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The Reno Bighorns -- whose basketball operations are now managed by the Sacramento Kings, and more specifically, Kings assistant GM Shareef Abdur-Rahim -- have hired a head coach, according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski: Joel Abelson, who spent last season at the helm of the Sioux Falls SkyForce.
Abelson is available because the Miami Heat did the same thing with the SkyForce as Sacramento has done with the Bighorns: entered a single-affiliate hybrid partnership. So the Heat went after their own coach, and Sacramento nabbed Abelson, who appears to be rather young. (He interned with the Bobcats' basketball operations department in 2007.) Abelson has been coaching in the D-League since 2008, and he enters what appears to be a pretty good situation.
It's quite possible Abelson will get at least one or two NBA players to work with at times this season in Reno, as Ray McCallum and Trent Lockett are obvious candidates for Bighorn action. In addition, the new Kings front office hasn't been shy about indicating it will use Reno much, much more than the old regime did.
Hat tip to Cowbell Kingdom on the news.