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NFL

Tuesday, March 7
With Hill all but signed, Pistons let Gentry go

By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- The Pistons' decision to fire Alvin Gentry on Monday, with 24 games to go, tells you two things about the current state of affairs in the Motor City:

Things had gotten so bad, management believed the free-fall into seventh place wasn't about to end anytime soon. Mortified at the prospect of missing the playoffs in the ridiculously easy Eastern Conference, a change was unavoidable.


	How much did Grant Hill's situation impact Gentry's? Plenty, writes Lawrence.

The Pistons are as close to certain as they can be that they'll get Grant Hill's signature on a new contract, at least for the short-term, when their franchise player becomes a free agent on July 1.

According to league sources, Gentry was once viewed "crucial to the mix" when it came to the Pistons' ability to re-sign Hill. An ally of Hill, Gentry was practically bullet-proof.

But Gentry's status apparently had changed in recent weeks, with all signs pointing to Hill staying put for two to three seasons. Rest assured, the Pistons would never have made this move if they felt it would cost them Hill.

Keeping Hill in place, obviously, is the only thing that matters around the Palace of Auburn Hills. If he ever were to leave, they'd have to close up shop.

There's still a season to save now. They are a disappointing 28-30, including seven losses in their last 10 games, with an embarrassing outing last Saturday against the Wizards, but the Pistons have six straight games at home starting Wednesday against Denver. Four are very winnable, against the Nuggets, Grizzlies, Celtics and Magic. The other two look very much like losses: the Lakers and Blazers.

The Pistons probably need to go 4-2 in that stretch, because even with this move, they're no locks to make the playoffs. Fourteen of their final 24 games come against teams with .500 or better records, with eight of those on the road, and they've still got a five-game Western trip (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento and Clippers) this month.

Interestingly, the Pistons had a chance to bring in Maurice Taylor at the recent trading deadline. But the price of Lindsey Hunter and Jerome Williams was too steep. Even if they had overpaid for Taylor -- which is what the Clippers were asking -- that wouldn't have quelled the internal problems or prevented Gentry's demise.

Rim Shots I
Olden Polynice is one of those rare NBA players. He actually chose to sign as a free agent with the Utah Jazz. Not that he had any choice in the matter.

"This past summer, when I hired Karl's agent (Dwight Manley), he called me right up," Polynice recalled of the phone conversation he had with Karl Malone. "He didn't really recruit me. He said, 'You're signing with us.' "

Although he's only a role player, Polynice, in his 13th season, could play an important part for the Jazz in the playoffs. In the Western Conference, they're probably going to have meet up with the Spurs, Lakers or Portland, at one point or another. That means having to stop Tim Duncan and David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal or Rasheed Wallace and Arvydas Sabonis.

When they flamed out in six games against the Blazers last spring, they didn't have the athletes to match up with Portland. They also didn't have the size to advance past the second round for the first time since 1995. They're still probably too susceptible to gravity to knock off the best teams in the West. But the 7-foot Polynice gives them more size in the middle.

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"Last year, Greg Ostertag was our biggest guy," said Jeff Hornacek. "If he got in foul trouble or if he was having an off-game, we didn't have anybody else. Now we've got Olden and Ostertag. Olden plays great one-on-one defense. He can move and he's very good at knowing when to help. The combination of him and Ostertag give us a better chance against the bigger teams. Obviously, we need those big guys against the top teams. We're going to have to beat a bunch of 'em if we want to win a title."

The Jazz improved to 37-18 with Polynice in the starting lineup after a nine-point win over the Knicks on Sunday. In starting all but three games, he's giving the Jazz about six rebounds in 23 minutes an outing. In his most impressive start, he had seven blocks in only 28 minutes in a win at Charlotte last week.

"Having Olden gives us the luxury of Ostertag not starting," said Malone, obviously not too broken up that Ostertag is on the bench. "That's big for us. Our big guys are the key for how we're going to do. I think because of guys like Olden, we're better equipped for the playoffs (this year)."

Unless they are too old, too unathletic, and still a little on the small side.

Rim Shots II
Rick Pitino, with seven seasons to go on his $50-million contract, doesn't seem long for Boston. Going for a buyout on the remaining $29 mil and leaving at season's end isn't out of the question.

"I'm not going to run away from this challenge," he said last week. "I've got three options. I can stick this out and persevere, which is something I've learned from reading Joe Torre's book. He had to wait, what 12, 13 years before he went to the Yankees and experienced some success. But at the end of next season, I can say, I gave it my best shot and move on and get somebody else to coach this team. Or, I can decide to break this team up and rebuild, which I don't see myself doing."

Pitino admits the last option is unrealistic. So you have to wonder if he has the patience for the "Torre option." Anyone who knows how much he agonizes over every loss can see this being his final season, with a return to the college ranks.

"This is the first time that I've failed in my life as a coach, and I am failing," he said. "I think I can go one more year and be realistic and say, 'I'm not getting it done,' and go out and hire somebody else. At that point, I might have to, to be fair to the ownership and the town."

Rim Shots III

Sixers spies say assistant John Calipari will sign a deal this week to coach Memphis. But what happens if the Tigers suddenly go on a roll in the Conference USA tournament? That's what Philly coaches were laughing about the other night on a charter flight, when Calipari started talking about going back to the college ranks.

Just when you thought that Master P was safely out of the agent ranks, he hooks up with Auburn's Chris Porter. We hear there's another SEC star, with an even brighter future than Porter, that the rapper has his hooks into.

Why we think Vince Carter has a chance to be a great one: The night he hit his first-game winning shot as a pro -- a three-pointer to beat Boston at the buzzer -- he was still able to put his heroics in perspective. "This is a memorable game for me, but the thing I'm really happy about is that even though we struggled, we still found a way to win. That's a big step for this team. We haven't been able to do that in the past." As Carter already understands, winning is all that matters.

Marcus Camby, sidelined 29 days with a knee injury, still feels pain when he lands on the leg. Plus, he continues to have swelling. Although Knicks physician Norman Scott says Camby should be 100 percent for the playoffs, there's still no set timetable for his return. Make no mistake, Knicks need Camby to return soon, if only to start cutting back on Patrick Ewing's minutes.

Meanwhile, Charlie Ward, out the last nine games with a broken finger, has been missed as much as Camby, if not moreso. Without Ward, the Knicks can't run Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston off screens at the same time, which makes them very hard to defend. They're less difficult when one of their scorers is miscast in a playmaking role. Ward is expected to return to action tomorrow vs. the Grizzlies.

When Miami and Indiana get abused in road games at San Antonio (Heat), Phoenix (Pacers) and against the Lakers (both teams), is there any hope for the East this June?

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.


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