The retooling Los Angeles Lakers, which missed the playoffs and cut ties with coach Frank Vogel last month, have reportedly narrowed down their coaching search to three names. According to The Athletic, the final round of interviews involves former Portland Trail Blazers leader Terry Stotts, Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, and Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham. The list of pursued candidates hasn't exactly received widespread approval.
At the moment, it's unclear which finalist has the best chance to land the job. But the Lakers' new coach will be tasked with not only pushing the team back to the Western Conference playoffs, but laying the foundation for success as veteran superstar LeBron James enters the twilight of his career. Los Angeles' next leader will need to bridge eras, and The Athletic NBA writer Zach Harper believes they'd benefit from a team-oriented coach.
"It's going to be more about the extra pieces they put around than the coach. It's not that the coach isn't important -- it's not, 'LeBron coaches that team,'" Harper told After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Thursday. "It's just going to be, half-management and half-coaching. The management part of that is going to be finding rotations that work, players who can play some defense. Guys who can knock down shots, play together without getting hurt.
"It's very difficult. Rob Pelinka and that front office have their work cut out for them. And whether it's Terry Stotts, Darvin Ham, whoever ends up being the coach, it'll have to be a lot of people putting egos aside, getting on the same page, and playing in a way that's for the team. And they did that the previous two years under Frank Vogel. They didn't do that last year. Everything was for the individual last year."
In a season that started with championship promise, the Lakers were officially eliminated from playoff contention in April, in a road loss to the Phoenix Suns. Besieged by injuries to key players and inconsistent play on both ends of the court, Los Angeles finished 11th in the Western Conference with a poor 33-49 record. And it was just the second time since 2005 that James missed out on postseason action.
Phil Jackson, the legendary coach who guided the Lakers to five titles during the 2000s, is reportedly advising the team in its coaching search. And based on a recent L.A. Times report, Jackson isn't too keen on Los Angeles keeping James. The 37-year-old ironically produced one of his most laudable seasons amid on-court dysfunction and poor roster management. In 56 games, James averaged a team-high 30.3 points -- his highest mark since 2010 -- along with 8.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.3 steals over 37.2 minutes.
The entire NBA conversation between Harper and Lawrence can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow After Hours With Amy Lawrence on Twitter @ALawRadio and @AfterHoursCBS, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.