Frontrunners for Lakers Coaching Job Emerge, Per NBA Insider
Two frontrunners for the Lakers head coaching role have emerged, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski as LA’s search ramps up this week.
The longtime insider spoke at length about two names that have been earmarked as the team searches for Darvin Ham’s replacement.
“A couple of names to watch in this search. James Borrego, the top assistant in New Orleans, they went from the [ranked] 21, 22 offense in the league last year to a top 10 offense,” Woj said. “…Borrego had a good run his head coach in Charlotte went from 23 to 33 to 43 wins. He was obviously with Gregg Popovich for a long time in San Antonio. He’ll be a candidate in this process.
“Another candidate is someone who hasn’t coached, and that’s our colleague here at ESPN, J.J Redick. He is certainly somebody that the Lakers are drilling down on, they’re making calls and trying to get a sense of what a head coach, head coach J.J. Redick would look like.”
Wojnarowski said current ESPN analyst JJ Redick is being studied by the team very closely.
“…one name that the Lakers have been drilling down on in their initial research here: JJ Redick, our colleague at ESPN. He is certainly somebody that the Lakers are intrigued with. They’ve been making a lot of calls to try to learn more about him. But expect this to be a wide ranging and lengthy search.”
Of course, there are plenty of other names being mentioned.
Other top NBA assistant coaches are being considered, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha recently reported.
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These include Micah Nori (Minnesota), David Adelman (Denver), Sean Sweeney (Dallas), and Chris Quinn (Miami).
Former Warriors assistant and Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson is the current betting favorite to take out the Lakers top job.
No head coach at LA has lasted longer than three seasons since Phil Jackson was head coach from 1999-2011.
READ MORE: JJ Redick Teases LeBron James for Complaining About Refs’ Treatment of Lakers
Jayson Tatum Addresses His Critics After Bounce Back Game
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Jayson Tatum has copped his fair share of criticism this postseason and after an impressive Game 3 performance, he addressed his critics.
Tatum led from the front in Boston’s 106-93 win after recording a team high 33 points – his highest scoring game in the playoffs so far.
The Celtics forward also filled the rest of the stat sheet with a well-rounded performance that included a team-high 13 rebounds, six assists, a steal, and a block.
The message he had for his critics included the point that there is more to an NBA game than just high scores.
“When they are fair, and they take emotion out of it – whatever way they are leaning towards and they are fair, I respect it,” Tatum said of his critics. “I understand what the media has brought to our game: more eyes, more attention, and how everybody has benefitted from that, so I wouldn’t say I’d take [criticism] as disrespect.
“I don’t always agree with what [the critics] say. Maybe I feel like they’re not watching everything else that I’m doing, but that’s not my job to focus on that or give it any attention,” Tatum added. “My job is to be the best player I can be for our team on any given night.”
The 26-year-old has averaged just 21.7 points in the first seven games, but doesn’t seem concerned about it.
“I would love to make every shot I take, and I know I can shoot better and I will, but at this time in the season, as long as we win and are trending in the right direction, I know me scoring will come,” Tatum said. “I’ve done that plenty, plenty of times. I just try to impact the game in other ways and just dominate — dominate the game and not just be defined as just a scorer.”
READ MORE: JJ Redick Teases LeBron James for Complaining About Refs’ Treatment of Lakers
Anthony Edwards Responds to Rough Loss Against Nuggets
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Anthony Edwards has taken the blame for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 117-90 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 3 on Friday.
It was a disappointing result for the Timberwolves, who had previously taken a commanding 2-0 lead over the reigning champions with two straight road wins to start the series.
“It’s on me,” Edwards said. “I’ll take the blame for this loss. I came out with no energy at all. I can’t afford to do that for my team. I let my team down, the fans down.”
Edwards was quiet by his standards in Game 3, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. And while his statline looked passable on paper, he also finished the game with a plus/minus of -32.
Edwards and the Timberwolves were just no match for the Nuggets on this particular night.
Nikola Jokic was exceptional with 24 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, while Jamal Murray bounced back from a rough Game 2 with 24 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Denver was certainly not lacking motivation heading into the game, with coach Mike Malone showing his team a mashup of national TV analysts who declaring the series to be over.
“You’re always testing and finding out about human nature and what guys are made of,” said Nuggets coach Mike Malone, who . “If that doesn’t resonate with you as a competitor, I don’t know what will.”
Game 4 will tip off in Minneapolis on Sunday.
READ MORE: ‘I Want It to Stop’: Anthony Edwards Speaks Out on Michael Jordan Comparisons
JJ Redick Teases LeBron James for Complaining About Refs’ Treatment of Lakers
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JJ Redick isn’t afraid to hold LeBron James accountable. That much was clear on the latest episode of ‘Mind The Game’ when James started placing some blame on the officials while speaking about the Lakers’ first-round series against Nuggets.
James said that in the playoffs, players are usually allowed to be more physical than in the regular season. He added that this wasn’t the case during the Lakers’ series against the Nuggets.
Redick then quickly interjected, “Says the guy whose team had the greatest free throw disparity in NBA history the last two seasons.”
Both of them laughed before continuing their conversation.
Clearly, James and Redick have a close enough relationship that they can tease each other like this. James would not have started a podcast with Redick in the first place if he didn’t like and respect him.
In fact, there’s so much respect between the two of them that this has led to speculation that Redick could become the next coach of the Lakers.
This stems from the belief that James has a lot of sway in the decision-making at the Lakers, as well as reports that Redick had attracted interest from another team in their head coaching hunt, namely the Charlotte Hornets.
The Hornets have since hired Celtics assistant Charles Lee, but the Redick report thrust his name into the conversation around head coach candidates heading into next season.
It remains to be seen if Redick will enter the coaching ranks, and how this would affect his podcast with James.
READ MORE: LeBron James’ New Show With JJ Redick Is Unlike Any Other Player Podcast
Shaq Goes Nuclear On Shannon Sharpe in Savage Rant
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Shaq has responded to Shannon Sharpe’s recent criticism of him in the form of a very long, heated Instagram post.
This follows Sharpe criticising Shaq for telling Nikola Jokic on air that he didn’t deserve to win MVP. The former Denver Broncos legend suggested O’Neal was jealous of Jokic.
Here’s Shaq’s response in its entirety:
you took me sticking up @shai ask jealousy of joker. shows how smart you are and how you say anything to get clicks. so here’s some click bait for you. if you ain’t ranked in the top ten in your profession , then you can’t speak on Me. don’t forget i know what you did to get were you at. me jealous, sounds like you jealous. i kno you tryna stay relevant by gossiping on your podcast. we don’t believe you. you need more people and in case you forgot. 4 rings three finals Mvp top 50 and top 75. google me. and to b quite frank all this new success you got, you still under me. u don’t kno my work ethic. but according i work less than you but im worth more than you. make it make sense. love you to. if you need help making money it’s better ways than gossiping. i’m to old for this shit love always the most dominant big man ever who never took it serious. remember i don’t know you. and in the words of @skipbayless im better than you. #g14classification i have it, you don’t, not in my profession. and your goat debate , never wanted to be the goat i wanted to be who you should greet me as THE MOST DOMINANT EVER. #theapexpredator
