Corey Gaines

Corey Yasuto Gaines (born June 1, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was also a former head coach of the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Professional career

Gaines was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 3rd round (65th overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. A 6'3" (1.90 m) guard from UCLA and Loyola Marymount University, Gaines played in 5 NBA seasons for 4 different teams. He played for the New Jersey Nets (1988–89), Philadelphia 76ers (1989–90, 1994–95), Denver Nuggets (1990–91) and New York Knicks (1993–94). In his NBA career, he played in 80 games and scored a total of 248 points. Gaines also played in a Japanese men's basketball league in the early 2000s.

Coaching career

On November 7, 2007, Gaines became the head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, replacing outgoing head coach Paul Westhead.^[1] Gaines had prior experience with Westhead's offense, having played for him at Loyola Marymount University and with the Nuggets. Gaines kept the same offense that Westhead employed, and in 2009, he directed the Mercury to their second WNBA title. Under Gaines' guidance, Diana Taurasi became the second player in WNBA history to win the regular season scoring title, the WNBA MVP Award, the WNBA Championship, and the WNBA Finals MVP Award in the same season.^[2]

In November 2011, Gaines was promoted to general manager of the Mercury, taking over a position vacated by Ann Meyers-Drysdale. On August 8, 2013, the Phoenix Mercury announced that they had relieved Gaines of his duties as head coach and general manager, and named former University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University men's basketball head coach Russ Pennell as the team's interim head coach.^[3]

During January 2013, Gaines was temporarily promoted to being an assistant head coach for the Phoenix Suns alongside Dan Panaggio after both Dan Majerle and Elston Turner would resign from their roles after the announcement of Lindsey Hunter being the team's interim head coach. He would then continue working under the organization throughout the rest of the 2012-13 NBA season until the Suns hired permanent replacement assistant head coaches to replace their old coaching staff, although Gaines would still find work for the organization as a new player developmental coach alongside Irving Roland during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. However, on July 30, 2015, Gaines would end up being promoted back as a full-time assistant coach for the Suns starting in the 2015-16 NBA season due to some changes with the coaching and player development staffs respectively.^[4][5] Gaines would also be considered a prime candidate for the interim coach tag for the Suns after head coach Jeff Hornacek was fired on February 1, 2016. However, after a generally awful season that was even worst then their 2012-13 season, Gaines would not have his contract renewed with the team.^[6]

Before the start of the 2016-17 season, Gaines would reunite with head coach Jeff Hornacek and assistant coach Jerry Sichting as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks.

Personal life

Gaines' father is African-American and his mother is of Japanese descent.^[7][8][9]

Notes

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Basketball-Reference.com