Woj: The Lakers have Dan Hurley’s attention NOW & talks are escalating quickly | NBA Today

Woj: The Lakers have Dan Hurley’s attention NOW & talks are escalating quickly | NBA Today

the Los Angeles Lakers they are targeting Dan Hurley the head coach of the back-to-back NCAA National Champion Yukon Huskies is the franchise’s next head coach that’s what wo reported early this morning Hurley is 141 and 58 in his six seasons with Yukon so w all of these conversations though they’re really preliminary but you’re reporting that both sides they plan to escalate those discussions what does that look like and what’s the timeline here I I think the timeline moves relatively quickly now whether that’s the weekend whether that’s early next week I don’t think that this is going to linger with Dan Hurley having this hang over his Yukon program and having the uncertainty about what’s next for them and the Lakers who at some point here really have to get on with their search they have been focused on Dan Hurley from the beginning and very quietly trying to lay the groundwork to get him uh interested and open-minded and ultimately committed uh to coming to La I’m told he’s going to be presented with a massive long-term contract that Rob penka Genie bus what they’re talking to him about is putting a program in place in La that they want him to be what they consider to be a legacy coach they’ve had them in La Pat Riley Phil Jackson coaches who spanned a significant period obviously had great success it’s not fair to put any young coach in that category but they see Dan Hurley as a coach who can be there a long time and put in place a program and give him a lot of voice about what it’s going to look like what Lakers basketball is what a Lakers player is and I think build that together that’s what they’re selling him on Dan Hurley has made no secret of his ambition to eventually coach in the NBA well the opportunity is not only here now but it’s at certainly one of the most stored teams in the league and if you want to win championships and you know you have to have great players to do it the Lakers always give you an opportunity yeah if they don’t have them now that they can get them because players want to play there but Dan Hurley uh the Lakers have Dan Hurley’s attention right now and this conversation is escalating as we speak here into the weekend of course this is a top down decision that needs to be made in the Lakers organization but LeBron James has been complimentary of Hurley over the years what do you make of of the Lakers interest here and the potential fit perk when I think about the Lakers they have been disfunctional over the last what four years no stability no culture different culture is Right always looking for the now you get a guy like Dan Hurley you’re building long term for the future right you’re trying to put a culture in place you think about a guy like Eric sposa a guy that came from being a video guy right elevated through the process went through the process and now has been in that seat for an extended period of time and it’s going to come down to the trust that hurle is going to have with jeie bus and Rob pinka that they’re going to support him 100% for him to make for for for him to make sure he’s able to go and hold guys accountable and Coach his weight we know he’s a hard-nosed guy he’s from New Jersey right yeah the Jersey area Jersey City yeah Jersey City and I think some comps for what the Lakers are trying to do Billy Donovan in Oklahoma City now he inherited a team that was Championship ready was trying to play for a championship and if not for a Klay Thompson Outburst in the third quarter of a game six might have gotten to the finals and won it that year Quinn Snider in Utah he comes in right he comes no I was just saying said go back to that we can go back to that I don’t want to take titles away from you but but Quinn Snider in Utah who took over a rebuild with the Jazz but in sync with Dennis Lindsay their GM uh Sam presty and Billy Donovan I think that’s what Rob Pena is looking for here is yes a college coach who is uh Elite in Player Development you talk to NBA coaches and they they are looking at the stuff danan Hurley’s running in college uh a lot of his offensive actions I talked to some coaches who as they’re evaluating Yukon players in this draft are watching lots of Yukon tape and are saying wow he runs stuff that we think would translate in this league those are all the elements that Rob pinka wants to bring to LA and take something that goes beyond LeBron James and connecting with Anthony Davis showing him how this is going to benefit him the kinds of offensive actions he can get him in that’s important but Austin Reeves ruy haima Max Christie the young players they think Dan Hurley can help improve that group in the new NBA with this new collective bargaining agreement you are going to have to not just draft well you’re going to have to develop your young players the days of teams like the Lakers trading four first round picks right to get in Anthony Davis that is a harder way to build your roster because you end up looking like the Suns do right now three stars but not the balance and infrastructure it’s a different way of looking at team building even for the Lakers the big markets they think Danny Hurley fits perfectly into that my biggest thing is that the Lakers have been dysfunctional for a certain level of time even through their Champion but even but even prior to that you know they bring in Byron Scott and then he gets fired after a Kobe farewell tour which you know like that’s not the best way to really evaluate how a person’s doing then you bring in Luke Walden obviously all the stuff goes on with magic and Rob and then magic leaves then you bring in Frank Bogle Frank Bogle wins a championship fired a year later then you bring in then you bring in Darin ham he goes into a Conference Finals fired a year later so to me it’s like I am not questioning at all can Hurley coach we know he’s proven like the stripes are there my thing is this when we look at the last five or six coaches even ones that won championships even ones that went to the Conference Finals in their first year and in the second year they lose to maybe the best team in the NBA or or Denver so for me if we’re talking about the Lakers they get the luck of like like people are always going to want to come here we’re always going to get free agents so we don’t have to be as organized as we should so I don’t I think he’s going to be a great coach I think he could do a great job but then I also wonder oh you could win a championship and and be fired the following year you can go to the Conference Finals and be fired the next year so what are they looking for and if that’s what they’re looking for long term then good for [Music] [Applause] them is

On NBA Today, Adrian Wojnarowski, Kendrick Perkins, Richard Jefferson and Chiney Ogwumike join Malika Andrews to discuss the developing story that the Los Angeles Lakers are “relentlessly” targeting UConn Huskies’ back-to-back champion head coach, Dan Hurley.

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/
📱Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og
☑️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
☑️Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV