Raptors, Nets Fire Coaches

Toronto’s Brendan Malone and New Jersey’s Butch Beard were fired as coaches Monday, a day after the end of the NBA regular season.

Malone, 54, was released because of differences with Raptor General Manager Isiah Thomas after coaching the first-year expansion team to a 21-61 record.

“He was a tireless worker. . . . Everything that he did was about winning,” Thomas said.

“But, as Brendan more or less said himself, his competitive nature more or less made him shortsighted and he wasn’t able to see the big picture in terms of where we were trying to go.”

Darrell Walker, 35, a former teammate of Thomas’, will replace Malone after a season as an assistant with the Raptors.

In separate news conferences, the Raptors and Malone called the parting amicable.

Asked if he was fired--as sources earlier indicated--or if he resigned, Malone said: “Those are just words. It was a good parting. It’s a fair package. And now it’s time to move on.”

After winning only 30 games in each of his two seasons and then criticizing his bosses for providing him with second-line players, Beard was fired by Net General Manager Willis Reed.

“I thought Butch had taken the players as far as he could,” said Reed, who decided to not pick up an option year in Beard’s three-year contract.

The Nets lost 23 of their final 30 games.

“I’m extremely happy for the opportunity that the Nets gave me,” Beard said. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”

Speculation on a replacement already is centering on Rick Pitino, despite recent comments by the Kentucky coach that he wants to win another NCAA title.

Reed said he would like to interview Pitino if Pitino is interested.

“I think we’ll try to talk to all of the people I feel are great coaches, and that won’t be limited to Pitino,” Reed said.

Pitino led the Wildcats to the national championship on April 1--at the same arena that houses the Nets.

Pitino released a one-sentence statement intended to end talk about a jump to the NBA.

“In November, I’ll be coaching the University of Kentucky in the Great Alaska Shootout,” he said.

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NBA Notes

Joe Kleine, the Phoenix center who fainted during the national anthem before a game against the Lakers on April 14 at the Forum, has been cleared to play in Friday night’s playoff game at San Antonio. . . . The New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic will play each other Nov. 7 and 9 at the Tokyo Dome in the NBA Japan Games. It will be the fourth time the league has played regular-season games in Japan.