Scalabrine looking to coach post playing career
Brian Scalabrine doesn't plan on retiring from playing in the NBA, at least not by his own will. But once he does stop lacing up to play he'd prefer a career in coaching over the broadcast booth.“I’ll play in the NBA as long as I can,” said Scalabrine, who’s working the Celts playoffs for CSN now that the Bulls have been eliminated. “I’ll get cut one day. That’s just the only way I can really go. To just retire would be like quitting to me. They’ll have to kick me out.”
“What I’ve realized as I’ve got older is that coaches have a lot of control over what goes on, but it’s hard,” he said. “In the NBA, sometimes you get dealt a bad hand or you’ve got a team that turns on you.
“That didn’t seem like a life that I wanted to live or a road that I wanted to go down. But with talking to our coaches (with the Bulls) and even with Doc (Rivers), it’s more about the relationships you build. Doc’s relationship with Kevin (Garnett) and (Rajon) Rondo and even me, who never really played much — those are bonds. I still have a bond with Doc. I think that’s the thing that’s kind of pulling me back toward (NBA coaching). It’s that camaraderie that you get with a team in basketball.”
If Scal can't get a coaching gig, he'd like to be a color commentator and personally the only two viable replacements in my opinion once Tommy steps down are Scal or Kevin McHale.
“Whatever happens, I don’t think I’ll leave basketball, even if I just do color commentary on games. I don’t really think I’d be a very good studio guy, but I think I could do a really good job with color commentary.”
Worth reading the whole Boston Herald piece. You can also get an idea why Scal left his Italian team where he was putting up solid numbers during the lockout. Besides his preference to be involved in the NBA, he has a young daughter, so he prefers to be stateside.
I can't see Scal not getting at least an assistant job in the NBA. Everyone raves about his knowledge of the game and everyone seems to like him. In fact I'm pretty sure Doc has already promised him one. I know that Chicago fans have sort of adopted the White Mamba, but it seems like he still has a closer relationship with his more biological family in Boston. Here's hoping his post playing career leads him back to Boston.
