Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott will not be returning to the Staples Center in the fall after two disastrous seasons, it has been announced.
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Scott, 55, coached the Lakers to a 17-65 record in 2015-2016, the second-worst record in the league last season.
The report said that speculations about Calipari’s hiring as the Lakers coach have been there even before the team hired Scott two years ago when sophomore Julius Randle was still playing for the Wildcats.
According to a tweet by the New York Daily News’ Mark Medina, it was the Los Angeles Lakers team executives Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak who made the decision to fire Byron Scott.
Wojnarowski noted potential candidates to replace Scott could include Golden State Warriors assistant coach and former Lakers player Luke Walton, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy and Connecticut Huskies men’s basketball head coach Kevin Ollie. To put this into context Scott has the worst record of any manager who has managed the glamorous franchise for at least two seasons.
Kupchak told the team’s official television network Monday that he has a large list of candidates to be the Lakers’ fourth full-time coach since 2011, but expects to narrow the field quickly. The first name is Derek Fisher, who played with the Lakers and was just fired by the Knicks this past season. They actually have some good young talent on their roster that needs to be nurtured and developed.
Mike D’Antoni – This hire wouldn’t go over well with the fans considering Mike D’Antoni won just 67 games in his two years with the Lakers in his first stop.
Sure would be nice to have a shiny, new coach flush with NBA street cred and back-to-back NBA titles under his belt as an assistant coach with one of the best teams in NBA history making that introductory speech to the LeBron James’ of the world. He finished his career with the Lakers in the 1996-1997 season.
Meanwhile, another former Laker may be in the mix to be LA’s next head coach. “So if they can convince a great player to come to Los Angeles, they can slide him right into that spot”. MORE: D’Angelo Russell, Lakers try to move on from aftermath of videoRussell, the second overall pick in the National Basketball Association draft last season, is viewed as an essential building block for the Lakers. Walton has also sparked buzz for guiding the defending champion Golden State Warriors to a 39-4 record while head coach Steve Kerr recovered from offseason back surgery.
Who will be the new Los Angeles Lakers head coach? Blatt will get a much easier start coaching a Lakers team that doesn’t have one player calling all the shots or four guys with massive egos.
Whoever the Los Angeles Lakers hire, he must be ready for a long rebuilding process.
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The once-glamorous franchise has been incredibly unsuccessful in attracting or keeping marquee free agents over the past four seasons.
