http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/06/1180541/idaho-stampede-basketball-coach.html

Bummed, but not surprised by this.  Some pretty strong personalities out in the high desert...win and you can do what you want...finish out of the playoffs and there are a lot more constraints. 

Loved Coach Mac because he let his players play, he let them get their "stats" in the flow of the game, brought in some real talent, and always was a stand-up guy. 

On the other hand, not a lot of discipline or defense which makes life at crunch time oh-so-tough.  Seemed to have lost his passion with the first rough patch and he, nor the team never really recovered. 

In the end, it was probably too much of Coach MacKinnon living in the past with his memories of a close to perfect situation of the right players, right system, minimal injuries/call ups and a non-existent ownership group in Colorado and Stamps management living in the past with their memories of the business/sales/front office dynamo Bryan Gates and a floor general in Randy Livingston who made damn sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to do when the game was on the line.  Being wistful for the "good ol' days" is a recipe for divorce almost everytime.

Regardless, good luck Mac...

Now what do the Stampede do with coaching search redux?

In mini-hibernation,  Rumble

In my opinion, one of the more insightful blogs in the DLeague is "Snide Remarks" by Stampede announcer Mark Snider.  Unfortunately, he doesn't post near often enough...and unless he has recently blogged about something you have to have your own personal web crawler to find it on the Stampede site. Snider does not forget who his employer is - but he doesn't hesitate to put the needle to them either which as a fan I very much appreciate.

The address is here and it has commentary all the way back to 2007.  Rumble says "bookmark it!"

My reason for bringing this up is that below the jump is part of Mark's latest entry about the wacked out scheduling of the past year.  I think I probably knew all this (sometimes I wondered if the Defenders had moved to Boise) but to see it on paper certainly cemented it for me.  Just another thing the DLeague has to work on for 2010-2011.

See Mark's post below...

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(From the unofficial Idaho Stampede mascot here at Ridiculous Upside, Mr. Rumble)

...with the Idaho Stampede in the Beehive State for three (count them...Wed, Fri and Sat...yes that equals three) games this week.

We have Tulsa at 23-20, Utah at 23-21, Idaho at 22-22 and Reno at 22-22.  I would submit that none of these teams is playing particularly well and the two that don't make it will have a long summer of "couldas, wouldas and shouldas."  The qualifiers?  They become the first two picks for Iowa and RGV.

The Stamps played well last weekend - as well as a team that has basically abandoned defense can play anyway.  The man of the weekend will be Lance Allred as he flat killed Tulsa last weekend with constant and clutch 18-foot set shots.  If Lance (who for all the mid season soap opera "What is Life?" routine) really does come to play when the season is on the line - this is the third D-League season his game and leadership has significantly elevated all for Stampede benefit) can keep it going, he could be the trump card for the Stamps. Of course, this all assumes that the three headed monster out front (Barrett, Taylor and Karl) keeps bringing it and Joe Dabbert keeps mucking it up inside.

So if Idaho can put together at least one defensive stop per game, get some decent bench production (a.p.b. for Roberto Bergersen - Memo to Coach Mac:  NOW is when Bergie needs to play) and a dose of "Lance magic" I can see a 2-1 long weekend series victory over the equally confounding Utah Flash.

Brandtly, while this is not last years championship series - perfect time to man up and apologize to Coach Mac for last years outburst.  Who knows, if your teams don't get it together you both might be in the same foursome come early April.

Rumble glued to AOL FanHouse dot com..

After observing the Stamps vs. Iowa and LA over the weekend - and shuttling them off to the airport for their six game road trip, I thought I would pen a quick "state of the state"  as they buckle down for the final playoff drive.

Based upon what I saw, they need a lot of things to turn around and stay turned around to make a run.  This team laid a complete egg against Iowa, although that happens more often than not this season against the Energy (who remind me of previous year versions of the Stamps).  The LA game was must win - and they got it done although it was brutal to watch.  The Stamps are going to need to take all those types of games if they are to get a decent seed or even make the playoffs at all.

Check list:

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No one has been tougher on the antics of Flash owner Brandt Andersen over the years.  However, what he is doing personally right now in Haiti deserves commendation.  Yeah, he might be doing for the publicity, he could have made a bigger impact by giving the cash and letting pros handle things, he could have enlisted Michael Jordan...but the bottom line is the guy is making a difference in a place that needs it badly.

Follow him at his blog at www.dleagueutah.blogspot.com.

God speed Brandt.

Rumble

Rumble says "Vroom!"

http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/story/1024131.html

Former St. Mary's star Patrick Mills assigned to Idaho Stampede;Tolliver returns to team


The Portland Trail Blazers have assigned guard Patrick Mills, who was a standout with St. Mary's, to the Idaho Stampede. Mills is the 10th NBA player assigned to the NBA Development League this season.

Portland selected Mills with the 55th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Mills has not played an NBA game this season, after injuring his right foot in the summer league. Mills also played for Australia in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, leading the team with 14.2 points per game.

The Blazers also waived former Stampede forward Anthony Tolliver, who will rejoin Idaho.

"We are very excited to welcome Anthony back as well as have a player of Patty Mills’ character join our team," said Idaho Stampede coach Bob MacKinnon. "It is an honor for our organization that the Trail Blazers will send us one of their team members. I think our fans in the Treasure Valley will really enjoy watching as these added players really put a little more fuel in our tank."

Dear Brandt:

You seem to be a likable enough guy.  OK, that is probably overstating things a bit.  Bottom line is that we the DLeague fans need stable franchises and stable ownership.  Not every franchise can be run like the Stampede, Wizards and Skyforce and not every franchise can be owned by an NBA team that doesn't get a rats fanny about the petty cash it costs them to run their DLeague franchise.  So like it or not, we have to collectively roll up our sleeves and help those franchises and owners that need it.  And after reading your so-called apology on your blog and your recent interview with AOL Fanhouse in regard to the Michael Jordan/Flash home opener FIASCO and your track record it is clear that the time for an intervention has come.

Yes, we are all very busy; me cheering on the 2009-2010 probable DLeague champs; you and your ace marketing staff coming up with new ideas; Dan Reed trying to erase any evidence that he was even on the scene Monday; kids in the Utah Valley looking for MJ like they look for Santa Claus and everyone else, rubbernecking the whole thing like a car wreck on I-15.  However when faced with something so hideous and foul as we were exposed to Monday night, it is our duty to quickly re-prioritize our busy schedules and assist you getting to the bottom of this and getting it fixed once and for all.

I will be brief - so please listen up and pay attention (this goes for all your "yes" men as well - maybe they will win the lottery too someday and own a DLeague team and we don't want to have to repeat ourselves).

Brandt, your playbook is after the jump...

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Jon L. mentioned feel free to "fan post" - the only thing I know about "fan posts" involves me lifting my hind leg.  But since we are about ready to get started on another season, I thought I would give it a try and see if I could actually put together something worth reading as practice for regular season posting.  In search of a topic, I decided I would look backward and see how some of the ex-Stamps from last season are doing overseas and across state lines.  Without further ado (and thanks to Eurobasket and Google translator) here we go:

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