Lakers Rumors: Latest on Luke Walton, Jeff Van Gundy, Other Coaching Targets
It's a new day for the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant won't be walking through the doors at the Staples Center, in a uniform at least, and head coach Byron Scott won't be returning to the team after a 17-65 season.
So now the Lakers, with a young, inexperienced group as the core, will look to start turning things around and restore the franchise to former glory.
The first order of business is to find a new head coach, and the Lakers seem to be moving quickly to find one.
According to Sam Amick of USA Today, four names have surfaced as legitimate options for the Lakers to go after this offseason.
A source told Amick on Tuesday that the Lakers have received permission from the San Antonio Spurs to interview Ettore Messina. The Italian has been one of the top assistants under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs for the past two years.
He built his reputation mostly in the Euroleague, coaching four different teams along with the Italian national team. However, in 2011-12, he spent a season as a consultant for the Lakers under head coach Mike Brown, which gives him a familiarity with the organization.
It would be a good choice for BasketballInsiders.com's Eric Pincus:
According to Amick, the other leading candidate, who joins Messina on the Lakers' "unofficial shortlist," is Luke Walton, the assistant coach of the Golden State Warriors who was promoted to head coach while Steve Kerr recovered from back surgery this season.
Walton has been an assistant with the Warriors since 2014 after his 10-year playing career came to an end.
A University of Arizona product, Walton was drafted in the second round by the Lakers in 2003 and spent more than eight seasons with the team. Mostly coming off the bench, he started more than 34 games in a season just once. But he does have a pair of championship rings with the team in 2009 and 2010.
Walton, though, isn't giving these rumors much thought, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
Former NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who is now an analyst on ESPN, also seems to be drawing attention from the Lakers. A "person with knowledge of Van Gundy's situation" told Amick that he's been "contacted" by Los Angeles and is interested in the job.
In terms of NBA coaching experience, Van Gundy is the only possible candidate that has some. He coached 11 years spanning from 1995-2007 with the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets with a career record of 430-318.
Van Gundy led the Knicks to an Eastern Conference title in 1998-99 as an eighth seed, which was his only trip to the NBA Finals.
Amick also noted that UConn men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie could receive some attention for the job. According to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, the Huskies coach could be open to talks:
Sporting News' Sean Deveney was told by a source that Los Angeles is looking for a "recruiter-in-chief," someone who can lure in big-name free agents.
With some big names like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook headed for the free-agent market over the next two years, the Lakers will want a coach who can bring in the right philosophy and start rebuilding this team.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com
