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May 12, 2008
Cavs Coach with Rhody Roots
By KEVIN McNAMARA
CLEVELAND – A former Bishop Hendricken guard is a key player in the Cavaliers’ quest to topple the Celtics in these NBA playoffs.
Mike Malone, the son of former URI head coach Brendan Malone and a former Providence College assistant coach, is now shifting X’s and O’s for the Cavaliers. This is his second NBA job and if anyone appreciates the long road from Hendricken to PC to watching LeBron James every day it is the 37-year old Malone.
The Malones moved to Warwick when Brendan became the coach at Rhode Island in 1985. Mike played at Hendricken in his freshman and sophomore years but learned that life in the coaching business always means a new address. When Brendan Malone left URI after two years to become an assistant with the New York Knicks, his son left his friends in Rhode Island and finished his prep career at Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey. After a post-graduate year at Worcester Academy, Mike Malone went to Loyola (Md.) and graduated with dreams of following his father into coaching. By that time, his dad had joined the Detroit Pistons.
“I got out of college and I sent letters to everybody I knew, including Pete Gillen who was at Providence,” said Malone. “I got a job working as a volunteer coach at Oakland University but I also worked at Foot Locker and was cleaning office buildings from midnight to four in the morning. I didn’t think (coaching) would work out so I was on my way to becoming a Michigan State Trooper when I come home one day and there’s a message from Pete Gillen.”
Malone worked for three years at PC and left with Gillen for the University of Virginia in 1998. Then it was on to Manhattan College for two years before another ex-PC assistant, Jeff Van Gundy, gave Malone his NBA break with the Knicks. After working for four head coaches in four years, Malone left New York for Cleveland but the route was an unexpected one. In the summer of 2005, he went on a trip to Argentina for an NBA program called Basketball Without Borders. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was also on the trip.
“We had a great time, went out every night and had a blast,” said Malone. “At the end of the trip Pop says ``listen, I don’t know if you know anything about basketball but I like hanging out with you a lot. You’re a good kid. If you ever need a job, let me know.’ I said I might be calling you, real soon.”
Popovich made a call to new Cavaliers’ coach Mike Brown and Malone was hired. Ironically, Brendan Malone was fired to make room for Brown but still recommended the franchise to his son. “I had an offer to go to Seattle and I had Cleveland but my father told me to come here because they have a great owner who’s committed to winning. And they have a great player in LeBron,” said Malone.
Speaking of James, Malone says he sees some eye-popping things from one of the world’s greatest players.
“I remember two years ago we played Miami here and Dwyane Wade and LeBron put on a show. LeBron finished with about 44 and Wade had 41 and we win,” he said. “I go back in the locker room and said `man, we had the best seats in the house.’ Sometimes as coaches you can do everything you can to get the team prepared but once they get on that floor it’s up to the players to execute. LeBron just does things continuously where you know it’s not X-and-O’s. It’s a great player putting on a show.”
Malone’s duties in the playoffs are weighty ones. He’s the assistant coach in charge of scouting the Celtics, breaking down what Doc Rivers is trying to accomplish.
“This is my series so I have to know all their plays and calls and work with all the adjustments we need to make,” said Malone. “KG (Kevin Garnett) is such a challenge because he can score but is also such a willing and capable play-maker. It’s no secret that we’ve tried to be aggressive with Ray Allen and take him out of the series a little bit and concentrate on two guys and make somebody else step up and beat us.”
Posted by Kevin 
at 9:34 PM to Celtics
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