LA Lakers News Roundup: Shaquille O’Neal wants Clippers assistant as Lakers next head coach, James Worthy sounds off on Purple and Gold not ‘creating players’ and more | May 27th, 2022
The LA Lakers are likely to appoint their new head coach soon. As per reports, they have three finalists for the job: Darvin Ham, Terry Stotts and Kenny Atkinson.
However, there's another coach former superstar Shaquille O'Neal wants the Lakers to approach. Meanwhile, O'Neal also mentioned the LA Lakers as one of the three most disappointing teams during the 2021-22 NBA season.
Former LA Lakers great James Worthy was critical of the franchise for not "building a team" like some of their rivals.
The Lakers' urge to sign superstars has affected their roster chemistry, leading to them moving several young stars over the years. This has left L.A. without many resources to work with to form a competitive roster.
Shaquille O'Neal wants LA Lakers to approach former teammate Brian Shaw
Shaquille O'Neal has been vocal about his thoughts on the LA Lakers during the current season. The Lakers failed to make the play-in tournament and fired head coach Frank Vogel after the end of their 2021-22 season.
They are now on the lookout for a new head coach.
O'Neal had previously suggested he would take up the job if LA offered him a deal worth $25 million a year for four years. He has now pitched former teammate and current LA Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw as a candidate. Here's what O'Neal said regarding this (click here to view the full story):
“All the guys that are nominated, I want them to get that opportunity. Darvin Ham, all these guys. I would like to see Brian Shaw, the head coach. ... He knows the system, he knows the people, and I think he can do the same thing that Ty Lue did. Ty Lue was a players’ coach.”
"It was a team effort... we just stayed with it, we got down and we didn’t hang our head."
Coach Brian Shaw on the team closing it out in Brooklyn. https://t.co/seR3G3xdAZ
James Worthy lambasts LA Lakers for not building their roster like their rivals
LA Lakers great James Worthy wants the LA Lakers to rethink their squad-building strategy. The Lakers haven't hesitated to acquire big-name players by trading all their draft capital and young talented players over the last few years.
They find themselves in a difficult position in the upcoming offseason, with a lack of resources to retool their roster.
The Russell Westbrook experiment failed miserably, with the Lakers finding it difficult to move his $47 million contract for next year. Here's what Worthy had to say about the Lakers' squad building technique (h/t CBS Sports):
"The Lakers, I think they have refused to build over the years," Worthy said during an appearance on the "Stoney & Jansen Show. "We've had some good players: [Brandon] Ingram, [Julius] Randle, [Lonzo] Ball. We have tried to win quickly.
"In Kobe [Bryant]'s last few years, we brought in [Steve] Nash, who was a little bit older, Dwight Howard came in with a back injury. We traded away draft picks to try to win immediately and I think they're going to have to really think about how they need to build."
Worthy continued.
"You look at Memphis, you look at the way Boston is playing right now, you look at the way Milwaukee has built a team over time. We need to create players that have cohesiveness.
"We had it a couple years ago and we traded it all away to try to win, to try to match what Brooklyn was doing and what other teams were doing with their Big Three players. I think that's going to go away. That's an illusion, having the Big Three.
"You see what happened in Brooklyn, you see what happened with the Lakers. Even though everyone experienced injuries, you still should be playing better and you should definitely be in the playoffs. So the Lakers — it's embarrassing and it's unacceptable."
James Worthy on state of NBA: "All they do is practice threes … get tattoos and tweet"
audacy.com/971theticket/s…
Shaquille O'Neal names the LA Lakers as one of the three most disappointing teams during the 2021-22 NBA season
The LA Lakers finished with a record of 33-49, despite having a star-studded roster led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook. They only had three players on their roster from the previous season.
The Lakers struggled to find their chemistry, eventually facing early elimination. They finished with the 11th best record in the Western Conference, failing to even make the play-in tournament.
Shaquille O'Neal has expressed his disappointment several times in the past. He recently mentioned the Lakers as one of the three most disappointing teams this season. Here's what he said on "The Big Podcast with Shaq" (click here to read the full story):
"All. 33, 33, 33, and the one percent that's left over goes to Utah. Cause you guys be telling me how great these players are, they do this, they do that. Then when I say something, a guy with G-19 classification, not G-14, I got presidential clearance to say what I say. Y'all wanna jump on me."
"I'm the best-looking 7-footer in the world." 😎
@SHAQ has a whole lot of confidence on the latest episode of #TheBigPodcast: bit.ly/38NAY4O https://t.co/LJXPLnxDYF