Adrian Dantley was fired by George Karl and the Denver Nuggets as an assistant coach on Friday. That's tough to take. What makes it even tougher? According to him, he was fired because he didn't want to play musical chairs with the other assistant coaches.
"I got fired because I didn’t rotate on the bench...I wasn’t going to rotate. If they (other assistants) want the publicity to sit up front, I don’t need the publicity...I got no problem not being seen on TV and sitting at the back of the bench.’’
Dantley went 11-8 in games Karl missed late in the 2009-10 season due to cancer. He also led the team into the playoffs where they lost in the first round to the Utah Jazz. Though if there's anything to be learned here, it's that assistant coaches, even long-tenured and respected ones like Dantley, have no leverage.
Check out the rest of the story and reaction over at Nuggets blog Denver Stiffs.