Samuel Dalembert Says Scott Skiles Hurt Him


On his way out of Milwaukee, Scott Skiles hinted that there was friction between him and some of the players. In a long Q&A with the Journal Times, Bucks center Samuel Dalembert (who is putting up some of the worst numbers of his 11-year NBA career) opened up about some of those issues: “Have you already noticed a difference with the change in head coaches? SD: ‘Most of the time when there are changes, they are for the best or for the worst. So far, it seems to be a better solution. We won two games in a row (and three of four after Jim Boylan took over). Everybody is enthusiastic there was a change. At this point, I think it’s working for the team.’ […] Why do you think Skiles’ attitude toward you changed? SD: ‘We had a talk briefly at a shootaround; I forgot where it was. I think it was in Boston. After that talk, everything went downhill.’ […] Can you be more specific about what Skiles said that upset you? SD: ‘No, I really don’t want to go into detail. I don’t want to go into it because it really hurt me. I had to express myself. I had to let him know where I’m coming from, the root of who I am today, what is defining me. It’s my country defining me. Anybody who knows me, you can ask any of my teammates, I am the most enthusiastic, happy person coming in the morning. I’m the player where I am always very respectful. I don’t know what happened between us. I’m not going to say that conversation was 100 percent the reason for what happened (not him being demoted) but for some reason there was nothing said to me again and everything went downhill. There was no explanation. There was no conversation. Nothing was said to me. He didn’t say, ‘Hey, this is what I want you to focus on or anything like that. It wasn’t just me. Other guys were going through the same thing with him, guys who have been here way before me. So you can only imagine what they were going through. For me, it was new. I never got a chance to know him or what he didn’t like about me.’ Did you approach Skiles and ask why you weren’t playing? SD: ‘No. I never asked him. I mean if you brought me here and made all these changes I think it’s the least he could do to let me know the reason why.'”