LeBron James’ biggest battle: A franchise he possibly can’t control
By Ronald Agers
The new coach is not for LeBron James, the coach is for Jeanie Buss
No disrespect to any of the other reports stating that the Lakers are looking for the best coach for LeBron James. I’m here to tell you, no, they are not.
The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for a coach to CONTROL LeBron James. Coach…control, see the difference?
A part of me really wants to believe that Jeanie and Rob Pelinka read my piece on the “LeBron James” takeover during the trade deadline in February. Based on what is going on with this coaching search, it sure does look like it. If the Lakers REALLY wanted a coach for LeBron James, they would have had Ty Lue in the fold during the All-Star break.
It’s hard to believe under any circumstances that Ty Lue shouldn’t have the job based on his body of work.
A) He worked under Doc Rivers, a coach the Lakers wanted before he said no, for years.
B) Ty Lue was a part of a Cleveland Cavaliers team that went to four straight NBA Finals series. He was brought to the staff as the highest paid assistant coach in the NBA.
C) He then took over as head coach and guided the Cavaliers to three straight NBA Finals, winning an NBA championship in 2016.
D) Oh yeah, he coached the last team to beat the Golden State Warriors in a playoff series.
Now he’s taking this type of resume up against two ex-coaches that have below .500 records (Monty Williams and Jason Kidd) and a candidate that hasn’t coached a game yet (Juwan Howard).
I mean, at least Luke Walton was 39-4 reading the newspaper while the Warriors were racking up wins in their 73-9 season. All of this and it seems that Monty Williams is the leader in the clubhouse.
I mean what gives? New York Times’ Marc Stein may have an idea on the issue the Lakers face right now.
That control was never more evident than the Anthony Davis saga. Let’s investigate the aftermath.