This Lakers coach is the key to making Kyrie Irving work in LA
By Jason Reed
At this point, it seems like a matter of time until the Los Angeles Lakers trade for Kyrie Irving. Interest around Irving seems to be low after Kevin Durant demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets with the Lakers in the driver’s seat.
There are some kinks that need to be worked out in the trade and the hope is that Los Angeles does not let a small hurdle potentially keep the entire deal from happening. With the Russell Westbrook situation being so bad in LA, the Lakers have to make this happen.
While Irving is a better fit from a basketball sense than Westbrook is, it is still fair to question whether or not Irving could actually take the Lakers to the promised land next season. After all, he has not been the most consistent or reliable star player over the last few years and his relationship with LeBron seemed to deteriorate after he requested a trade from Cleveland.
We have watched the Nets slowly burn despite everyone penciling them in to win multiple titles with Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden. Big threes do not always work out and while trading for Irving actually makes a title possible (unlike with Westbrook), it is fair to be concerned about what might happen next.
Luckily for the Lakers, they have an ace up their sleeve that might allow the team to finally crack the Irving case that both the Celtics and Nets tried to crack.
Phil Handy is the key to making Kyrie Irving work on the Los Angeles Lakers.
New head coach Darvin Ham decided to keep Phil Handy on the coaching staff after being hired this offseason and it might be the best decision he could have made. Handy is a very respected coach throughout the league who came over to Los Angeles with LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Handy was hired by the Cavaliers one year before LeBron returned to the team and as a player-development coach, was tasked with developing Kyrie Irving.
There, according to former teammate Richard Jefferson, Irving and Handy developed a great relationship. Handy helped Kyrie maximize himself and become the star point guard that he became. Irving needs people he can trust around him and Handy is certainly one of those people.
Heck, Handy was even the one that connected Irving with Los Angeles Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant. Bryant and Kyrie were extremely close and to be able to reunite with the coach that connected them, as well as go to Los Angeles and honor the late-great Kobe, could be really special for Irving.
And hopefully, that results in the distractions not following Irving to Los Angeles. That is part of the equation when you are bringing in Kyrie but at least the Lakers have a system in place that could best limit that noise and just focus on basketball.