Woj: Lakers fire Byron Scott, KO possible replacement | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Woj: Lakers fire Byron Scott, KO possible replacement

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Dogdeacon said:
Brad Stevens notwithstanding, the recent college to NBA hires of Donavan and especially Hoiberg (closest Ollie comp) don't look promising. Hoiberg arguably had a better roster than Thibs did in his last year but results were far worse. Donavan seems to be doing all the same things that Scott Brooks did. Brooks was the Durant lure hire and Washington quickly chose that route with I don't think even glancing in Ollie's direction. And the Lakers are likely at least one coach & 2-3 years away from the coach/team that is a contender. Lots of risk for that as the first job.
MN was the best coaching gig available due to their young talent and Thibs quickly grabbed that one. They will be very good for the next 5+ years.
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I thought Donovan had a pretty good year. Not easy to come in and coach a veteran team. Not to get too Chicagoey but... If you think Bobby Portis for Nazr Mohammed made the Bulls roster arguably better then I would argue with you. What happened is the Mayor of Ames wanted uptempo and the roster was built for walk it up on offense and stifling D. Then DRose breaks his cheek in preseason, Noah has shoulder surgery and misses most of the year, Mirotic has an appendectomy that gets infected and misses 20 games and Gasol celebrates his 72nd birthday. Yeah, Freddy needs work but no coach was going to get more wins out of the Bulls this year. Also, everyone thinks Thibs went to Minnesota for Wiggins and Towns but he really went there because they were the only team that would let him hire the GM. We will see how that works out.
 
QDOG5 said:
I thought Donovan had a pretty good year. Not easy to come in and coach a veteran team. Not to get too Chicagoey but... If you think Bobby Portis for Nazr Mohammed made the Bulls roster arguably better then I would argue with you. What happened is the Mayor of Ames wanted uptempo and the roster was built for walk it up on offense and stifling D. Then DRose breaks his cheek in preseason, Noah has shoulder surgery and misses most of the year, Mirotic has an appendectomy that gets infected and misses 20 games and Gasol celebrates his 72nd birthday. Yeah, Freddy needs work but no coach was going to get more wins out of the Bulls this year. Also, everyone thinks Thibs went to Minnesota for Wiggins and Towns but he really went there because they were the only team that would let him hire the GM. We will see how that works out.
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Kinda hard to play the injury card with Chicago given what Thibs was squeezing out of that roster in the regular season the last few years. Their potential was definitely capped with that roster, but swap out Thibs for Hoiberg and I highly doubt they have the same record.
 
James said:
Lakers job can't possibly entice KO, I love d.russell as a young player but whoever takes that job is a dead man walking(someone else will be brought on when they increase overall talent and get better). They just need a solid tank commander, their 2017 draft pick is 1-3 protected; they could be in a horrible position if too many games are won.
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Agreed. also, Jim Buss has one more year running the club. It certainly looks like he will fail and in all likelihood Jeannie Buss will fire him, Kupchak and the new coach at the same time. KO's name is out there because Durant is a free agent. I think a more plausible scenario if KO/Durant were to be together is after Durant signs. Maybe a year down the road. My hope is KO stays at UConn a long time.
 
aceboon said:
Kinda hard to play the injury card with Chicago given what Thibs was squeezing out of that roster in the regular season the last few years.
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Thibs is an excellent coach. No argument there. My point was the roster to start 2014 and 2015 were virtually identical but games lost to injury were much higher this year. I forgot to mention Dunleavy was hurt and missed the first half of the season.
 
QDOG5 said:
I thought Donovan had a pretty good year. Not easy to come in and coach a veteran team. Not to get too Chicagoey but... If you think Bobby Portis for Nazr Mohammed made the Bulls roster arguably better then I would argue with you. What happened is the Mayor of Ames wanted uptempo and the roster was built for walk it up on offense and stifling D. Then DRose breaks his cheek in preseason, Noah has shoulder surgery and misses most of the year, Mirotic has an appendectomy that gets infected and misses 20 games and Gasol celebrates his 72nd birthday. Yeah, Freddy needs work but no coach was going to get more wins out of the Bulls this year. Also, everyone thinks Thibs went to Minnesota for Wiggins and Towns but he really went there because they were the only team that would let him hire the GM. We will see how that works out.
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I didn't watch a lot of Bulls so certainly you know both more and better, but from afar it seemed Butler should have been a year better and Rose was as healthy as he has been since pre-injury. Noah got hurt last year too, so basically its a similar year injury-wise, but this time they completely fail to make the playoffs and the team dis-harmony attributable to Thibs pushing them too hard is now rumored as ego battle between Butler & Rose.

Similar simple analysis on OKC, I saw some of their big games and late-game execution was all hero-ball.

I partially agree on Thibs - MN thing and its a bit weird to have the GM working for the coach - at some point the short-term view of coach will be opposite of the long-term view a GM will take. And no doubt Thibs had worn out his welcome in Chi and overtaxes his players. Nonetheless MN's troika of Townes, Wiggins and Lavine is the best young collection in the league & adding Thibs defensive mania, I fully expect them to make an NBA finals within 5 years.
 
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Ah...no.

Choose to spend the next month worrying about if you want, it's your trip.
 
Just so you guys know the reason Kevin Ollie is emerging as a LEADING yes I said LEADING candidate next to Luke Walton is the possible reunitement of him and Durant(who shaq has reported is coming to the lakers). Durant looked up to Kevin Ollie and said he was a huge reason for his matureness the 1st 2 seasons.
 
socal613ws said:
Just so you guys know the reason Kevin Ollie is emerging as a LEADING yes I said LEADING candidate next to Luke Walton is the possible reunitement of him and Durant(who shaq has reported is coming to the lakers). Durant looked up to Kevin Ollie and said he was a huge reason for his matureness the 1st 2 seasons.
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Yes, we do know that, because it's been mentioned in this thread already.
 
Dooley said:
Luke Walton should be etched in stone. He just publicly spurned the Knicks and Phil Jackson (more of a story that he spurned Phil Jackson). My guess is he saw this coming and wanted to keep his name in the hat for the Lakers. Luke Walton as the next head coach of the Lakers is about as much of a certainty as the sun rising in the east tomorrow morning.
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I think he spurned Jim Dolan. Phil should have too.
 
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I'm surprised none of the trolls from this past season haven't hopped on this already.
 
So doomsday scenario - Ollie bolts for LA - who would be the shortlist of candidates?
 
Go to the Los Angeles Daily News web site www.dailynews.com and there is an article in sports about Ollie being intrigued by the LA opportunity - I don't know how to post it so if someone can that would be great.
 
champs99and04 said:
The Durant/Ollie angle is overplayed. I'm sure there is a ton of mutual respect there but Durant isn't deciding where he wants to go based on how much he likes the coach. I don't see any realistic Durant suitor with a coaching vacancy right now.
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Overplayed is right. Washington hiring Scottie Brooks like that will lure KD is also overplayed. Heard the Wizards will fire Brooks if they don't get Durant....
 
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The Laker job is one of the best in professional sports, Ollie would be an abject fool not to be interested in it. That said, the Lakers are a disaster right now and don't have a roster that can win anything. So while he's interested that /= he's going to take it. But if he weren't at least amenable to a conversation he'd be doing himself a disservice. Let's face it, there's a list of about two or three jobs in the world Ollie would leave UConn for, and this is one of them. Let's not forget K very nearly left Duke for LA in 2004.
 
CallMeBruce said:
I have to think he goes if he gets an offer from them. It's the Lakers. You aren't doing better than that.
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There's zero job security, a raw roster and a fanbase that is not going to be patient for a drawn out rebuilding effort. The Lakers have had three coaches since 2011. Mike Brown, Mike D'Antoni and Byron Scott. Four if you count interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff. Fortunately they have nowhere to go but up.
 
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It would seem to me that Walton is the frontrunner, but then again I am no NBA expert. Great job, but just a mess right now. I wouldn't blame KO for taking the position if offered, but it might be a bad move in the long run.
 
CallMeBruce said:
I have to think he goes if he gets an offer from them. It's the Lakers. You aren't doing better than that.
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It's a great job, without question, and also in his own home town. It's just that the roster is so, and the current GM blows. I'm sure he doesn't want to be set up to fail.
 
UConnTrumbull said:
Why is Bill Self's name never thrown into the discussion for NBA jobs? I'm not saying he's a home run hire but the guy has won a title and endless B12 championships and is currently AP coach of the year.
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No history in the NBA as player or coach. He's a college guy, and is best suited to that game. He's also got the perfect situation at a school where he can win year after year, be loved and never be fired.

Ollie could view his situation similarly, but it isn't as strong, and he has very deep NBA ties. The very things that sometimes frustrate me about his coaching (and I definitely want him to stay!) suggest to me that he's possibly a better NBA than college coach from and X's and Os perspective. I do think he's superb working with young men, but in many ways, any NBA coach of a rebuilding team will do a lot of that as well.
 
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