Pistons’ Gentry Leaves ‘Interim’ Tag Behind

Alvin Gentry, serving as interim coach of the Detroit Pistons after the Feb. 2 dismissal of Doug Collins, was made permanent coach on Tuesday.

Detroit missed the playoffs, finishing 16-21 under Gentry and 37-45 overall. But management liked the way he handled the team.

The Pistons were expected to offer Gentry, 43, at least $1 million a season for two years with a team option for a third.

Three years ago, Gentry finished the season as Miami’s coach after the Heat fired Kevin Loughery but was not offered the permanent job. He then joined the Pistons as an assistant for the 1995-96 season.

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Pressures of paternity and child-support obligations, not alcohol, were to blame for Shawn Kemp’s problems with the Seattle SuperSonics last year, Sports Illustrated reported.

In a story on professional athletes fathering children out of wedlock, the magazine quoted an unidentified team source who said paternity-related issues weighed heavily on Kemp, who missed or was late to practice five times last April. His play also slipped after the All-Star break and the SuperSonics were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets.

The unmarried Kemp, now with the Cleveland Cavaliers, has fathered seven children, Gerald Phillips, a lawyer who represented Kemp in a paternity suit filed by Charlotte Osuna, told Sports Illustrated.

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Atlanta’s Steve Smith, who donated $2.5 million to Michigan State, his alma mater, was chosen as winner of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for the 1997-98 NBA season. The gift is the largest to a university by a professional athlete.