Hornets fire coach Clifford after 5 seasons
First the general manager, now the coach.
Charlotte Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan fired coach Steve Clifford on Friday after the team went 36-46 and failed to reach the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.
Clifford, 196-214 in five seasons with the team, had a year left on his contract. The move to dismiss him came after his face-to-face meeting Friday with new general manager Mitch Kupchak.
“I want to thank Coach Clifford for his contributions to the Hornets,” Kupchak said in a statement. “I know he has worked incredibly hard on behalf of the organization and we wish him the best moving forward. The search for a new coach will begin immediately.”
Jordan hired Kupchak on Sunday to replace Rich Cho. Wizards’ Meeks suspended: The NBA suspended Washington Wizards guard Jodie Meeks 25 games without pay for using a banned substance.
The suspension comes a day before Game 1 of the Wizards’ first-round series against the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Toronto Raptors. The NBA says Meeks tested positive for Ipamorelin, a growth hormone that’s prohibited under the league’s drug program.
Meeks’ suspension makes Washington’s signing of guard Ty Lawson just before the playoffs make more sense. Mavs, Bulls win tiebreakers: Dallas and Chicago won random-draw tiebreakers to put them in better position ahead of the May 15 draft lottery, which will determine which teams hold each of the first 14 spots in the June 21 draft.
The Mavericks won a tiebreaker with the Atlanta Hawks after they shared the NBA’s third-worst record at 24-58. Dallas gets a 13.8 percent chance to win the lottery and Atlanta 13.7, and should neither team move up, the Mavericks would pick one spot higher in the draft.
The Bulls won a tiebreaker over the Sacramento Kings after both finished 27-55. They will have the same odds in the lottery, but the Bulls will be sixth and the Kings seventh if nobody jumps ahead of them and neither moves up in the lottery. Knicks’ coaching search: Mark Jackson, a New York native and former Knicks player, is reportedly on the club’s wish list as it seeks to replace the fired Jeff Hornacek as head coach. Jackson coached the Warriors for three seasons as they turned from NBA doormat into championship contender.
But the ultimate prize might be out of the Knicks’ reach. The New York Daily News reported that the Knicks intend to contact Villanova’s Jay Wright.
Wright, Jackson, Doc Rivers, Jerry Stackhouse, Craig Robinson, Jeff Van Gundy, David Blatt and David Fizdale are all considered candidates to replace Hornacek. Announcer suspended: Oklahoma City television playby-play man Brian Davis has been suspended for Game 1 of the playoff series against Utah on Sunday for a comment he made about Russell Westbrook during the Thunder’s regularseason finale against Memphis.
Davis, who is white, said Westbrook, who is black, was “out of his cotton-pickin’ mind” after the Oklahoma City guard made an assist in Wednesday’s game on his way to setting an NBA record by averaging a triple-double in multiple seasons.
Because of the role of cotton picking in slavery, the phrase is considered offensive when used by a white person about a black person.
Thunder guard Corey Brewer (sprained knee) is questionable for Sunday’s playoff opener against the Jazz.