Randy Livingston to Become Red Claws Assistant

Don't worry, Ridiculous Upside hasn't picked up and moved its headquarters to Maine - I hate cold weather, and at this point Aisander might be met at the border by people with sharp lobster-ing implements.  Still, as a new franchise that has a lot of catching up to do, there's a lot of news coming out of the Northeast.  This might be the biggest/best.

When Austin Ainge was hired as head coach, the Red Claws press release played up his Southern Utah University experience working with "perimeter players, recruiting, player development, video breakdown, and developing game plans."  The braintrust up there wisely saw that there weren't things like "coaching" or "drawing up plays" or "running practice" or "coaching" in that list, so they've gone and hired one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches the D-League has - Randy Livingston.  Livingston has apparently been in the running for a few of the coaching jobs that were available this offseason (most recently RGV), and it's likely only a matter of time before he's in charge of his own team.

Randy Livingston started as a player, of course.  After being drafted by the Houston Rockets in 1996, Livingston spent 11 seasons in the NBA (10 seasons, 203 games), the CBA and in Europe before moving to the D-League in 2006.  Livingston spent two years playing for the Idaho Stampede and is the team's career games, points and assists leader, along with the D-League's 2006-2007 MVP.  He became an assistant coach in Idaho last season and made an immediate impression in that job, though I'm unsure why they'd let a guy that means so much to that franchise walk when they have a coaching job open as well.

This is a great move for the Maine Red Claws.  Livingston knows what it's like to fight for 10-day contracts and feel the pull of European dollars, so he should be able to connect with players that way.  He also should provide some of the leadership he was known for as a point guard, and provide a steadying presence for a first-year team with a first-year head coach.

Congratulations to Coach Liv and the Maine Red Claws.