Spurs assistant P.J. Carlesimo told The Post yesterday he was “very encouraged” with his first interview with Isiah Thomas and expects to meet again, perhaps this week.
“It was a very good first meeting,” Carlesimo said in a telephone interview from the Spurs’ offices yesterday. “I’m hoping it’s something that will continue to develop. I think he’d say the same thing. But there’s a ways to go.”
On his way back from his April 25 meeting in Los Angeles with Phil Jackson, Thomas had a stopover in Stan Antonio and met for more than two hours with Carlesimo, whose Spurs host the Sonics today in the second round.
“I was very impressed with what he said, I liked him a lot,” said Carlesimo, a choking victim of Latrell Sprewell who hadn’t had a job interview since being fired by Golden State in 1999. “It’s a great job anyway, but having lived in New York and New Jersey, it’s a very special job to me and I don’t say that lightly. I’m excited about the job on many different levels. It’s not just another job.”
The former Seton Hall (and Wagner) coach spoke to The Post during the All-Star break about his potential Knick candidacy and said he wasn’t willing to go into a losing situation because he had it too good in San Antonio. Except if it were the Knicks or Nets.
Carlesimo, a Fordham junior when the Knicks won their first championship in 1970, said he’s spoken to Thomas by phone since the face-to-face meeting. Thursday, Thomas said he’d continue dialogue with Carlesimo.
When Thomas was asked if Carlesimo could relate to the current NBA player after the Sprewell incident, Thomas paused and said, “How can I say it? Ah, shoot, P.J. can say it himself.”
Said Carlesimo, “I don’t see it as an issue and am not concerned at all. I’ve coached all kinds of players on all different levels.”
Gregg Popovich told The Post at the All-Star break, “It’s a situation you got a guy whose unbelievably knowledgeable and one incident has painted things a certain way. It’s like living in hyperbole. It doesn’t describe who he is. It’s amazing to me his phone doesn’t ring off the hook, quite honestly.”
