PORTLAND -- Mike Dunleavy was fired as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, taking the fall for an underachieving team that failed to win a playoff game despite an NBA-record $89.7 million payroll.
|  | | Life was often stormy for Mike Dunleavy during his tenure with the volatile Blazers. |
"I wanted to come back and try to get the ship righted," Dunleavy said in a telephone interview with ESPN on Wednesday. "As much as we went through, through the 10th of March we still had the best record in the West."
Dunleavy met with team president and general manager Bob
Whitsitt for about three hours Tuesday, and Whitsitt announced the
coach's dismissal during an evening news conference.
"Probably nobody had a tougher decision to make than me,
because there's a lot of personal reasons why I'd like to see Mike
come back," Whitsitt said. "But ultimately I've got to do what I
think is right for the franchise."
The Blazers, plagued by suspensions and infighting, lost 17 of
their final 25 games, including a 3-0 sweep by the Los Angeles
Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
The day after Portland was eliminated, Whitsitt took much of the
blame, acknowledging that several of his roster moves had
backfired. But he would not give his coach a vote of confidence.
After receiving assurance from owner Paul Allen that his own job
was safe, Whitsitt spent much of last week meeting with the
players, and at least one reportedly said Dunleavy should go.
Earlier in the day, after Dunleavy and Whitsitt finished their
meeting, Blazers co-captain Scottie Pippen lamented the "tough
situation" Dunleavy was put in.
|
Dunleavy by the numbers
|
|
Year
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
1990-91
|
Lakers
|
58
|
24
|
.707
|
|
91-92
|
Lakers
|
43
|
39
|
.524
|
|
92-93
|
Bucks
|
28
|
54
|
.341
|
|
93-94
|
Bucks
|
20
|
62
|
.244
|
|
94-95
|
Bucks
|
34
|
48
|
.415
|
|
95-96
|
Bucks
|
25
|
57
|
.305
|
|
97-98
|
Blazers
|
46
|
36
|
.561
|
|
98-99
|
Blazers
|
35
|
15
|
.700
|
|
99-2000
|
Blazers
|
59
|
23
|
.720
|
|
2000-01
|
Blazers
|
50
|
32
|
.610
|
|
Totals
|
|
398
|
390
|
.505
|
|
Playoffs
|
|
Year
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
Pct.
|
|
1990-91
|
Lakers
|
12
|
7
|
.632
|
|
91-92
|
Lakers
|
1
|
3
|
.250
|
|
97-98
|
Blazers
|
1
|
3
|
.250
|
|
98-99
|
Blazers
|
7
|
6
|
.538
|
|
99-2000
|
Blazers
|
10
|
6
|
.625
|
|
2000-01
|
Blazers
|
0
|
3
|
.000
|
|
Totals
|
|
31
|
28
|
.525
|
"You hate to have to start over, but it was a very
disappointing season and, as it always goes, coaches get fired and
not players," Pippen told KGW-TV.
Dunleavy, 47, had one year left on a five-year, $12 million
contract he signed in 1997. He's rumored to be a candidate for the
vacant job in Cleveland. Dunleavy has known Cavaliers general
manager Jim Paxson for years, and Paxson was Whitsitt's assistant
GM during Dunleavy's first season in Portland.
Dunleavy was 190-106 in four seasons with the Blazers. He was
selected the league's coach of the year in 1999, when the Blazers
went 35-15 in the lockout-shortened season and won the Pacific
Division title.
But like Rick Adelman and P.J. Carlesimo before him, a winning
record wasn't enough to save Dunleavy's job. His teams went just
18-18 in the playoffs, reaching the conference finals in 1999 and
2000 before falling to the Spurs and Lakers, respectively.
Last season, the Blazers were only a few points away from
reaching the NBA Finals. After winning two straight games against
the Lakers to force Game 7 in Los Angeles, led by 15 with 10:28 to
go but then missed 13 consecutive shots. The Lakers ended up
winning by four and went on to capture the title.
The Blazers never seemed to recover from that humiliation, but
Dunleavy faced incredible pressure this season. The team's
marketing campaign, which included the slogan "One Team, One
Dream," made it clear that nothing less than a trip to the finals
would satisfy this one-sport city.
Portland had the best record in the West in early March, but a
five-game losing streak precipitated its downfall. The Blazers didn't beat any playoff-bound teams from their own conference after March 22, and they stumbled to 50 victories -- nine fewer than last season.
"We have confidence in him, but he can't get out there and
score for us and defend," Pippen said. "It's not anything that he
did wrong that caused us to have such a bad season, it's just that,
as I said, coaches lose their jobs in this game when teams don't
perform right, and we didn't perform to the right level."
Dunleavy's most difficult challenge was finding playing time for
all the veterans Whitsitt acquired.
Along the way, several of Whitsitt's maneuvers backfired. He
traded popular forward Brian Grant to Miami and got out-of-shape,
unproductive Shawn Kemp from Cleveland in return. Kemp was an $11.7 million bust, and left the team in early April to enter a
drug-treatment program.
Little-used center Jermaine O'Neal also was traded to Indiana
for Dale Davis. While O'Neal had a breakout season, Davis scored
just one point in two playoff games and was suspended for Game 3 for elbowing the Lakers' Robert Horry.
Whitsitt also brought Detlef Schrempf out of retirement and
signed free agent Rod Strickland, further congesting the roster.
Players griped about playing time, and criticized Dunleavy for
calling too many plays on offense. Following a loss in Denver three
days before Christmas, the coach and players aired their
differences during a meeting. Dunleavy agreed to loosen the reins,
and the team won 10 straight games.
After they began their tailspin, however, Dunleavy resumed
yelling and micromanaging, and many of the players resented it.
Dunleavy seemed to lose control of the team late in the season
after Shawn Kemp departed to enter a treatment program for cocaine
abuse and Bonzi Wells tore a ligament in his left knee. After
Rasheed Wallace threw a towel into center Arvydas Sabonis' face
during a road loss to the Lakers, Wallace charged at Dunleavy in
the locker room and had to be restrained by teammates.
Dealing with Wallace was a season-long headache for Dunleavy, who twice suspended the All-Star for his tantrums. Wallace received a league-record 41 technical fouls and was ejected seven times.
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Blazers hold off on changes, for now at least
AUDIO VIDEO
 The Portland Trail Blazers announce the dismissal of of head coach Mike Dunleavy.
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