Being the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers used to be treated as the kind of job you’d be honored to have. Pat Riley and Phil Jackson are among the best coaches who have had the honor of leading some of the best teams squads the Purple and Gold have seen in years.
However, it has now turned into one of the most difficult jobs to get in today’s NBA landscape. There hasn’t been any coach who was able to hold on to their jobs for more than five years in recent memory due to various reasons.
The most recent example of this is Dan Hurley’s decision to reject the offer to join the Lakers. Fans clowned on the Purple and Gold for their failure to land the two-time NCAA Men’s Basketball champion to coach in Tinseltown.
One former player adds his two cents on what happened to what once was the most enviable job in basketball.
Richard Jefferson: the Los Angeles Lakers’ expectations are killing their chances to attract high-quality coaches
Richard Jefferson believes that the way the Lakers are handling things with their head coaches is the wrong way to go. He explained that the Purple and Gold’s recent actions aren’t making them the most attractive destination for the game’s top coaches.
Per Fadeaway World’s Gautam Varier:
“They get the luck of ‘people are always going to want to come here, we’re always going to get free agents, so we don’t have to be as organized as we should…’ You can win a championship and be fired the following year. You can go to the conference finals and be fired the next year. So what are they looking for? And if that’s what they’re looking for long term? Then good for them.”
Jefferson made a great point: no sane coach would risk their career for a team who will happily fire a head coach for the team’s failure to make the NBA Finals. Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham weren’t terrible coaches, but their inability to bring a faulty roster that heavily relies on an oft-injured big man and a 40-year-old is a problematic sight for any coach with a brain.
While there will still be coaches who will fall in love with what the Purple and Gold has to offer, Hurley has set the standard: no top head coaches will touch the Lakers unless they loosen their hold on their head coaches.
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