The Los Angeles Lakers made an addition to their coaching staff, hiring Miles Simon away from ESPN.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that ESPN college basketball analyst Miles Simon will be the newest member of the coaching staff.
Simon fills a vacancy left by Theo Robertson’s departure to join the University of California as an assistant coach.
Simon was the 42nd player chosen in the 1998 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic but most of his professional playing days were spent bouncing between the CBA and overseas in Israel and Italy before ending his career in Turkey in 2004.
OFFICIAL: Lakers Add Miles Simon To Coaching Staff https://t.co/f11CK22ItS
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 27, 2017
He is mostly known for winning a NCAA championship with the University of Arizona Wildcats in 1997 under coach Lute Olson. He was also a Consensus All-American in 1998.
Simon will be the fourth member of the Lakers’ coaching staff with ties to the University of Arizona program. He joins Luke Walton and Jud Buechler as former UA players, and Jesse Mermuys was Director of Basketball Operations. Brian Shaw, Mark Madsen, and Brian Keefe are the other members of the coaching staff.
I'm so thankful and blessed to be able to have this opportunity to work for such a great franchise like the @lakers #LakeShow https://t.co/aCS4do64ss
— Miles Simon (@milessimon) June 27, 2017
It is uncertain if Simon will assume Robertson’s role as player development coach. However, he has a history of successful coaching ventures with younger players.
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Shortly after his playing career was over, he coached as an assistant at his alma mater under Olson from 2005-2008. Including the recent draft picks, the Lakers will have at least seven players who are 22 years old or younger.
Simon has coached for USA Basketball on four separate occasions. Most recently it was as the head coach of the 2017 USA Junior National Select Team for the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit that defeated the World Select Team 98-87.
As an assistant, he won two gold medals — one on the staff of the 2016 U17 World Championship Team in Spain and another with the 2015 U16 squad in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Argentina. He was also a coach at the 2016 USA Men’s Junior National Team October minicamp.
Simon has been the head coach of California Supreme U17 AAU team since 2011. Since 2008 he has been working with Nike at its various basketball camps, including the Nike Skills Academy and the Lebron James Skills Academy, which he’s been involved with since 2009.
Let’s play a game of connecting the dots and speculate for a minute. There are reports that Paul George is recruiting Klay Thompson to play with him for the Lakers.
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Miles Simon is a basketball skills trainer who has worked with Thompson since his college days. Simon’s father, Walt Simon, used to be a mentor to Orange County high school players, including Klay Thompson. Could this be the next piece of the puzzle to the Lakers rebuilding their organization back to prominence?