How much do you know about the Brooklyn Nets head coach P.J. Carlesimo?

Other than the Latrell Sprewell choke incident and the insistence on starting Kevin Durant at the two once upon a time – both disastrous scenarios – you probably don’t know too much about the man. That’s about to change some, as you’ll learn about his loyalty, what he thought about the “choke” incident, how he thinks the 2012 USA Team would fare against The Dream Team and more below, from Net Income. The transcript is a bit lengthy, but worth the read:

Did Carlesimo receive Coach Avery Johnson’s blessing to take over as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets in December 2012?

When Billy King (Nets General Manager) called me, he said, “You know, we made a change this morning,” which I didn’t even know about at the time. And he said, “We want you to take over the team on an interim basis,” and I said, “Bill,” I said, “I gotta talk to Avery.” I said, “I’ll talk to Avery, and, I’ll get back to you.” I went in, and I talked to Avery, and obviously he was still extremely disappointed, if not upset.

Could the 2012 Olympics men’s basketball team have beaten the original 1992 “Dream Team”?

No. Not even remotely, not even (in) the same stratosphere.

Was the 1992 Dream Team the best team ever assembled?

Without question. And so many of these guys (on that team) were at the peak. Our team now is still essentially a young team. 11 of those guys (on 1992 team) are in the Hall of Fame. I don’t know if we’re gonna have 11 Hall of Famers off this current (2012 Olympics) team. I don’t think so.

On what went wrong between him and Sprewell, and if it still bothers him today:

No, to this day, I don’t (know what precipitated it), I’m not sure exactly what it was, but…something set him off, and, just, that’s the way he reacted, and the rest is history. I think people who don’t know basketball, that’s the only thing they know. Like if someone says Spre’s name or someone says my name…they say, “Oh, that, those two guys, I know that.” From here (New York area), if you say my name, they’ll probably relate it to Seton Hall. If you say it on the West Coast, people relate it to Golden State or to Portland.

Did the incident have any racial undertones?

No, no, no. People are always gonna, you know, look at it and say, “Well, it’s a black player, it’s a white coach.” No. I don’t think so. A lot of the players and coaches in the league (NBA), (who) immediately, you know, stood up and said, “Whoa, wait a minute.” Let’s not bring something into this that’s not in it.” That never had any legs.

Did he and Sprewell patch things up?

No, not really.

Carlesimo’s favorite musician:

(After some thought) Jay-Z.

Okay, so the last part indicates that he’s apparently a bit of a liar, too.

Onto other news from around the league: 

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