Adrian Wojnarowski on Hurley/Lakers

Adrian Wojnarowski on Hurley/Lakers

now let’s get to the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching search please that is now focused on Yukon head coach Danny Hurley Hurley recently won back-to-back NCAA Basketball Championships and has a top five team returning this season he’s reportedly been the obsession of Lakers general manager Rob palinka whom he’ll meet with this weekend along with team owner Genie bus the Lakers according to ESPN’s very own Adrien wowski are looking at a potential deal that would be significant in its length and salary now Hurley has not made a decision about leaving Yukon but he did inform the University of his interest in taking the job wge will join me momentarily but I wanted to give my take on this Lakers situation really really quickly Danny Hurley deserves this job if he wants it Rob pinka according to the exceptional reporting of wge has been obsessive in his pursuit of Danny Hurley and rightfully so he’s a two-time national champion he’s the best in the game right now we’ve seen other coaches come on to the pro ranks the Brad Stevens of the world the John kiparis of the world and others and have some degree of success including Billy Donovan let’s not forget him in the job that he did at the University of Florida I’m not going to forget the job that Darin ham did because he did go to the Western Conference Finals his first year he did lose all and and and lose in five games to Denver in the first round but both losses were to the Denver Nuggets led by the arguably the greatest player in the world in niic so we got to take that into consideration how much more can Danny Hurley do I don’t know but I know if anybody deserves the shot he does and I’ll leave it at that because I got to get to my next guest right now joining me to talk more about the Lakers coaching search is the man who broke the story for ESPN the man who breaks most stories when it comes to the National Basketball Association I used to be an NBA Insider ladies and gentlemen let me say this in all honesty I was never this man my next guest senior NBA Insider recognized for breaking the news reporting on the league over the past decade plus one of the best in the world he host he’s the host of the wge Pod and the W report both on YouTube by the way please welcome my buddy my partner in crime on NBA Countdown one of the best NBA insiders in the history of this profession the one and only Adrien W narowski what’s going on Big Time how are you sir how’s everything Stephen A I’m great I’m great good to be here with you man thank you for being here let’s get right to it how much do you how big of a possibility do you think it’s going to be that Danny Hurley is going to be the next head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers Stephen there’s a real possibility and there’s Traction in these conversations between Hurley and the Lakers that the job is his if he wants it and I think that’s been clear to him uh for a you know some period of time here and it’s really just been the last few days where now he’s you going to formally meet with the Lakers he told Yukon that he was going to do that he told his players that and he flew to California on a Thursday night and today’s Friday and so he’s gonna meet with as you mentioned Rob penka jeie bus um and and sit down with them and see what this could look like this is not done he’s not made a decision certainly at the time that we’re talking but he is seriously weighing this and the NBA’s always been an ambition of his the kind of job the Lakers is and what it represents and what it means in the coaching fraternity you could make a case it might be the most uh pressurized most famous most stored seat maybe in all of coaching and maybe not just basketball so I think all of that appeals to Dan Hurley and and he’s looking hard at this to look to get back and give folks on the outside some insight to all of this we’ve heard numerous people reporting that there were numerous candidates most notably our colleague at ESPN JJ reic the inside info is that I want to let America know that when I was thinking about that the one and only Adrien wowski would come over to me and say wait a minute it’s not quite going down that way Stephen A let me hook you up with the Intel and that’s exactly what you did paint a picture for what the situation has been leading up to Hurley being in this position was it always him was it numerous people like a JJ reck was it really nobody at all was it really all about Dan Hurley break that picture down for my audience please Stephen A the other candidates who they’ve talked to are viable legitimate coaching candidates not just with the Lakers but will be with other teams but Rob pink identified early that Dan Hurley was the coach that he wanted to hire but he didn’t know if he’d be able to get him he couldn’t just spend two three weeks pursuing Dan Hurley and hoping to get a chance to get down the road the way they have here at the end and so he has interviewed other candidates and if Dan Hurley says no to this job then it’s going to circle back to the JJ recks the James bgos among some others Sam Cassell who’s an assistant with the Celtics is interviewed James bgo there’s been different uh variations of interviews in this B they did an initial wave of candidates while they’re waiting to see if they could make any Headway with Hurley where they brought in guys and they got to know guys that they hadn’t interviewed in the past remember they just did a coaching cir a couple years ago right so they had met with some of these guys they didn’t they they did sort of an informal like more of a get to know you with a bunch of guys including JJ reick including James bergo because there just wasn’t familiarity they brought bgo back for a more of a sitdown formal all day let’s really dig into an interview they hadn’t done that yet with JJ and I think they would have if the hurle thing didn’t start to accelerate here and again if Dan Hurley turns down the Lakers or they just can’t come to an agreement again this could come back JJ reick is a coach or a coaching candidate that the Lakers have a lot of had lot of interest in they preferred Dan Hurley which you could understand he’s you know two-time back-to-back Champion he’s been coaching a long time uh there’s a lot to be intrigued about with Hurley so you know we’ve been reporting about interviews and permission the Lakers have gotten from other teams to talk to candidates but that’s as far as the Lakers are concerned those were candidates that they were talking to that they were getting to know and moving down the road only if they couldn’t get Dan Hurley what exactly are the Lakers looking for and I only ask that question W because again I listen I understand why the Lakers felt the need to make the move with with darham I knew darham remember you and I were standing together and I knew Darin Ham’s days were numbered when I saw what Anthony Davis said in the aftermath of game two losing game two in Denver and was talking about how disorganized I was like oh my Lord that’s bad sign for any coach so I knew it then but what exactly are the the Lakers looking for in their next head coach crystalize that for us the Lakers want to build out a program a way of doing things from top to bottom organizationally and giving the coach giving Hurley a lot of latitude to do that and to partner with penka the front office in really allowing him to kind of redefine to them of what a Laker it would be a Laker Hurley player Style play System all of those things that they think Dan Hurley can bring and what they’ve seen him do at Connecticut you know you look at Billy Donovan going to Oklahoma City and listen he inherited a team that was rated to win a championship Hurley wouldn’t be doing that Quinn Snyder in Utah took over a team that was Lot in the lottery drafted Rudy Gober Donovan Mitchell developed them became you know a viable Western Contender you’ve seen college guys come in the ones who’ve had success have kind of had a a a partnership with the front office you know to build out a way of doing things that’s what Peno wants to do with Hurley he is certainly you’ve seen players just really develop at Yukon Donovan Kling and the seven-footer who will be one of the top few picks in this draft uh Stefon Castle in one year at Yukon we can go down the list they’ve had they’ve gotten guys better they have maximized the guys they have and you’ve seen a system in place there that has dominated college basketball they were they they lapped everybody this year they they had a they won a national championship where they outscored their opponents in this tournament Stephen A by 140 points John Wooden never did that and so the level of dominance is you know has Rob Pena’s attention and so what he wants is instead of just going team Year to you know a team team team is again building out a program can a coach who can get Austin Reeds and ruy hamur and Max Christie improve those guys drafting well developing those guys but you’re LA and you’re always going to have access to either through trade or free agency to great players who want to come here you have to have those players you know who they are Stephen A if you’re going to play for a championship we can list I don’t know one of six players seven eight players you better have one of them or you’re not competing for a title maybe the list is even shorter than that so what Hena SE is this history in La of you know Jerry bus had Pat Riley and jeie bus had Phil Jackson he sees Dan Hurley as that next Legacy coach for the Lakers that’s what he’s banking on here

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