Report: Joel Abelson new head coach of the Reno Bighorns

Reno Bighorns logo.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Sacramento Kings’ NBA D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, have hired Joel Abelson as their new head coach.  Abelson spent last season as the head coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce, leading the team to a 25-25 record in his first season on the job, a 10 game improvement over the previous season.

Before joining the Skyforce, Abelson served as the associate head coach of the Idaho Stampede under former NBA player Randy Livingston for two seasons.   Before that, he spent another two seasons as an assistant in Idaho, one under former Kings assistant Bryan Gates and a second with Bob MacKinnon.

Abelson will take over for Jason Glover, who led Reno to a record of 14-34 last season.  He is the first hire for current Kings director of player personnel and new Bighorns general manager Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who took over team last week.

Abelson was not retained by the Skyforce this summer after the team entered into a new hybrid agreement to become the exclusive D-League affiliate of the Miami Heat.

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