Assistant Coach Discussion: McMillan And Brooks

Maybe. Those three national guys in particular are about as well connected as it gets though and have sources that reach beyond what they're spoon fed in the high chair. I think Stein is probably the best in the industry because he's not just a newsbreaker like Shams. When has there ever been a NBA coaching search where the guy hired was kept out the media for 5 weeks? Hell, any NBA transaction for that matter especially in the social media age.

I get it's a little different when college coaches are involved, but this isn't the first collegiate NBA hire and none of them operated under a 5 week gag order.

I think you might be right about Hurley. I just seriously doubt the timeline. Unless there were only 3 people who knew about this at all -- Dan, Rob, and Jeanie.

 

Especially since it came from someone who's close to both.

How Woj framed it and the timeline makes me think it was Rob. Putting pressure on the weekend deadline so they can start prepping for the draft ASAP and get someone in the building yesterday.

 

so first contact with hurley was one week ago? i find that as hard to buy, but it guess it's possible.

i do think jj's comment about shams (along with that other one) makes me think some of the heavy hitters might have been deliberately misled by someone.

 

I don’t worry about his interactions with nba players as opposed to college kids.Anyone with grown kids doesn’t talk them as adults the same way they did when they were teenagers.

 

Take 15 minutes


Aside from his take that Hurley has nothing left to prove, which I mentioned above how I 100% disagree with, it's a really informative conversation with Lane.

Fanta even suggests in this that somewhere something broke down with JJ. Those close to JJ that Fanta spoke with, thought he was going to be the coach. That maybe there was interest in Hurley early on but they never thought there was a chance (dream board kinda stuff). Then maybe they (Rob) reached out to Woj to inquire about his interest.

Irwin thinks Lakers got tired of waiting on JJ, while they respect his commitment to the NBA Finals and what a big deal that is for him, they want to get this thing moving. They likely did their due diligence while waiting, this Hurley possibility presented itself and here we are. Irwin and Buha still say JJ is still a real candidate, the levels of how serious the Hurley thing is varies when they talk to people within the Laker walls. If Hurley falls through, Irwin thinks we move quickly on closing the JJ deal.

I think Hurley is in LA to get a deal done, but I'm not certain it will. There's a lot to discuss, a lot to go over as far as vision and commitment level (personnel and $) and those can and have broken down for us in the past. He's the biggest name in college basketball. He doesn't need us. A lot of college coaches in basketball and football love that level of power. The good ones are a god in that city and on that campus. They're coach, GM and the all powerful Oz. Most don't want to give it to to be a smaller fish in a bigger pond. It's also why it rarely works.

 

Yeah, that's the line they keep throwing out when downplaying the difference. It's not a switch. It's a mindset change and a change in the level of control. Also those aren't his kids (even if they are "his kids" as a coach). They're with him for 1-5 years and a new batch sprinkles in every year. They're not aging with him and people feel very differently towards their own kids than they do other people's kids.

 

The way I see it is that we blew a golden opportunity to win another ring ourselves. This was the easiest year EVER and we blew it.

 

Haven't listened but about to fire this up

 

Well, that would be great, but I'm sure UConn would upgrade Murray to be HC. He's apparently the offensive mastermind behind UConn's success.

Some other coaches (PJ Carlesimo and Ron Adams) also praising Hurley here: Dan Hurley to the Lakers Isn’t As Risky As It Sounds - The Ringer

 

It reminds me of the music scene. There are a whole lot of musicians who could be big, international stars but they don't want that spotlight. Guys like Mark Knopfler from the Dire Straits and a whole ton of guys who have chosen to stay local. You can make a nice living and you don't owe your soul to the devil. I could see the allure of just staying in a smaller market and being king. Me personally, I would stay at UConn for those reasons. Not like you need more money. The hard part is if someone is dangling over a 100 million dinero right in your face and you have already tasted success. If things don't work out, you can ride off into the sunset with no worries but if you succeed, wow, who knows what could follow. ??? Tough call for Hurley.

 

According to John Fanta on a different interview, he says Hurley has a big ego and personality and wants the next biggest thing in his career. But yeah, who knows if we are being used as leverage for him to get a crazy deal from Uconn to stay.

If he succeeds, then he will have hundreds of millions of dollars from us and might become our Pat Riley/Brad Stevens in the FO.

 

@Wino
Saw Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris at the old Universal Studios concert venue about 14-15 years ago and it was awesome. But there were also reports that with both of them being “alphas” creatively they clashed a lot on that tour.

 

I hear you man, but Dire Straits were a mega-successful band around the world, and are still very well known to this day despite not touring for 3 decades. Not sure if it's the best comparison.

 

get vogel as the defensive coach/mentor lol and the circle will be complete.

 

Must watch.
He really has a strong personality. Looks like he's a maniac, all over the place type of person who is a perfectionist. Can be over intense, even in the interview (not understanding the question or body language).
Most interesting bit: he always felt short of his father and brother until he won the past couple years. That's 40y being "the son of...", he mentions it. Signing with the Lakers absolutely puts him in another level and fits this feeling he felt all his life. It's even bigger than being a b2b college champ.
I think he wants it so it's really a matter of if we are able to close it.

I'm not sure if his style will translate to the NBA. It's really intense and really needs buy-in of everyone, especially the stars. I think he would have no problems yelling at LeBron for not coming back in transition though. Which is nice. He collects info from all type of US basketball, Euro and even NFL. He loves the work more than the result (reminded me of Kobe's words in his last game, where after 20 years he understood it's not the destination, ie winning titles, that fulfilled him but the journey, ie the process to get to the title)

He's really make or break I think. But I like what he can bring to the table and looks like a very good gamble.

 

what's the significance of page 69? I don't get it.

 

it is a tough call, but i'll be surprised if he doesn't take the lakers head coaching job. he's built right for the level of challenge. who knows what happens next? if uconn doesn't keep winning titles, maybe he missed his chance to jump to the pros and see what he could do.

calipari (and pitino) both showed you can go back to college and be successful again if you want, too.

and i don't think uconn is going to threepeat if he stays, fwiw. given what people say about him, he might be itching to prove people like me wrong. but i still think the pull to the biggest stage is going to win out.

i just keep going back to auriemma basically telling him he should take the lakers job, apparently without knowing it was available to him. and then what geno had to say about the college coaching game not being what it once was.

 

sorry if already posted but yeah. That’s serious cash for a coach.

 

Well I guess we can put the whole Lakers are cheap narrative to bed then if this is true.
I definitely prefer us hiring an accomplished college coach over a complete unknown in JJ Redick.

 

Same