link). The Sixers were reportedly likely to re-sign him if they were granted a 16th roster spot via hardship. Aldemir played for Turkey’s Galatasaray in between the time the Clippers drafted him in 2012 and last December, when the Sixers signed him after trading for his draft rights. Philadelphia waived him last month.
• Veteran Ronnie Brewer sat out last season and did not receive any training camp invitations, but he hasn’t decided to hang it up yet and that’s why he is with the Warriors‘ D-League affiliate, Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside writes.  Brewer, 30, is a defensive specialist, but told Schlosser he is looking to be more versatile with the hopes of getting a call-up.
• Kelly Olynyk, whom the Celtics exercised their fourth-year option on before the deadline, is blossoming into a better defensive player, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Olynyk is averaging more steals and blocks so far than he had in his previous two seasons. Olynyk has a defensive rating of 95.2, good for seventh in the league, as Blakely points out.