After playing in the BIG3 earlier this year and then joining the Nuggets for the preseason, veteran forward Josh Childress has signed a one-year contract with the Adelaide 36ers, the team announced in a press release. It will be the second stint in Australia for the former sixth overall pick, who played for the Sydney Kings from 2014 to 2016.
While Childress hasn’t appeared in a regular season NBA game since December 2013, his new team is excited to add him to its roster and believes he’ll make a major impact.
“It’s great to have such a veteran player on board. Josh is known in the basketball circles as a pros pro,” said Adelaide 36ers head coach Joey Wright. “Who he is and how he operates typifies what we want our program to be about; class and talent.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NBA went 532 days between head coach firings, from May 7, 2016 (Dave Joerger fired by the Grizzlies) to October 22, 2017 (Earl Watson‘s dismissal by the Suns). That stretch of head coaching stability is virtually unprecedented for the NBA, prompting Marc Stein of The New York Times to take a closer look at why the coaching climate has been so favorable as of late.
- After spend time with the Raptors during training camp and the preseason, former Syracuse sharpshooter Andy Rautins is heading back overseas, signing with Turkish team Banvit (English link via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).
- Former Magic forward Damjan Rudez, who was waived earlier this month after spending last season in Orlando, is training in his home country with Cibona Zagreb, tweets international basketball reporter David Pick. According to Pick, Rudez is discussing a deal with the Croatian team that would allow him to opt out if an NBA opportunity arises.
- Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days lays out a blueprint for how the G League could play a major role if the NBA decides to lower its minimum draft age.
I think the reason we’ve seen so few coaches fired is because teams have finally wised up to the current NBA reality. Lebron will probably win the East and the Warriors, and Miami and San Antonio before them are just too good.
In the past you’d have had more of a chance to break through – Dallas, Orlando, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia spring to mind as fairly recent ‘one hit wonders’ – and if you had a decent player or two, expectations were high from fans and the owners/management.
Now, you’re either in win-now mode, signing established players and going for a lucky conference finals or you’re rebuilding.
I doubt Billy Donovan will last much longer, or Dwane Casey, as they coach teams which have been mired in the cursed swamp of ‘just not quite good enough’.
Brett Brown, Luke Walton et al are being kept on for consistency and culture, essentially waiting for Lebron and the Warriors to retire.