P.J. Carlesimo – “I’m looking at broadcasting as what I’m going to do moving forward.”

The Brooklyn Nets ex-interim coach P.J. Carlesimo will now take his talents to Bristol to be part of the NBA team at ESPN for the remainder of playoffs and maybe further.

The season did not end the way Carlesimo had hoped with a Game 7 loss at home in Brooklyn to the Chicago Bulls but he does have options and he is taking advantage of one right now.  He took over a a fractured team a month into the season and finished 35-19 to lead the Nets to the fourth seed in the playoffs with home court advantage.

Carlesimo has been a broadcaster before, in between coaching stints in the NBA, so he will fit right in with the many knowledgeable analysts at the ESPN campus and do a great job.  He has worked with NBC and Fox Sports prior so this isn’t a totally new gig for the coaching lifer.

The ex-Nets coach was a regular weekly guest on ESPN Radio this past season with Michael Kay and has done numerous spots since his release from Brooklyn on May 5th and given great, honest insight on the team and the playoffs in general.  He has been through the wars in the NBA Playoffs with the San Antonio Spurs so he knows what it takes to win and multiple championships to show for it.

I have to say a couple of things about Carlesimo and his persona as I had the opportunity to listen to him first hand in pre-game and post-game press conferences at the Barclays Center this year.  In my time listening to him banter with the Nets beat writers one thing always rang true right away –

P.J. is a CLASS ACT.

Carlesimo is one of the most personable coaches I have ever listened to up close and he has a way of dealing with the mundane questions that get asked daily by the many media hordes in New York City.  He has a way of making light of things when the obvious answer would be  a snide remark by many other coaches.  He also makes sure that he has personal relationships with the beat writers as he knows the riggers of their jobs and almost always jokes with them daily.

P.J. will be a great addition to the ESPN team and I wish him nothing but the best because he deserves nothing less for being an all around great guy.

[quote_simple]NY Daily News
Next season ain’t going away for the Nets’ former interim coach. Neither is tomorrow. There’s a new future in sight. The ESPN faculty reached out to Carlesimo and will soon bring him in as an NBA studio analyst for the rest of the playoffs.

Carlesimo is filling the spot Flip Saunders had before he recently left ESPN to become the T-Wolves’ president of basketball operations. Carlesimo will work on site at the NBA Finals, too. There’s a chance his role will be expanded next season.

“The conversations have been let’s do the playoffs,” Carlesimo said. “Then we’ll sit down and talk about the future.”

Carlesimo has extensive broadcast experience, having worked for NBC Sports, Spurs broadcasts, Fox Sports West and ESPN Radio.

Now, he’s just another coach on the beach. Another guy with the same dilemma all these cats have: Do they use broadcasting as a weigh station until the next coaching gig comes along? Or do they go all in and commit to TV?

“I’ve got to look at both options. But the likelihood is that I’ll be broadcasting next year,” Carlesimo. “I’m looking at broadcasting as what I’m going to do moving forward.”

“I have enjoyed television and radio way more than I thought when I first started,” Carlesimo said. “But if I told you it is the same as coaching I would be lying.”[/quote_simple]