P.J. Carlesimo, Back to His Old Tricks

P.J. Carlesimo has never been popular with his players. While he was with the Blazers, Rod Strickland boycotted practice and threatened never to return--solely because of his dislike for Carlesimo.

Clifford Robinson, hardly a troublemaker, was suspended a game for cursing at Carlesimo after being removed from a game.

All this before the Sprewell incident.

The general feeling, as far as I can tell, is that Carlesimo is a heavy-handed jerk. And he's already off to a terrible start with the Sonics, pulling a real douchebag move in his handling of deposed starter Luke Ridnour.

Carlesimo says Ridnour's been demoted because he doesn't like his play with the mask Ridnour's been wearing since suffering a broken nose in the first exhibition game.

But will Ridnour get his job back when the mask is off? Carlesimo won't say.

Ridnour says the mask isn't bothering him--and it's hard to see how Carlesimo has any basis for doubting him, considering that Ridnour played only five minutes of the exhibition season before breaking the nose.

Now I'm no Luke Ridnour fan--I'd much rather have Earl Watson at point--but that doesn't change the fact that this is a prime example of why, at every NBA stop, Carlesimo's players have turned against him.

We've all worked with people like Carlesimo--they give you some bullshit reason for making a decision instead of just being honest about it.

P.J., if you think Ridnour played poorly, just say so--don't hide your comments behind his mask. Literally.

Ridnour is saying all the right things: "I'm gonna make the most of it," etc, etc.