Updated with another quote from Majerus below. -- Scott
The Cleveland Cavaliers announced on Thursday that they have named their NBA Development League team the Canton Charge after earlier installing former Saint Louis University assistant Alex Jensen as head coach. While there seems to have been a good deal of people that are fans of these moves, Rick Majerus is not one of them.
Majerus, a coach made famous during his time at Utah for wearing sweaters and berating his players, is the current head coach at SLU. I don't know much of the man personally, but apparently he isn't happy that one of his assistants was able to move up in the world according to ESPN's Andy Katz.
Jensen abruptly left Majerus and the Billikens earlier in the week to work with the D-League team of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The move stunned Majerus, who had been close to Jensen since coaching him at Utah. Majerus was livid with the Cavs for hiring away Jensen now, right before the start of the season.
It seems quite petty to be "livid" about an NBA team giving a man that starred under him as a player and was learning from him as an assistant coach, but that's apparently what is happening.
Stay classy.
Update: Majerus had more to say to Katz on Monday:
"I was LeBron-ed by the Cavs," Majerus said. "It was four days before the season. I told them I'll drive Alex to Cleveland in March and pay his salary but I couldn't lose him now, not when he was in with three recruits and four days before the season."
I understand the sentiment about not wanting to lose a coach, but how can he fault the Cavs for offering one of his assistants a better opportunity? This is unfathomable to me.
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