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Joe Bryant Keeps Spark Coaching Job

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Times Staff Writer

The Sparks removed the “interim” tag from the title of Coach Joe “Jellybean” Bryant.

Bryant, a former NBA player and father of Laker star Kobe Bryant, agreed Monday to become the seventh coach in franchise history. Terms were not announced, but it is believed to be a two-year deal.

“Joe has shown to me an incredible desire to coach,” Spark President Johnny Buss said. “He has the passion for competition I look for.”

Bryant began last season as an assistant under former coach Henry Bibby. Bryant took over as interim coach with five regular-season games remaining after Bibby’s departure. The Sparks were 4-1 in those games and took fourth in the Western Conference with a 17-17 record before being eliminated in the playoffs.

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Bryant is currently in Japan coaching the Tokyo Apache men’s team, which finished third in the regular season and qualified for the playoffs, which will be April 29-30. Bryant will join the Sparks on May 1, eight days after they open training camp.

“Last year when I came in, with just four or five games, my eyes were really wide open,” said Bryant, speaking by phone from Tokyo. He added that Spark General Manager Penny Toler and he “really see eye to eye” and “this season is about fitting a puzzle together.”

Bryant has added former Cal State Northridge women’s coach Michael Abraham as an assistant. Abraham, who also was an assistant and top recruiter at Oregon State and Long Beach State, was sentenced on federal drug-trafficking charges in 1999 for his part in arranging an interstate cocaine deal. He served 18 months in jail.

Toler is one of Abraham’s former players.

Abraham and his family have been living in Portland, Ore., where he has taught basketball clinics for youths from fourth grade to high school.

“He was very open with his history when he talked with us,” Buss said. “We did our research, as did the WNBA, and we came to the conclusion this was someone who has overcome his past to make a contribution to women’s basketball.”

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