NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers won’t pursue Derek Fisher
Two of the NBA’s most historic franchises, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, are still without head coaches.
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That could change for one team soon. It looks like talks between Knicks’ president Phil Jackson and Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Derek Fisher are set to heat up. Although Fisher has never been a coach, he’s been a well-respected player for quite some time and has experience dealing with NBA players, having served as president of the NBA Player’s Association.
Despite those accolades, the Lakers, will not be pursuing Fisher, according to Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times.
"The Lakers have decided they need a coach with previous NBA coaching experience, which means one thing for Derek Fisher: He isn’t a candidate.The Lakers think Fisher will be a solid NBA coach or executive at some point, but their initial curiosity about him has been replaced by a desire for actual experience, the latest turn in a deliberately slow coaching search approaching the six-week mark."
Instead, the Lakers will likely turn their attention to one of the five candidates they have already interviewed – Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Lionel Hollins, Alvin Gentry and Mike Dunleavy.
Scott Skiles has also been mentioned as a candidate.
The Lakers would like to hire a coach before their offseason really begins. The Lakers hold the seventh-overall pick in the NBA Draft and they’d certainly like their coach to be involved. They also face an offseason in which they will have several free agents, including Pau Gasol. Only Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Robert Sacre are under contract for the 2014-2015 season (although others could be depending on their options and guarantees).