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Nine years ago, the Lakers and Suns were at war in the final phase of the Western Conference. It was six games for Amar'e Stoudemire and L.A before NY. Steve Nash against no. 24 Kobe Bryant, and at the end of the playoffs, Kobe had enough rings to fill an entire hand. Nash had missed another chance to qualify for the NBA finals and Stoudemire had enough, signed and signed in New York this summer. Since then, both franchises are mainly downhill.
The Lakers, while the story is over for six years, has not participated in the playoffs this season. Phoenix neither; In fact, the Suns have not played in sets since Kobe eliminated his 37 points in 2010. Yet in the spirit of celebrating the tenth anniversary of their last meeting in May, Phoenix and Los Angeles face each other again. . Both are looking for new head coaches and both franchises have at least one overlapping candidate: Sixers badistant Monty Williams. Only, it's not a fight to the death for the chance of a title, it's a fight to prove that the work of their team is worse than that of the other.
In one corner, Phoenix, as messy and unstable as we had left it on the last lap. After only one season with Igor Kokoskov, the Suns saw him. Like the coach who preceded him, Kokoskov has no experience as the head coach of the NBA; unlike Earl Watson, god bless him, Kokoskov made have more than one year of badistant in the league before being hired. During Kokoskov's reign, Phoenix had a sheer coincidence, finishing last in the West with a record of 19-63 – the worst winning percentage since the franchise's inception in 1968.
Former Suns CEO Ryan McDonough, who hired Kokoskov, called the dismissals "routine procedures for the Suns, unfortunately." Recruitment and feckless dismissals seem to be the way Robert Sarver works; The next Phoenix head coach will be his fourth in five years. (McDonough himself had been released nine days before the start of the season, but with five full seasons, McDonough was the longest running general manager since Sarver had bought the team in 2004. Seven other men were named to the title. another ten years.)
So, you could say that Sarver has the king's crazy vibrations. No coach who travels to Phoenix will ever know if his job is safe or whether the job of the one who hired him is safe. The wait may not be to win right away, but simply to show signs of improvement. Whoever succeeds will inherit from a young team with no experience but gaining potential: Devin Booker is only 22 years old and enters his fifth season, rookie Deandre Ayton dominated the end of the season, Josh Jackson is back and Kelly Oubre Jr is back as a restricted free agent. Phoenix is also one of only three teams to have had the best chances in the first draft of the 2019 draft. The odds – only 14.0% – are slimmer than last season, but even a slim chance of landing on Zion Williamson is worth to be taken into account.
The work of the Suns is would have Williams, if he wants to. Williams, badistant coach / badistant coach of the Thunder and Sixers, has long been waiting for the Pelicans to let him go in 2015, after five years, 173-221 and two appearances in the postseason series with the Pelicans. Injuries prevented Williams' New Orleans teams from coming back, but he left the organization with the coach's reputation as a highly respected player. Phoenix and L.A. were smart to call.
Williams interviewed twice with Los Angeles, as did former Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue. After three years with Cleveland, Lue was released after a 0-6 start. April 16th The New York TimesMarc Stein said the Lakers favored Williams because of the fear that "hiring Lue would give LeBron too much control". May 1, Stein m said Read should be the first option, because "James would be the happiest and most engaged of his game for Ty Lue".
The benefits of Lakers work are easier to identify. Beyond valued of the franchise (which, let's be true, is suspended for the moment) and its location, L.A. has the alignment of being formidable. LeBron James will be with the organization for at least two other seasons (he has a player option in 2021). There is enough space to capture a maximum contract player this summer. And although the stock of young men has never been so low, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma have market value.
But each of these benefits comes with a caveat. James battled injury and effort this season and failed to bring the Lakers home in the playoffs after missing 27 games. There is no indication that this year 's free agent campaign stars wanted to come to Los Angeles. This was true even before Magic Johnson disintegrated, suddenly retiring from his presidential post and confirming that the Lakers front-office is powered by nothing more and shrugging his chest. Owner, Jeanie Buss, has not indicated that she would be hiring a new president rather than promoting general manager Rob Pelinka, but Pelinka, who is in charge of coaches' research, gives no hint that he can lead an organization.
Any coach with the Lakers should accept a blow to the safety of their job too. Apart from Erik Spoelstra, James's career has never been shaped as much by a coach as by his own. James' success is the success of the franchise. Before the Lakers, he was the man who could go to the finals with any composition. If he was not injured, that might have always been the case. Now there is even more pressure to do something from his Lakers experience. With the Suns, a coach must show an upward movement; with the Lakers, a coach has to climb to the top.
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