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Friday, June 29, 2001
Cheeks: Rules aren't meant to be broken
Associated Press
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ Maurice Cheeks is warning his Portland players that they will have rules that won't be broken without repercussions.
Cheeks said discipline will be one of his priorities as the Trail Blazers' new coach, something he learned as an assistant under Larry Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers.
One thing he picked up: Don't let anything go.
Several players privately grumbled last season that former coach Mike Dunleavy didn't enforce the rules. Rasheed Wallace often would come to practice 20 minutes late, then wouldn't practice in team-issued gear. No penalties were levied.
"That's just the way I was as a player," Cheeks said. "If a guy said be there at 11 o'clock, I wasn't there at 11:01. I was there."
The Blazers also endured Wallace throwing a towel into the face of teammate Arvydas Sabonis, a late-season skirmish in practice between Scottie Pippen and Detlef Schrempf, a locker room confrontation between Wallace and Dunleavy and constant bickering about playing time.
"It is the discipline to know that they have to have respect for one another," he said Thursday after touring his new office. "And if they have respect for one another, they will not be doing the things they wouldn't want done to them."
Cheeks also says he plans to be a coach who understands his players' needs.
"I like guys to have the freedom to play," Cheeks said. "I don't want to restrict guys from doing what they do best. I don't want to have to jump up and call a play every time they come down the court. I want to trust that they will do the right thing and not necessarily come down and hoist up a shot."
Cheeks also met with general manager Bob Whitsitt Thursday and interviewed holdover assistants Tony Brown, Tim Grgurich, Mike D'Antoni, Jim Eyen and Neal Meyer. Cheeks said he plans to select his coaching staff by the start of summer league, which begins July 16 in Long Beach, Calif.
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