NBA Futures: Bettors See Brown’s Bags Packed

READ MORE: Coaching, Futures, Larry Brown, NBA

If the books at Pinnacle Sports are correct, former Detroit Pistons’coach and Samsonite pitchman Larry Brown will be coaching the New York Knicks next season. The latest lines have shifted Brown from 9/4 to 1/2 favorite. The odds are 8/5 that he won’t coach in the NBA at all or 17/1 that he will coach another NBA team. Brown, a master at turning piles of hen shit into gleaming piles of diamonds, will most likely have the toughest job in his coach career as he tries to guide Isiah Thomas’ patchwork of overpaid, overrated players into something resembling a winning team.

Bettors Back Larry Brown as Next Knicks Coach [PR Newswire]

NBA Betting: Slicked Back Hair Much Cooler Than a Mustache

READ MORE: Coaching, Futures, Stan Van Gundy

Apparently two consecutive successful seasons are grounds for firing in Miami’s basketball organization, as Miami Heat coach/pornstar mustache enthusiast Stan Van Gundy is on the firing block. Van Gundy’s current GM and former coach Pat Riley has been beating the drum for, er, himself to replace Stan on the bench next season. Even though Van Gundy took that Miami Heat to the conference finals last year and went deep into the playoffs the year before, Riley is not-so-subtly hinting toward a return to the bench. And what’s more fun than betting on people’s eventual demise? The feisty sportsbooks at WagerWeb set their handicap dogs loose and set the line on Van Gundy’s fate:

WILL STAN VAN GUNDY BE FIRED OR RESIGN BY OPENING DAY 2005?

YES 1:6 -$600 **Risk $600 to win $100
NO 9:2 +$450 **Risk $100 to win $450

Even though the sportsbook has Van Gundy’s firing as the heavy favorite, a recent summit between the two coaches supposedly squashed the rumor an Riley assured Van Gundy a job next season coaching the Miami Heat. Yeah— ASSISTANT coaching.

Will Stan Van Gundy Be Fired? [WagerWeb]