Byron Scott will not return to coach the Los Angeles Lakers next season, the team announced late Sunday. “While she has final say within the organization, Jim Buss and Kupchak were given full authority to make this basketball choice”.
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In fact, Tom Thibodeau (who joined the Minnesota Timberwolves) and Scott Brooks (who joined the Washington Wizards) were both reportedly interested in the Lakers’ job, but the team waited too long to fire Scott for reasons that remain unclear.
The Lakers will compile a “long list of people” that will include candidates of varying degrees of coaching experience, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Though the Lakers have not been interviewing for the position, former-Laker Luke Walton is being mentioned. Scott had spent the previous season calling Lakers games on TV after being fired by the Cavaliers in 2013. Whoever takes over will be the Lakers’ fifth coach since Phil Jackson stepped down after the 2010-11 season.
Van Gundy, the ABC/ESPN game analyst, is a name that always comes up when there is an opening. 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.
Even the previous worst campaign was also coach by Byron Scott, which was the season before this one. Scott had inherited a team that finished with a 27-55 record under Mike D’Antoni. He followed it up with a 17-65 mark this season, again reaching new depths for losing.
“OK, Byron runs a tight ship”.
“This summer, we can get at least two max players – or you could get a max player and two or three other veterans”, Kupchak said. They can develop young players. “They”re ready to practice.
Meanwhile, another former Laker may be in the mix to be LA’s next head coach. The Lakers have an extraordinary amount of what we call cap room in the NBA.there’s a salary cap in the NBA and you can only spend up to a certain amount of money. Messina would certainly be a solid hire if able to convince him to become a head coach in the States for the first time in his career.
Ollie has three years left on his contract with UConn after signing a five-year extension in 2014. “Mike D”Antoni was given more than half of the $4 million he was owed after resigning in 2014 with one more year on his deal.
They went on to have the two worst seasons ever, each one getting more awful than the one before.
The Lakers have won the National Basketball Association title 16 times, but the past two seasons have been ones that fans and management would like to forget.
All-Star centres Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol departed the team for less money over the last few seasons, leaving early draft picks Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell carrying the burden as the future of the team.
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For all of Scott’s quotes about toughness and defense, his teams have not reflected his personality. “Larry Brown wasn”t easy on me (in Indiana).
