The Los Angeles Lakers coaching search continues. If it weren’t for all the WALL TO WALL Donald Sterling coverage, you might have heard a thing or two about it. There’s a ton of sports story lines in the City of Angels right now. All of them are being over-shadowed, including the Lakers coaching search.
You’ve got: the L.A. Kings in their second Stanley Cup Final in three years, the Lakers, the city’s most iconic franchise, only has three players under contract, Galaxy Forward Landon Donovan just broke the MLS career scoring record, and oh yeah the Lakers coaching search, which was the very first topic of conversation on today’s ESPN NBA Finals Media Conference call.
The Finals begin tomorrow night on ABC, and analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson previewed the series. Here’s the transcript of the very first question:
Q. I was wondering if either of you have any interest in the Lakers head coaching position, and if they’ve reached out to you about it?
VAN GUNDY: I found that it’s in everybody’s best interest never to comment on jobs. I don’t think it does the team any good or the individual coach. If teams ever want to state what their plans are before they’ve named a coach, that’s up to them, but I think it’s best that I don’t get involved with that.
JACKSON: I totally agree. Obviously, it’s an incredible job, and I’m sure they’ll pick an outstanding coach to lead them forward.
Sorry!
Now real news to report there. But what did you expect them to say in a situation like this? They weren’t going to give us any definitive answers on the Lakers coaching search, but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t ask!
Here’s more from Inside the Lakers:
Van Gundy has interviewed with the Lakers in the past, though it never materialized. Though he has extensive head-coaching experience with the New York Knicks (1996-2011) and Houston Rockets (2003-2007), Van Gundy has enjoyed the relatively increased comfort and decreased comfort as ESPN’s lead NBA analyst.
Meanwhile, Jackson was recently fired from the Golden State Warriors amid philosophical differences with the front office despite guiding the team to two playoff appearances in three seasons.
Jackson could become a viable candidate for the Lakers for several reasons.
As for the “philosophical differences,” well read this San Jose Mercury News report on that. It’s pretty even-keel and covers all sides of that controversy, or alleged controversy. That would be the situation surrounding Jason Collins.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on talk radio stations across the country. Banks, a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, has been featured in numerous outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin and the History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)