What are Lakers paying old coaches? And new options to replace Byron?

Bam!

Spoiler

Thank you ma'am

 

http://bballbreakdown.com/2015/01/07/villanovas-four-motion-offense-leading-big-east-revival/

 

Bump. Byron's gone. Let's go!!!. I figured if anybody has any pertinent information regarding our new coach, we can post in here. Maybe we can lock that Byron thread and throw it in the fire!

 

“Kevin Ollie, he was a game-changer for us,” Durant told ESPN’s Bill Simmons on the B.S. Report during All-Star weekend. Ollie only spent 25 games with the Thunder (after a short run some years earlier with the Sonics), playing a total of 263 minutes and scoring 44 points. Whatever it was, Ollie made an impression on Durant and the rest of the team. “He changed the whole culture, I think. He might not say it, but I think he changed the whole culture in Oklahoma City.”

“[Ollie’s] mindset, his professionalism, every single day. And we all watched that, we all wanted to be like that, and it rubbed off on Russell [Westbrook], myself, Jeff Green, James Harden. And you know, everybody that comes through now, there’s a standard you’ve got to live up to as a Thunder player. And that started with Kevin Ollie.”

I posted this in the BS thread.

Here's more praise:

'It’s just a matter of time,' said one NBA general manager. 'The league will come calling. He’s a great communicator and has a calm demeanor. This win alone, however, doesn’t just tilt the scale. It breaks it.'

'He would be excellent,” another GM said following Monday night’s victory. “He’s a stud. He understands the NBA, he’s a leader, has faced adversity and fought through it.'

One NBA executive told me that whichever team (or teams) makes a run after Kevin Durant when he becomes a free agent, 'will throw the whole ATM after [Ollie].'

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ally-contacted-by-nba-teams-for-coaching-jobs

 

“KO is my guy,” Williams said Tuesday. “He was very, very instrumental in my career. He was the guy who kept me after practice to get extra shots. He was the guy who got me in the weight room. He was the guy who got me going to chapel before games. He always kept me on the straight and narrow. He was very instrumental. It was great to have him in my corner.

“My nephew (Jajuan Johnson) was going through the recruiting process. He ended up signing with Marquette. But I told him the only coach I could vouch for was Kevin Ollie. That speaks volumes about the person that he is.”

“Very pleased,” Williams said of the result. “After the Sweet 16, I officially started rooting for UConn in the public. Just because I know the type of person that (Ollie) is and looking at the way he interacted with his players. I knew it was genuine so I wanted to root for my guy.”

Our very own L. Williams hold Ollie in high regard...

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/basketball/williams-a-big-fan-of-uconns-ollie/nfWCf/

 

Cool Interview with Luke on Bballbreakdown.

 

Big Luke. He's got that gravitas already, not to say Ollie doesn't, I know little about him. But Luke comes by way of the game from his Hall of Fame dad Bill's upbringing. Who played under and learned under none other than John Wooden for 4 years. And won championships at UCLA. One of the best big men ever to play the game. Great announcer too until the back got him. Knowledgeable. Luke had all that coming into the Lakers organization. Then the experience of playing under Phil Jackson a hall of fame coach, the options of a "motion" offense (who doesn't find it odd to hear him saying only references to the Triangle) with his and Steve's experiences both under Phil Jackson with championship teams. Sure they've altered it somewhat however which way, but he's not calling it some other new flavor of the period motion offense name. Kerr played with Jordan ... best ever in history of the NBA and Luke with Kobe Bryant ..... best ever 1A, and saw first hand their ferocity of will needed to dominate at the highest levels of the game. And this was the motion offense that won with superstars like Jordan, Pippen, O'Neal, Bryant and now Stephen Curry.... another true super star.

Luke's got the whole package plus that VOICE. But seriously, just by virtue of his being Bill Walton's son (sorry ROFY) , playing under Phil Jackson, alongside Kobe Bryant and having a rotation role on two championship teams himself .... give me Big Luke. Dude's still in shape which is respected. Thick.

 

I like the last part when he said he'd love to be a head coach... come on Luke, take our offer!

 

Ireland said that according to his 'sources' JVG is out as a potential candidate because he is looking for a Thibs type deal; he also said that Mark Jackson isn't a candidate.

 

Luke's growing on me, but a challenge of any head coach position now is training/coaching guys with so little game experience. They are talented, but don't know the game at a high level. They are drafted based on an incomplete skill set that needs to be filled out.

You have to know both offense and defense, and be able to teach it and get player but in.

D'Antoni: All O, no D, but could not adapt his style of play to roster

Brown: Great DVD's on defense, overrated in every other way. Couldn't make in game adjustments. No offensive scheme.

Scott: inability to connect with youth or teach. Old school method of letting the bench do the coaching, belittling players in public, calling out manhood only resulted in amped up players running around with no direction in O or D. Ignored history of results when hiring him. Could not figure out rotations or properly manage the talent that he had.

Definitely in need of an intelligent and fresh approach with leadership and substance.

Don't let Jim Buss participate in the process. Luke doesn't have a filled out resume yet, nor has he worked under a lot of head coaches. Lakers can't screw up this hire, but there is no way to know if he's a sure thing.

Keeping a championship team running is a little different than our situation.

 

Luke's got the higher level of NBA championship "experience", pedigree of basketball lineage and is working currently with the most successful system in the league. Plus actually had to step in and run the team for 30 games whatever. Make substitutions, have rotations. In the NBA. Again, no knock on Ollie, but was he on any championship teams in the NBA? Has he coached any games in the NBA with NBA caliber players on his team and against other NBA players? Why are many "assuming" he will be a better coach for young players. Luke's 36 years old and sharp as a whip. Give him the money and let him build his own staff. It seems to me that Luke, hands down, is the more NBA ready to coach at this level if the Lakers are going to take a flyer on a first time head coach, simply by virtue of his true life circumstances. Plus those 2 rings will always have a level of credibility when he is talking to NBA ballers.

 

I think people are saying that Ollie has been training young players to learn the game versus manage a team of veterans that already know the game.

When players come to the NBA with one year of college experience, the necessity of having a good teacher as a coaching quality cannot be overlooked.

I think it is fair to say that quality is unknown with Luke simply because he has not been put in that position for us to have anything to refer to. He may be far superior to Ollie, and maybe that will come out in the interview process.

I would not mind that hire at all, but if they are trying to make sure there is no way they messed up the hire, I'm sure that has to be one of their criteria they are evaluating a new coach based on.

 

Damn it feels good to be able to write without rhyming LOL

 

Based on early reports/rumors it looks like both Luke and Ollie are serious options (we're interested, they're interested)... I'll be happy with either.