THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
MINNEAPOLIS--Kevin Ollie, after 11 seasons in the NBA, was at home in Connecticut with his wife, Stephanie, and their two children. He was thinking about retiring as a player, and his family was all for it.
"They were getting used to having me at home,'' said Ollie, who completed his third stint with the 76ers last season, leaving as an unrestricted free agent. ''They kind of liked it.''
But the more Ollie thought about it, the more he realized one more contract would probably be his last one. The Minnesota Timberwolves had been calling, but didn't have any guaranteed money to offer. The more the Wolves called, the more Ollie was interested.
Finally, he said yes, signing a non-guaranteed contract, arriving the second day of training camp. It didn't take long to beat out NBA Developmental League guard Blake Ahearn for a roster spot. In a way, this is ''Sixers West,'' because his teammates include Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth, who were traded here when Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski needed a little more salary cap space to sign Elton Brand.
"It took him about 10 minutes to figure out what we were trying to do,'' Wolves assistant coach Ed Pinckney said. ''In fact, if he were just a little younger, he might be our starter at the point.''
At the same time, Ollie has also already had an impact on the locker-room. That was one of his major roles with the 76ers last season. Now, he's looking at another young group and enjoying the experience.
''I was leaning toward retiring,'' he said. ''Then I thought this might be my last call, so why not?''
Phil Jasner joined the staff of the Daily News in 1972. He has covered the 76ers and the NBA on a full-time basis since 1981. He won the 2004 Curt Gowdy Media Award, presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to the sport during his career; he was a finalist for the award in 2001, when he also received a lifetime achievement award from the Professional Basketball Writers Association during the NBA Finals. He is a past president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the Philadelphia College Basketball Writers Association. Along the way, he has covered high school sports, the Big 5, the Eagles and the NFL, the World Football League, the North American Soccer League and what was then the Major Indoor Soccer League. He is a proud graduate of Temple University, and spent his early professional days at the Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury, Montgomery Newspapers (Fort Washington, Pa.), the Norristown (Pa.) Times-Herald and the Trentonian.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for almost 20 years, working in the sports department the past 12 years. This is his first season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he has been the La Salle beat writer for the past six seasons.
