THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
Eddie Jordan, the former coach of the Sacramento Kings and the Washington Wizards, interviewed for the Kings job Tuesday in Las Vegas and said Philadelphia could be his next stop.
In an interview that was broadcast by Comcast SportsNet, Jordan said he he has had ''minimal contact'' with the Sixers and "I'm expecting to go back tomorrow and maybe have some conversation with them before the end of the week.''
Jordan, a former Rutgers star who won a championship as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers, has a history with Ed Stefanski, the Sixers' president/general manager. Jordan was an assistant coach and Stefanski was an executive with New Jersey as the Nets made two trips to the NBA Finals.
Stefanski began his coaching search Monday after Tony DiLeo--the in-season replacement for the fired Maurice Cheeks--withdrew his name from consideration for the permanent job, resuming his duties as senior vice-president/assistant general manager.
After meeting with the Kings, Jordan said "People have to feel good about you, so I'm hoping that Joe and Gavin (owners Joe and Gavin Maloof) felt good about our conversation and my personality and my leadership qualities and the fact that I'll be going back and most likely speaking with Philadelphia unless the Kings just won't let me leave, they make me an offer I can't refuse and I would love to come back.''
The Kings were scheduled to interview former NBA coach Paul Westphal Wednesday in Las Vegas.
At the same time, TNT analyst Doug Collins, who has expressed interest in the Sixers' job through agent John Langel, denied a published report that he had spoken to the Sixers.
"I have not spoken to the Sixers, and they have not called me,'' Collins said. "It's good that we can get that clarified. If there was a little misinformation in the way it was reported or the way I said it to make it look like I had spoken to them--I have not spoken to them.''
He also said "I apologize to Ed Stefanski if they felt like I was putting something out there that was not true.''
Stefanski, in an email response to the Daily News, said he had not spoken to Collins.
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.
