What’s the result of the playoffs continuing – more coaches on the hot seat and players looking forward to the offseason! This edition of News and Rumors has both!

Playoff Loser Coaching News

Mike Woodson – The Hawks coach is no longer going to be the Hawks’ coach as we expected. After the team was swept by the Magic, the speculation began that Woodson would not return due to not reaching their expectations. Well, just four days later, the organization announced he would not return as coach next season due to his contract being up. Woodson was huge for the team though, as he exponentially grew Atlanta’s wins from 13 to 53. That’s impressive. I do think he’ll coach again, but it may be a couple years. As for his replacement, I honestly can’t think of who would be there next year due to the large amount of teams looking for a coach and the large amount of free agents.

Mike Brown – A couple days after their disappointing loss to the Celtics, the Cavs have yet to come up with a plan on what to do with Mike Brown. There were reports that Brown had been fired, but Cavs owner Dan Gilbert disputed those. He says they’re not true and he is under an evaluation process. What that means is that he’ll likely be fired and the team just isn’t ready to do it yet. Brown is a HRBL coach, so I’m basically waiting for this to happen.

Politicians Paging LeBron

President Barack Obama – All Bulls fans would like to see LeBron James in Chicago next season, including the President of the USA. No quotes came directly from Obama, but his senior advisor, David Axelrod (a former Bulls season-ticket holder), filled us in:

“He doesn’t want to tamper. But as a Chicago fan, the president thinks LeBron would look great in a Bulls uniform.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg – Not so fast Mr. President! The mayor of New York City wants to see LeBron in his parts too! Here’s what the mayor said in terms of swaying LBJ:

“If asked, if he calls me and says ‘What’s it like to live in New York?’ I’ll give him a big sales pitch for New York.”

Tidbits:

• Shaq is a free agent and he says he is not done yet. Could he be headed to New Jersey to play in the city he was born in – Newark, NJ?
• University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari has been rumored to go to Chicago if LeBron goes there. But Calipari says “I will be coaching at Kentucky next year.” I would never, ever trust this guy – so ignore everything he says.
• Stan Van Gundy may be trying to avoid stirring the waters, but he says the Celtics’ win over the Cavs was no upset. Man, after his Del Negro quotes from last week and this, I think he’s had too much time off since his sweep of Atlanta. But I do like this quote from him:

“I think it’s because of the whole LeBron James thing that there’s a lot of people in the media that can’t fathom him getting beaten. I mean that. I just think there’s a lot of people that [think], ‘Oh, if you’ve got LeBron James you’re going to win every night,’ and no matter who else is on the other team it’s a major upset.”

            Does this mean LeBron is overrated? Haha.. I won’t say that.

-Shooter