Nesby Criticizes Sanctions on UNLV

Washington Wizard swingman Tyrone Nesby, a former teammate of Lamar Odom with the Clippers and a junior at Nevada Las Vegas during UNLV’s ill-fated recruitment of Odom in 1996-97, said he has a problem accepting the NCAA’s findings of last week.

After an 18-month investigation, which found a UNLV booster providing Odom with $5,600 in monthly payments, the NCAA hit UNLV with four years of probation, including a ban on postseason play this season. The price for UNLV coach Bill Bayno was his job. The school fired him Tuesday.

“It’s crazy because when I was here with Lamar, [Odom] never brought up anything about the issue,” Nesby said before the Wizards defeated the Clippers Sunday night at Staples Center. “The spotlight’s been on UNLV for the longest [time]. UNLV is one [college] where they don’t stand behind their coach like . . . at Kentucky and North Carolina and all those big schools.

Nesby said other high-profile programs could be breaking NCAA rules more than UNLV, but “you’d never know because their people stand up behind their coach and they worship their coach.”

Nesby’s comments were surprising because he has made no secret of his contempt for his college coach.

“I know me and Bayno don’t really get along that much, but at the same time I don’t want to see nobody get fired for something they didn’t do,” said Nesby, who was traded from the Clippers to the Wizards on Nov. 28. “I know it didn’t happen.”

Nesby did, however, recall the summer of 1997, when Odom and Dr. David Chapman, the Las Vegas dentist who was reportedly paying Odom, joined the Rebels for pickup games.

Bayno has retained a lawyer in hopes of either reclaiming his job or being paid the remaining two years of his contract, which paid an annual base salary of $136,500 but was closer to $600,000 with perks. Bayno said that the NCAA’s report did not implicate him specifically yet he was fired for not properly monitoring his program.

Bayno was 94-64 in five-plus seasons at UNLV but 1-14 against ranked nonconference opponents and was 0-2 in the NCAA tournament with losses to Princeton and Tulsa.

Odom maintained his silence on the issue. “I’m not going to talk about that again,” Odom said. “I can’t, sorry.”