NBA Roundup: Sloan waiting word from Bobcats
The Charlotte Bobcats reportedly interviewed Jerry Sloan for their vacant coaching job Friday.
Sloan, the former Utah Jazz coach, met with Bobcats owner Michael Jordan and other team executives, according to the Deseret News of Salt Lake City.
"They might come back, they might not," Sloan told the newspaper. "I can't judge that. We'll just have to wait and see where it goes from there. ... They want to make a decision when they can, and do all their homework."
Sloan, 70, coached the Jazz for 23 seasons prior to stepping down in February 2011.
Mike Dunlap, Patrick Ewing, Dave Joerger, Nate McMillan, Mike Malone, Stephen Silas and Nate Tibbetts have also reportedly interviewed for the job. The team plans to meet with Indiana Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw as well.
The Bobcats were perhaps the worst team in the league history this season at 7-59.
--Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was fined $25,000 by the NBA for publicly commenting on officiating before Thursday night's Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers.
The fine was doled out on Friday, ESPN.com reported.
Before the game, which the Heat won to close out the series and advance to the Eastern Conference finals, Spoelstra said officials had been ignoring several hits to the head against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the series.
Spoelstra read from a statement after the league suspended Heat forward Udonis Haslem for Thursday's game after a flagrant foul in Game 5. Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough was not suspended for a flagrant foul on Wade.
What Spoelstra read in the statement was what got him in trouble.
"The league does not have a problem with hard fouls on our two main guys," Spoelstra said. "In nine games now, there's been over a dozen hard fouls to the face, some of the tomahawk variety, some have drawn blood. They don't have a problem with it so we don't have a problem with it. We'll focus on what we can control."
The Heat will host Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against either the Philadelphia 76ers or Boston Celtics on Monday.
--The Golden State Warriors are attempting to make a trade with the Utah Jazz before Wednesday's draft lottery to make sure they will be able to keep their pick, ESPN.com reported.
If the Warriors end up having a pick that falls to No. 8 or lower, it belongs to the Utah Jazz because of a previous deal with the New Jersey Nets in which the Warriors dealt a pick that the Nets later sent to the Jazz as part of the Deron Williams trade in February 2011.
The Warriors have a 72 percent chance of getting the No. 7 pick, but the Warriors reportedly do not want to chance it.
Because the Warriors' and Jazz's seasons are over, they are allowed to make trades, though May deals are rare.
