After a month-long coaching search, the Los Angeles Lakers eventually hired former Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel.
While Vogel was not the team’s first choice, he was open to them choosing his coaching staff. And through all of the conflicting reports, the one constant was the Lakers adding former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd.
With Kidd expected to become Vogel’s lead assistant coach, the Lakers are slowly adding to his staff ahead of the 2019 NBA Draft on June 20.
Although former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins was considered a candidate, he will join Vogel’s staff as an assistant coach now for the 2019-20 NBA season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
The Los Angeles Lakers are hiring Lionel Hollins as an assistant coach, league sources told ESPN. The Lakers have made it a priority to add head coaching experience to new coach Frank Vogel’s staff, which now includes Hollins and Jason Kidd.
During former head coach Luke Walton’s three seasons, one criticism was his inexperienced coaching staff. With three former head coaches, it has been addressed and it will be interesting to see if they are able to work together.
Before the Lakers reportedly hired Hollins, Vogel was personally not worried about Kidd eventually replacing him as the team’s head coach. Instead, he was more worried about adding good assistant coaches to his staff.
As Kidd’s past is well-documented, Hollins has previously coached the Grizzlies and the Brooklyn Nets. During Hollins’ nine seasons, he has a 262-272 record and led the Grizzlies to the 2013 Western Conference Finals.
Because Hollins has not coached since the 2015-16 season, this is likely an opportunity for him to show future teams how he views the game now. With Hollins set to join the Lakers, they are creating a solid coaching staff.
With the Lakers attempting to put all of the drama behind them, the hope is former president of basketball operations Magic Johnson’s comments have not impacted their ability to improve the roster. As Vogel will have an analytics-based approach, he reportedly has LeBron James’ respect.