Derrick Alston Sr. Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Miller, Prokhorov, Celtics, Scott

August 21st, 2019 at 1:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks have hired Mike Miller as an assistant on David Fizdale’s staff after he served as their G League coach since the 2015/16 season, according to a team press release. Miller, not to be confused with the longtime NBA player, compiled a 108-92 record with the Westchester Knicks. Derrick Alston, who served as an assistant to Miller, has been promoted to head coach of the G league team, Steve Popper of Newsday tweets.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Mikhail Prokhorov, who recently sold his interest in the Nets, inquired about other NBA franchises — including the Knicks — before he was approved as the majority owner of the Brooklyn franchise. His top basketball adviser, Sergei Kushchenko, revealed that to TASS in a story relayed by NetsDaily.com. ”We were looking over various options at that time,” Kushchenko said. “Among them were the New York Knicks, who asked for a bizarre sum, the Phoenix Suns and the New Jersey Nets. We decided to focus on the New Jersey Nets since it was a completely different market then in addition to the prospect of the new arena’s construction along with a full-fledged business framework.” Prokhorov was also scared away by the Knicks’ debt load, according to NetsDaily.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens will have a dilemma if he wants to get all of his best players on the court during crunch time, Matt John of Basketball Insiders notes. The team’s top five include Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, which would leave them without a true power forward or center in those situations.
Sixers forward Mike Scott said some advice from Clippers coach Doc Rivers helped him after he was dealt to Philadelphia last season, Kevin Murphy of The Athletic writes. Scott emerged as a key reserve after he was included in the Tobias Harris blockbuster and earned a two-year, $9.8MM contract in free agency. “I feel I didn’t play well in L.A., and I think for the most part it was on me,” Scott said. “I was still trying to figure it out. When I got here, I said, ‘[The heck with it], I am going to ball-out and try to do what Doc says.’ Do the little things and see what happens.”

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Wilbekin, Stackhouse

October 27th, 2015 at 8:12pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Count GM Billy King among those curious to see how the retooled Nets roster will fare this season, writes Andy Vasquez of NorthJersey.com. “We know we’re not a finished product at this point, and the goal is to get better,” King said. “We’ve revamped, got some youth, and now I want to see how we play, see how some of the pieces we acquired fit, how they go. We’ve got some young guys and it’s going to take time. They have to play and they’re going to make mistakes and we’ve got to live with them because the only way we’re going to get better is applying it on the court. We have the ability to get better as a team because we do have some inexperience with some guys. But we need our main guys, our veteran guys to carry us, to do their part to allow the young guys to sort of blend in and help.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Point guard Scottie Wilbekin, who was waived by the Sixers on Monday, has lucrative overseas offers lined up, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays.
Despite being a rookie assistant coach this season, Jerry Stackhouse is fitting in well with the Raptors and notes that he doesn’t feel like a newcomer to the coaching ranks, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. “Man, it’s nothing new to me,” Stackhouse told Lewenberg. “I’ve been coaching for the last 10 years and I don’t feel any different. It’s just about trying to get guys better, better prepared for what they’re going to see during game action. The best way to do that is to build more repetition, more repetition. And that’s the key, being creative to come up with ideas everyday so things don’t get stagnant and guys [don’t] get bored.“
Coby Karl and Derrick Alston were officially hired by the Knicks‘ D-League affiliate in Westchester as assistant coaches, the team announced.
You can view the opening night regular season rosters for the Celtics, Nets, Knicks, Sixers, and Raptors by clicking on the link beneath each team name.