For the Los Angeles Lakers, picking the right head coach to succeed Frank Vogel will be of paramount importance, as it will help dictate all other decisions they make this offseason.
Several candidates have emerged, and observers are somewhat split on who would be the best pick.
Legendary Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t been shy about making suggestions for his former team, and he has one specific coaching candidate in mind who he thinks is the best one.
Via Lakers Daily:
“One of those candidates is former Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. Jackson spent three years as head coach of the Warriors and compiled a record of 121-109 during his time there.
“One former Laker who seems to be a strong proponent of Jackson is none other than Laker legend Shaquille O’Neal.
“O’Neal recently told Reuters in an exclusive interview that Jackson would be his pick to lead next year’s iteration of the Lakers.
“’Mark Jackson helped build Golden State before Steve Kerr took it to the next level,’ he said. ‘He made it a very sexy brand to watch, so I’m sure he can do that with LeBron [James] and Russ (Russell Westbrook).’”
Jackson is certainly a polarizing candidate. He does deserve some credit for starting what the Warriors have been able to build over the last several years.
In his last season with the team (2013-14), he got the Warriors to finish 51-31.
However, he was fired after they lost in seven games in the first round of the NBA playoffs to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Steve Kerr took over for him, and the very next season they won 67 games and the world championship. Clearly, Kerr has been a much better coach for Stephen Curry and crew than Jackson was.
Reportedly, a big reason why Jackson was dismissed was that he had trouble getting along with many people on the team. His extremely devout Christian faith has been cited as a culprit, as critics have said that it became a wedge that divided the Golden State locker room.
The Lakers certainly need not just a strong tactician to guide James and crew back to title contention, but also a strong voice who will unite the locker room under one vision and one mission.
