Byron Scott Discussion 2015-16 - FIRED!!! (PAGE 172)

Jerry West is a personal hero so I'd absolutely love if we could find a way to bring him back. I'm not sure what that means for his son, whether or not that's a good thing or bad. Does Ryan want his father around more? Or does he want to carve his own path forward? I don't know. Just something to think about. I'd love if we brought Jerry back to just give us another voice to help us figure out where we are going and how to get there.

As for Thibs, yeah it turns out if he wanted that much power then I'm okay not getting him. I'm still more comfortable having my coach just be the coach. What's important is that everyone be on the same page synergistically, not that all the power goes to one person who is now in charge of keeping everyone on the same page.

 

From Byron Scott's girlfriend.

 

^^ Yikes, realdeal. That's not a pretty picture Ding is painting of the Lakers FO. At least they got the firing part right though!! I mean there was no justification to keep on such a complete underachiever as Scott. Two franchise lows in a row was unforgivable and cemented his standing as worst Lakers coach of all time. Dubious distinction. Was it really a struggle to figure this out?

I don't buy though that Luke hasn't been on the radar. I know for a fact that he has. I heard that they wanted him as far back as the beginning of last year from someone who has ties to the organization. At first I wasn't that excited but of course after Scott's performance I became VERY excited about the possibility. I think Scott's massive failure here and Luke's unforeseen filling in as HC for Kerr as well as Jeannie's pronouncement about her brother having until next summer forced the Lakers to move up their timeline. And that's a good thing.

 

No, the d*** move is to stay put and enjoy this horrible status quo. It's only a d*** move, because she is Byron's girlfriend. Conflict of interest, right there.

 

Ding didn't say they're not interested, he just said their hesitant right now. They're afraid to make a mistake, so they're going to completely overcompensate on their search which could cause some coaches to move on quickly and honestly will make their final decision a lot like their decision to finally move on from Scott: anti-climactic.

Luke I think is the obvious choice as long as you surround him with terrific assistants. He's got the LA thing, he's got coaching credentials now, he's smart, he's a legacy hire, he fits in with the young crowd while still having ties to the old one, and at his age he'll have plenty of room to grow.

If we could find some top notch assistants for Luke, I'm all for the hiring. Unfortunately I'm not sure what assistants those would be and I'm not sure the Lakers will have the balls to do what should be done.

For the record, If they go with someone like Ollie or Messina, I'm okay with that too. I think both of those guys have more experience and credentials, but I'm not sure either of them would be as perfect a fit as Walton is.

 

Derek Fisher throws his hat in the ring.

 

Oh yeah, sure, I didn't mean to imply that Ding said they weren't interested. Just that I know for a fact that he HAS been on their radar for HC as far back as the beginning of last season. That was when I first heard that and that he was their target. I understand his opinion that Luke is the obvious guy they should go for, I am just pointing out that I don't think they are as "confused" about it because I heard it a long time ago from someone who knew.

I think they are actually doing the right thing in some respects in terms of broadening the search so they do their due diligence. They can't afford to screw this hiring up. It seems like Ding is saying they are screwing it up by not just offering it to him outright and narrowing their focus, but I'm relatively ok with them opening it up a little. I agree that them saying it's going to be a "long list of candidates" might not be the right way to go. Like you, I wouldn't mind Ollie or Messina either. I don't really want JVG or Mark Jackson though.

 

I'm honestly just worried they'll mess this up. Ding is right in that the FO doesn't know their direction yet and that means they could definitely screw up this hire. Do they go all out on the FAs out there? Do they try to find bargains instead? Do they try to compete right away or get a coach who can help the young guys learn? Are the young guys good enough to get us to the promise land or should we trade them for guys who definitely can get us there?

All those questions are up in the air I think and unfortunately they're exacerbated by Jim's and Mitch's need to make things right asap. Are those two willing to sacrifice their jobs in order to build the Lakers up "the right way"?

I'm not sure if I buy from Ding that they've been delaying this decision on purpose while they wring their hands and wipe sweat from their brows, but I DO think they've been hoping for an easy solution to present itself and it hasn't happened. Now they're going to have to go into the summer selling "new beginnings" which isn't exactly the strongest selling point for players who will make us competitive right away. So do they instead stretch this out another year so that they can try to run at Durant again? Or do they just get the best players they can now, and worry about Durant later? There's a lot of pressure on them right now to make the right decision there and it's not an easy answer.

All that provides a backdrop where Jim and Mitch could easily make a coaching hire they think is more suited to "winning right away" which could be Van Gundy or Mark Jackson or some other such coach in order to save themselves and hopefully save face with the franchise.

I think most of us agree though that the right way is to just embrace "new". Embrace the fact that Kobe is gone and we're leaning on young talent. Hire a coach who is modernized and can relate to young players. Go into FA meetings with a concrete plan to accumulate talent at good price points. No we won't likely be in the playoffs next season, but working towards that goal in a cohesive way is what's most important.

 

That's not what he's saying though. He's just saying they're going to overcomplicate their search which could waste time and energy better served to other things. Their "wide net" could be 20 coaches. Will all those coaches wait patiently while they make a decision? I don't think so. It could alienate players, fans, and other coaches while time needed to dedicate towards the draft and FA wastes away.

Of course Ding is campaigning for Luke, but still he's got a point. Our FO has been excruciatingly slow to react to anything because they're afraid to make a mistake. I think everyone just hopes they get this hire right this time. Three coaches in a row who left early? Not a good look.

 

Thought this Marc Strein interview on Mike & Mike was interesting, if not really anything new. Apologies for the shaky cam, hard to hold your arms up that long, didn't expect them to talk that long



The Jerry West thing, dude isn't coming back. Last interview I saw him give maybe a couple weeks ago he was asked about the Lakers, he sighed, reflected that it was good times, but said something like they've both moved on in different directions. He's not coming back to save us. If we want Luke we try and go get Luke. What I do like is hearing we are interested in college coaches, something fresh, Ollie, Wright to name a couple. Also like hearing Luke, Messina from the NBA. Don't like hearing Fisher throw his name in, don't like hearing Hornacek. Don't know what to make of Calipari, Izzo, Roy Williams, and David Blatt though. Blatt did well in Cleveland, he just wasn't what the Kang wanted so he had to go, but all those college names, that seems like overkill to make this search appear diligent and exhaustive.

 

Yes, this is my thinking on JVG. Dude seems like he's in a constant state of panic while coaching. I think trying to coach and teach our young core, the guy's head might explode. He's still pretty young as a coach at 54, but I could swear I remember him saying not too long ago that coaching was agonizing for him. That's not the guy I want taking over my rebuild, that's maybe a guy, if he's ready to get back out there, I would want taking over my already pretty good team. For a young team and a rebuild like ours, we need a really specific kind of coach, and that might be why we're looking at so many college coaches, teaching of multiple guys that could still be in school right now needs to be done, molding of young minds mixed with good offensive and defensive systems. That's why guys like Ollie and Wright look intriguing.