Who Will Be The Next Coach Of The Los Angeles Lakers?

(Photo : Reuters)

The Los Angeles Lakers plan on making a splash across the NBA when they choose their 25th coach in franchise history.

There are some big names being thrown around including two NCAA National Championship coaches; John Calipari and former 13-year NBA veteran, who is also the current NCAA Champion coach, Kevin Ollie .

Calipari was rumored to be the next Lakers coach on the night of the National Championship game but denied all rumors, of course. Calipari left a clear message saying he plans on staying with his group of kids at Kentucky, but this wouldn't be the first time a coach talked one way and walked another.

Ollie's name has been included with Calipari's for the Lakers coaching opening but seems more of a stretch of the two because of his lack of experience. Ollie was able to coach the UConn Huskies to a National Championship in his first NCAA Tournament experience as a coach, which sky rocketed his name to the top of a lot of openings across the NBA. His 13-year NBA experience is also a plus and would help him tremendously in understanding the face-paced tempo of the NBA.

Another name being thrown around is actually in the playoffs right now. Former Laker and current Oklahoma City Thunder player Derek Fisher's name has been mentioned since D'Antoni's resigned. Fisher has already said he plans to retire after this season. The Brooklyn Nets took a risk when they hired Jason Kidd the same offseason that he retired and that ended up pretty well after a rough start.

Lionel Hollins and George Karl are both available as well. Both Hollins and Karl coached their teams to the playoffs at the end of the 2013 season but were both also let go. George Karl also won the coach of the year that season with the Denver Nuggets, but oddly enough was still out of a job after his playoff series loss to Golden State. Hollins was out as coach of the Grizzlies after he was swept out of the playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs.

A few other notable names with some buzz around the Lakers coaching search are Steve Kerr, Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Mike Dunleavy Sr, as well as the Chicago Bulls current coach Tom Thibodeau. 

Oh and if you thought the Clippers drama was over, Doc Rivers is also on the Lakers radar; sources close to Rivers said he currently has no thoughts about Lakers coach opening at this time.

The Lakers are going to need a coach who can handle the spotlight of the Los Angeles market and the expectations for a Lakers organization that is a regular in the playoffs, including 16 NBA Championships.

The stars are bright in LA, on your roster and sitting courtside and all of these variables should be consider when the Lakers do decide who will be their 25th coach in Los Angeles Lakers history.

Was It Mike D'Antoni's Fault The Lakers Failed?

Gary A. Vasquez/US PRESSWIRE

Mike D'Antoni has resigned from his position as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

He may have resigned because he coached the Lakers to a 27-55 season, their worst record since moving to Los Angeles. It may also be because he is the only coach in Lakers history that did not get a playoff win in his first two seasons. It may have even been because he has the worst winning percentage by any coach in Los Angeles Lakers history that kept the Lakers from offering D'Antoni his extension, causing him to resign from his position.

So was it Mike D'Antoni's fault the Lakers failed during his tenure as their head coach.

To be fair D'Antoni never had a chance during his time as the Lakers head coach. From the moment the news broke that it was Mike D'Antoni, and not legendary coach Phil Jackson, who would be coaching the Los Angeles Lakers that cold November night the basketball world went insane. The Lakers just fired Mike Brown and seemed that it would only be destiny that the best coach in sports history would come back to coach a remake of the early 2000's.

D'Antoni was given the job after offering the job to the Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. The backlash followed immediately after the Lakers swept the rug from under Jackson's feet and gave the job to D'Antoni on a late Sunday evening, while Jackson was given until that Monday to make his decision.

The hype for the Lakers was still enormous going into the 2012-13 season, which is exactly what you would expect from the Lakers with a roster led by Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant.

That hype didn't last long as we watched the Lakers go through hell the rest of that season, going 45-37, and being swept out of the first round of the playoffs.

That's why hiring D'Antoni was a head-scratcher considering the only star on the Lakers who could actually flourish in his system was a 38-year old Steve Nash. Nash's injury plagued season didn't help matters any and the Lakers entered the All Star break with a record of 25-29. They were looking like they would miss the playoffs for only the fifth time in franchise history, even with their All Star laded starting line-up (Nash, Bryant, World Peace, Gasol, and Howard were the starters but because of injury they really didn't get too much playing time together).

Kobe Bryant willed his team to an unbelievable run to the playoffs but unfortunately wouldn't be playing in them. The Lakers were led by Bryant to a 20-8 record after All Star break and snuck into the playoffs as the seventh seed out of the Western Conference.

I was lucky enough to witness one of Kobe's last games that season. Being that I live in a place where the NBA was robbed (Thanks again Clay Bennett) I had to travel down to Rip City, but I was able to catch a glimpse of Kobe's rampage through the end of that season. I watched the Black Mamba and a new rising star in Damian Lillard go back and forth the entire game with the Lakers pulling out a huge win at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.

Kobe tore his Achilles the very next game against the Golden State Warriors, he wouldn't make it back to the court until early December the next season.

Mike D'Antoni and the Kobe-less Lakers where swept out in the first round of the playoffs, with the lasting image being Dwight Howard fouling out in the final game as the Lakers get sent home.

Howard left for Houston during the offseason, while the Lakers kind of stood still with not much wiggle room to work with in the free agent market.

D'Antoni was left with a team whose leading scorer in their season opener was Xavier Henry who was only averaging 4.5 points per game in his first three years in the league. The second leading scorer was returning Lakers guard Jordan Farmar.  He did coach them to a 116-103 win over their Staples Center roommate LA Clippers that night but the winning record wouldn't last long.

The Lakers wouldn't make it to above .500 again until one month later while also losing Steve Nash in their first eight games of the season.

Kobe was able to make it back a couple days after that but his season was shot lived when he played in six games in just ten days. The Lakers were then set with their eleventh starting line-up after that injury with Nash in and out of the line-up with injuries as well.

The injury bug rode with the team the entire season as the Lakers would miss the playoffs for only the fifth time in franchise history. 

I mean at one point of the season if you looked at the Lakers bench you would only see one extra man, and he was taking a nap.

So can you really blame Mike D'Antoni's failure as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach?

Of course you can.