Category: Golden State Warriors Blog

The Golden State Warriors have hired Jerry Sichting and Robert Werdann as assistant coaches, hired Mark Price as a shooting coach, and moved Special Assistant Calbert Cheaney into the role of assistant coach, the team announced today.   They will join returning assistant coach Stephen Silas on the staff of new Head Coach Keith Smart.

Sichting, who enjoyed a 10-year NBA playing career, has served as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves organization for 13 of the past 14 seasons, including 11 of those years as an assistant coach.  Most recently, in 2009-10, he served as the Timberwovles Director of Pro Player Personnel, during which time he was responsible for scouting and evaluating current NBA players.  His lone season away from the T-Wolves in the last 14 years came in 2006-07 when he served as an assistant coach at Marquette University.

Cheaney, a 13-year NBA veteran, moves to the bench to serve as an assistant coach for the first time after working in the team’s front office last season as a special assistant. He rejoined the Warriors prior to last season after playing the final three years of his NBA career with the team (2003-04, 2004-05 & 2005-06).  During his playing days with the Warriors, Cheaney teamed with current Warriors Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins.

Werdann has spent the last six seasons with the New Orleans Hornets, where he served as an assistant coach in 2009-10.  For the five years prior, he served as an advance scout for the Hornets, and was the team’s Summer League coach at the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. As a player, Werdann was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 46th overall selection in the 1992 NBA Draft out of St. John’s and appeared in 47 NBA games over three seasons with the Nuggets and the New Jersey Nets.

Price, the NBA’s all-time leader in free throw percentage in the regular season (.904) and in the postseason (.944), has served as a shooting consultant for the Atlanta Hawks in each of the last two seasons after spending the 2007-08 campaign with the Memphis Grizzlies in a similar position.  During his 12-year NBA playing career, Price was named All-NBA First Team in 1992-93 and earned All-NBA Third Team honors three times.

The Golden State Warriors announced today that Don Nelson has relinquished his head coaching duties and that Assistant Coach Keith Smart has been named his successor.  Smart, 46, will become the 23rd head coach in franchise history and the 18th since the team moved to the West Coast prior to the 1962-63 season.

“We feel that Keith Smart is ready for this challenge as we embark on a new season,” said General Manager Larry Riley.  “He has a wealth of experience as a player and coach in this game and has been fortunate to be around some of the best minds in the business, including Don Nelson at the NBA level and Bobby Knight in college. He’s an outstanding communicator, has a vast knowledge of the game and I’m confident that he is the right person for the job. Additionally, he has previous head coaching experience in the NBA, including several games during Nellie’s absence last season, and in the CBA.   In regard to Nellie, we simply felt it was the right time to make a change.  He’s been a terrific coach for over three decades and has left a lasting legacy in this league as the winningest coach in the history of the NBA.”

Smart, who joined the Warriors prior to the 2003-04 season, has spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant coach with the club.  Overall, the Baton Rouge, LA, native has served a total of 11 seasons as an NBA assistant coach and has amassed 21 years of experience in professional basketball as either a player or coach.  Prior to joining the Warriors, Smart spent three seasons in Cleveland, where he concluded his stint with the Cavaliers as the club’s interim head coach over the final 40 games of the 2002-03 campaign.

In addition to his vast NBA coaching experience, Smart has served as a head coach for various teams at different levels, including the Ft. Wayne Fury of the CBA.  He helped guide the Fury to its first back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history in 1997-98 and 1998-99 during a three-year tenure with the club.  During his initial campaign with the team (1997-98), he guided the Fury to a franchise record 31-win season and a trip to the playoffs.  The following season, the Fury qualified for post-season play again, despite having a single-season franchise record nine (9) players signed to NBA contracts during the course of the year.  Smart was named the CBA’s Coach of the Month five times during his stint in Ft. Wayne and had a CBA-high 21 players signed to NBA contracts.

During his professional basketball playing career, Smart spent six seasons in the CBA, two seasons in France and one in Venezuela.  He also played briefly in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs during the 1988-89 season.  Smart was originally drafted by the Warriors in the second round (41st overall) of the 1998 NBA Draft.

As a collegian, Smart spent two season at Indiana University, where he played for Bobby Knight and helped lead the Hoosiers to the 1987 NCAA Championship.  He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1987 Final Four and is widely recognized for his game-winning shot against Syracuse in the 1987 title game in New Orleans.

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Sources said Thursday that Warriors coach Don Nelson will be out by the opening of training camp Tuesday and will give way to assistant coach Keith Smart, who will be tasked with leading the transition to a new era under yet-to-be-approved owners Peter Guber and Joe Lacob.

Nelson, 70, who last season became the league’s all-time winningest coach, said just weeks before the Warriors’ summer-league games in July that he was reinvigorated and would coach the team in Las Vegas. But when the summer league opened, Nelson had already opted not to coach and didn’t even show up for practices.

His voice-mail greeting Thursday said it all: “Hi, this is Nellie. I’m busy, very busy, probably swimming with the dolphins.”

Nelson might be allowed to call the decision a resignation, but sources said he was interested in remaining with the team in some non-coaching capacity but instead was asked to leave altogether. ESPN reported that Nelson will receive the entire $6 million he is owed for the 2010-11 season. General manager Larry Riley did not return a message left on his cell phone.

The AP reports:

WNBA commissioner Donna Orender said the league remains interested in putting a franchise in the San Francisco area, but will not rush the process.

Speaking to reporters prior to Sunday’s first game of the WNBA finals between the Seattle Storm and the Atlanta Dream, Orender said the league will be taking a closer look at that region during the upcoming offseason.

“There’s lots of discussion _ I would call it quiet discussion _ in the Bay Area,” Orender said. “There are several interested ownership groups. I think we’ve made the decision to take it slow and let them find their way and put together their funding and put together how they want to do business on their own time frame at this point.”

The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent guard/forward Rodney Carney to a contract, the team announced today.  Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Carney, 26, appeared in 68 games for the Philadelphia 76ers last season, averaging 4.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per contest, while shooting 40.1% (113-282 FG) from the field, 30.4% (41-135 3FG) from three-point range and 82.5% (52-63 FT) from the free throw line.  He tallied a season-high 16 points in 20 minutes at Golden State on February 23.

Originally selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft (#16 overall) out of the University of Memphis, Carney was traded to Philadelphia in a draft night deal and has spent three of his four NBA campaigns with the 76ers.  Overall, he owns career averages of 6.1 points and 2.0 rebounds in 272 regular-season games with Philadelphia and Minnesota.

Carney will wear uniform #25.