Phildelphia 76ers Won't Be Adding P.J. Carlesimo

The Philadelphia 76ers will have to look elsewhere to replace Mike D’Antoni, as P.J. Carlesimo will not be joining their staff this offseason.

The Philadelphia 76ers made a surprising addition to their coaching staff in the middle of the 2015-16 season when they brought Mike D’Antoni aboard as an associate head coach.

He was expected to add some offensive creativity to the 76ers schemes that they were already using under head coach Brett Brown and bring some experience to a staff and roster that was in need of it.

D’Antoni didn’t last too long with the 76ers though, about five months as a member of the coaching staff, as he has already moved onto a new coaching opportunity. D’Antoni agreeed to take over the Houston Rockets as head coach in late May.

D’Antoni will be replacing J.B. Bickerstaff, who was coaching the Rockets on an interim basis after Kevin McHale was fired only 11 games into the season.

With D’Antoni moving on, the 76ers are back on the search to fill the role that he is vacating. The 76ers wished to add a veteran to the staff in his place, and had their sights set on P.J. Carlesimo.

Carlesimo has filled plenty of roles as a coach in the NBA, most recently as interim head coach for the Brooklyn Nets, leading them to a 35-19 and a playoff berth during the 2013-14 season.

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Carlesimo has 16 years of coaching experience in the NBA, and would have been a solid addition to the 76ers’ staff.

He has stops with the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, so he is as well traveled as they come.

He has spent parts of nine seasons as a head coach, compiling a record of 239-315 in addition to the seven years of assistant coaching that he has done.

Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer believed Carlesimo would have been a good fit for the 76ers because of his relationship with Brown. The two are longtime friends from their time on the Spurs bench together, and he would have fit the bill for what the 76ers were looking for.

But, Carlesimo will no longer be taking a job on the bench with his friend. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Carlesimo will decline the job because of family reasons and stay with the worldwide leader for the foreseeable future.

But for family reasons, sources say, Carlesimo has decided he can't join the Sixers at this time and intends to stay in TV/radio with ESPN.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 30, 2016

The traveling for someone involved with an NBA team can be quite a burden, so it would make sense from that standpoint for Carlesimo to decline.

Working with ESPN, Carlesimo will have nowhere near the travel demands would he be on the 76ers bench and at this time believes it is best for him to stay on television and radio instead of joining the 76ers’ staff.

Next: Could Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel Be On The Move?

The 76ers will now have to go back to the coaching well if they want to add another associate head coach to the staff next to Brown, as his longtime friend Carlesimo will not be joining the staff.

Philadelphia 76ers Won’t Be Adding P.J. Carlesimo

By Kenneth Teape | Jun 2, 2016

The Philadelphia 76ers will have to look elsewhere to replace Mike D’Antoni, as P.J. Carlesimo will not be joining their staff this offseason.