Chaney Likely Choice

Clipper executives will meet late this week to select a coach, and team President Alan Rothenberg said Tuesday that interim Coach Don Chaney probably will be the choice.

“If someone like Don Nelson showed up at our doorstep, we wouldn’t turn him away,” Rothenberg said. “But all the good, established coaches are set. So, we are strongly leaning toward Don. I don’t see anybody else we’ll choose.”

Rothenberg said that he, owner Donald T. Sterling and General Manager Carl Scheer will act fast after meeting this week. He said an announcement will probably be made early next week.

“I can speak for the entire organization when I say that he’s done very well,” said Rothenberg of Chaney, who had a 9-12 record after replacing Jim Lynam March 6. “He did the things we like--fast break and trapping defense. We’re throwing out the first five games (all losses). The team responded very well after that.

“We didn’t want to go into the college ranks, because it would take a lot of time for a coach to adapt. And we didn’t want to fall into the trap of hiring ex-pro coaches.

Rothenberg also said that Scheer also would be signing a new contract shortly.