It’s unclear who else New York will …

It’s unclear who else New York will interview. Jason Kidd and Mark Jackson both have fans in the organization. There is some support in the organization for Kidd to be among those who get an interview for the opening, per sources. Spurs assistant Becky Hammon was described by a source as a name to keep an eye on, as Newsday first reported. There is also some interest in bringing in former Cavs head coach Mike Brown in for an interview, per sources.

Malcolm Brogdon: A restless energy has …

Malcolm Brogdon: A restless energy has consumed me for the past week, and initially I couldn’t figure out how to relieve it. I’ve witnessed protests over the past decade for Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown and all the other people suffering from excessive violence, but this one felt different. When I joined Jaylen Brown, a member of the Boston Celtics, last weekend to march with peaceful protesters in Atlanta, I gained a greater respect for the bravery and courage it has required for generations of leaders before us to stand up to their oppressors. With police flanked on either side of our crowd, the Georgia heat beamed and the fear was visceral.

Jackson said he has heard from NBA …

Jackson said he has heard from NBA figures from Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, to commissioner Adam Silver, to Golden State Warriors coaches Steve Kerr and Mike Brown supporting his efforts. He is urging his followers to reach out to those they know who are being marginalized with similar support. “I’ve been holding other races accountable,” he said. “Like, you can’t say you love me and not be standing here on the side of me. Them days is over with. You can’t say you love the way I play basketball and make jump shots and win championships, and not stand on the side of me and support me when I need you the most.”

Notre Dame: Niele Ivey Shares Powerful Thoughts on George Floyd

New women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey issued a strong statement on George Floyd and police brutality in the United States. Worth reading.

Since George Floyd’s tragic passing early last week we’ve seen the nation do things my generation (34 years old) has never seen before, at least not in this amount or for this amount of time.

Coaches have come out and said they want to have communications with their players and students.  As nice as that is there is plenty more to do and many more ways to help start these needed conversations on a grander scale.

That’s where new Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey comes in.  Although only being on the job for a short time, Ivey offered very strong thoughts on the situation and where we stand as a nation in a Twitter post Sunday morning:

“As I stepped into this role as head coach of Notre Dame, I would’ve never imagined it being in the middle of a pandemic and now in the midst of complete civil unrest. There is no playbook for me in these times. There aren’t enough words to fully express how I feel or words to heal the pain of a nation that is emotionally and physically on fire. The events of last week and the murder of George Floyd has been infuriating, painful, and senseless. Another target, another hashtag, and a continued system of oppression that has plagued our country for hundreds of years. Blatant racism, police brutality and murder targeting black and brown people. I am not ok. My heart is heavy. I am not only a coach and a leader but I am a mother. A mother of a young black man. It is a constant fear of mine to have a son that the world views as a threat. I wake up asking God to protect him. When he leaves the house, I am not fully at peace until he is back safe at home. This is no way to live, but this is our reality. I grieve for the mothers and families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland and the list goes on and on. I weep thinking about how their children’s lives were taken away. We shouldn’t have to live in fear! Their lives mattered and I am tired. Tired of seeing so much injustice and tired of the same things happening over and over again. I pray that I can use my platform to evoke change. Stop killing innocent, unarmed black people. Stop judging people based on the color of their skin and treating them less than human. We need change and change can only happen if we continue to voice these atrocities, demand justice, call in, petition, and use our power to vote. We need to change the laws and unite together to stand up for what’s right. I am not okay and you shouldn’t be either.” – Niele Ivey

By now we’ve all the seen the video and if you’re at all like myself, each time you see even a still image from that moment you become a bit uneasy.  I appreciate that compared to so many other coaches and businesses statements that have been made, this one came packing a lot more of a punch.

What are the reasons for the protests?

So many of these coaches and business that have issued statements that don’t acknowledge the issue at hand that led to such protests.  Ivey attacks that straight on and doesn’t mince words.

It’s a scary time, a strange time but also a time that hopefully ends with a positive result.  The life of George Floyd unfortunately won’t come back, nor will far too many before him.

Hopefully though we use this opportunity as a nation to listen to our brothers and sisters that might not have grown up around us, don’t look like us or don’t share many of the same beliefs of us.  I hope we can ultimately come out of this awful time better as a nation.

With people like Niele Ivey setting an example like she chose to do Sunday morning, my hope for that only grows, but now it’s our duty to listen to what she and countless others have to say so we don’t find ourselves here again in short order.

You can follow Niele Ivey on Twitter @IrishCoachIvey.

Coach Mike Brown details experience cornering fighters under UFC’s COVID-19 safety protocols

American Top Team coach Mike Brown details experience cornering fighters under COVID-19 safety protocols as UFC resumed operations.

[autotag]Mike Brown[/autotag] was there for it all.

The American Top Team coach cornered fighters in each the three cards that marked the UFC’s return after postponing events for almost 2 months in consequence of travel bans and restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Brown worked with Bryce Mitchell at UFC 249 on May 9, Andrei Arlovski at UFC Jacksonville on May 13, and Krzysztof Jotko at UFC on ESPN 8 on May 16. The trio of events went down in Jacksonville, Fla., where the UFC was deemed an essential business during lockdown and was overseen by the Florida State Boxing Commission, which regulated the UFC’s COVID-19 safety protocols.

These measures included many changes to the whole experience surrounding UFC fight week, including no open workouts or ceremonial weigh-ins, a virtual media day, social distancing measures, COVID-19 testing, limited cornermen and staff, and much more.

“The fighters loved it, and to be honest, it’s a lot less work, less stress,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “(It’s) less work, but on the other hand, it’s not good for the fans. The fans are missing out, and that’s a big part of it. It’s not as good for the business. But who wouldn’t like less work, less interviews, less this, less that, less running, a lot less appearances? So that’s great. But at the end of the day, that’s probably not the best thing for business.

“It’s good to have interaction with fans, good to have people in the crowd, gate sales, yada yada yada, and all kinds of revenues being generated. As far as stress and things you have to do, we’re in a day later, we have a lot less obligations, no fans around – which I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’s just a lot more quiet. It’s easy going and you’re in and out of things a lot quicker.

“Some people really love that, being surrounded by fans, and that’s a big part of it and it gives energy to a lot of people. So it’s good and bad for different people for different reasons.”

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Fight week wasn’t the only thing different for events being held during a global pandemic. The actual lead-up the day of the fight had major differences, as social distancing disrupted the normal flow of the locker room where fighters await for their times to make the walk to the cage.

“In this situation, when you arrive at the venue, there’s one other guy in the locker room and they’re trying to get him out of there as quickly as possible,” Brown said. “So right when you get there, they’re gone. So it’s not like a crowded locker room where you see people going in and out, and you know, people coming in crying, people screaming, psyching themselves up, people coming in bloodied, battered, and crying or cheering. There’s tons of emotion in the locker room, which you don’t have in this situation because they’re not allowing locker rooms to be full.

“Normally, especially if you’re not a main event, you could have everybody, you can have the entire red corner in your locker room on a given night, so that was not the case in this situation. A lot less people around, the locker rooms are empty, so a different experience, but fun.”

When it came down to stepping out to the arena, which was empty due to bans of large gatherings, the feeling behind the significance of the moment was different. The lack of thousands of fans cheering and screaming as the fighters walk out and get a final look at each other inside the octagon before fists start flying took a toll on the experience.

“It feels like a step above practice,” Brown said. “Obviously the stakes are higher, but it’s definitely less stressful because you’re not feeling the weight of the outcome as much. There’s a giant weight of the outcome when you’re competing and I think the crowd exemplifies it. You have all these people screaming and you realize the magnitude of what’s going on and winning and losing means so much.

“It means the amount of money you’re going to make, it’s about what your future money will bring in, it’s about your ego, it’s about your health. I mean a lot is on the line every time you step out there and with the big crowd and the locker room full, you really get a sense of that.”

When it came down to the fighting, several things immediately became clear for fans watching at home. The strikes landed by the fighters were much louder without an audience and the advice of the corners and analysis of the commentators was clear to everyone in the arena and watching at home.

“You have to be a little more strategic because you know everyone is hearing things so clearly,” Brown said. “They don’t have to weave through voices, kind of everyone hears what’s going on on both sides.

“The weirdest part is that you could hear the commentating very clear. Specifically with the Rosa fight, things weren’t going our way and so of course they were being critical in a way – and maybe rightfully so. But in a way, you’re like, ‘Damn.’ You hear them talking about the fight, so that was little strange.

“And even at one point, I remember hearing, I don’t remember who it was – maybe Jon Anik – when he came back I heard him talking to them, ‘Hey, I can hear everything you guys are saying.’ They didn’t even realize how we could hear and somebody went to get a drink or go to the bathroom or something and they took their headphones off so they didn’t realize how loud they were talking because they had headphones on.

“The corner could hear everything the commentary was saying crystal clear. I don’t know about the fighters because it’s a little chaotic, but the corners definitely could – and obviously Greg (Hardy) did. Greg was also hearing what the corners were saying and that was probably the strangest part about the whole thing. It could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how critical they were.”

Brown noted some fighters enjoyed the serenity more than others.

Veteran and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, who defeated Philipe Lins, said he enjoyed the lack of noise. While for Rosa, who lost in a dominant decision to Bryce Mitchell, Brown believes the lack of crowd might’ve not done his fighter any favors as he tends to build off the audience. Either way, Brown believes it was a small factor and didn’t determine the outcome of the fight.

Despite all the changes the pandemic has brought on professional fighting (and the swab test, which Brown didn’t enjoy), Brown is happy to be back in business.

“It’s good to have the entertainment back on,” Brown said. “Three fights in one week was nice – good to see everyone back to work.”

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“I’ve reached out, I’ve talked to all …

“I’ve reached out, I’ve talked to all of our players but Klay Thompson. I reached out to Klay, but Klay you haven’t called me back,” Brown told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke and Logan Murdock. Brown checked in on all of his players amid the coronavirus pandemic to make sure they’re doing OK as the world goes into quarantine. Despite the small ghosting scenario, Brown knows that doesn’t overshadow how important Klay is to the team. “Klay, he’s just a special human being — he’s about as fun and easy of a guy to coach,” Brown added.

Mike Brown sees Yoel Romero returning to title contention: ‘He’s the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen’

Coach Mike Brown can ‘definitely’ see Yoel Romero fighting for the middleweight belt again.

Counting [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] out of getting another crack at the UFC middleweight championship might be a silly idea, at least according to [autotag]Mike Brown[/autotag].

The former WEC featherweight champion and current coach at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla. envisions Romero (13-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) challenging for the title once again.

Romero recently lost a close decision to champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 248. It was an uneventful contest where both fighters took heat from fans due to the bout’s anti-climactic nature, which promised to be an entertaining affair in the lead-up to the event.

Much of the narrative and talk leaving UFC 248 in March was how that was likely the last time Romero fought for gold. The decorated wrestler turned 43 this year, he’s failed to win title (both interim and regular versions) on multiple occasions, and he’s now 1-4 in his past five UFC outings.

Yet Brown, who worked with Romero for the first time in preparation for the Adesanya fight, will not discard the idea of another title shot for “The Soldier of God.”

“He’s the greatest athlete Ive ever seen, (even) at this age,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “What he can do with his body is incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it: speed, reaction time, agility. I mean, he’s in his 40s and his reaction time is incredible, the speed is incredible, his coordination is incredible.

“The more I see guys like him, the more I realize what a terrible athlete I am. I can’t imagine what he was like when he was 30 or 25. It must have been unbelievable. I know he’s a world champion in wrestling and this is so difficult, wrestling is so deep and so many people are competing for the same title, it’s very competitive. He got a very late start in MMA and he’s done some amazing things.

“You have to worry about time catches up to everybody, but right now – how he looks in the gym and what he can do – I mean, I definitely see him getting back to the title.”

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Romero said before his title fight with Adesanya that he plans to fight for another decade. Brown doesn’t know if that’s possible, but he also didn’t imagine a fighter performing the way Romero does in the gym at 43.

“I don’t know about that, but I mean I can’t believe he looks like de does right now,” Brown said. “You don’t know when things are going to change, but right now, he can beat anybody in the world. On any night he’s as good as anybody. He was right there that night. That night, when it came down to the scorecards – even though it was a boring fight, people didn’t like it – but in my head I thought he had done enough in those rounds to win.

“Watching it live, the leg kicks didn’t feel like enough. To me, it felt like Adesanya was on the run more or maybe in danger of getting finished more. I mean you can’t always see the angles if the punches are landing or not, but Yoel would attack and Adesanya was stumbling around, maybe the punches were missing, but its hard to tell sometimes. But from the outside I thought he had won. But again I knew they were close again, so I didn’t know how the judges had scored it, but if I were scoring it I’d say he had won three of those rounds, but again, I knew they were close enough to argue either way.”

Brown believes Romero did enough to win the belt that March night in Las Vegas. Some of the criticism on Romero’s performance was that he needed to do more than Adesanya since he was the challenger and not the champ.

Brown couldn’t disagree more with that type of thinking.

“I feel like people think that when you’re the challenger you have to do this, you have to do that, but you’re just in a fight,” Brown explained. “You’re reacting to moment-to-moment action as it comes to you.

“You’re not thinking, ‘I’m the challenger, I need to get him,’ you’re just solving the puzzle that’s in front of you, I’ve never liked that mentality. You have to score the round. You can’t say, ‘You have to beat the champion convincingly,’ no, you have to beat him, thats it – especially these world-class athletes. It’s not easy to finish these guys, to hurt these guys.”

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