There are many questions currently surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lake Show Life held a roundtable to answer some of those questions.
The Los Angeles Lakers are in a state of flux with many questions and little certainty.
Who should be the next Lakers head coach? Who will replace Magic Johnson, if at all, as the Lakers president of basketball operations? With Magic Johnson gone, should Rob Pelinka remain in the Lakers front office? Did Luke Walton deserve to be fired?
The Lake Show Life expert panel of Rovee Vanderbilt Pruna, Tom Wade, and Dominic Torres dives into these questions and analyzes the current state of the Los Angeles Lakers:
1. Who should be the Lakers next head coach?
Pruna: Tyronn Lue. Tyronn Lue is a championship coach who quietly steered LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers from the brink of elimination after going down 3-1 against the 73-win Golden State Warriors in 2017. Most teams would have folded, but under Lue’s leadership, the Cavs made a historic comeback to win the NBA Finals.
Lue is the only candidate who has coached LeBron James and has proven to coach him successfully. Lue was mentored by championship coaches Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson. Lue understands the scrutiny he will suffer in Los Angeles because Lue won two championships as a Laker playing alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
Lue does not nearly get the credit he deserves and should be the top candidate by a long shot. Monty Williams and Juwan Howard are fine candidates but they are not ready to coach LeBron or this team.
LeBron is turning 35 next season and the stakes are too high. Hiring Williams or Howard would be experimenting and the Lakers should have kept Luke Walton if that was the case. Finally, Lue may be an X-factor in recruiting Kyrie Irving to the purple and gold.
Wade: Monty Williams. I can’t express enough that the Lakers head coaching situation is one that needs to be decided by a potentially new president of basketball operations. However, if I had to personally pick my first choice then it would be Monty Williams.
He has by far been one of the most knowledgeable basketball minds in the league and has previously worked alongside LeBron during their time together in the 2012 Olympics so the appointment will certainly go down well with the King (which is a must in this situation).
Torres: Juwan Howard. Again, difficult when the market sways in turn of not being in favor of coaches as well. I believe his vigor expressed under Coach Erik Spoelstra’s system as a player developer and assistant speaks for itself. Howard was also LeBron James’ teammate in Miami, so in speaking on that terms, he knows how to adapt to someone such as LeBron.