Coach K & Lakers?

[markbdevil]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24099667/ns/sports-nba/

[JasonEvans]

Been there... done that.

Actually, it is "Been there, decided not to do that."

The "rumor" comes from a columnist for the Milwaukee (http://my.journaltimes.com/post/woelfel-world-of-sports/draft_winds_change_for_bucks.html) paper (yeah, he is likely to be in the know about LA and Duke). His column talks about a ton of stuff and then just throws out this nugget toward the bottom--


At least one well-informed NBA informant insists that Lakers coach Phil Jackson will hang up the clipboard this summer and his successor could be Duke's Mike Krzyzewski -- especially if his highly-influential agent (Kobe Bryant) puts the heat on Lakers management.

Jackson is expected to stay another year or two-- $12-million is tough to turn down as is a shot at another championship.

--Jason "I am sure K would be on the Laker's wish-list, but that does not mean K would take the job" Evans

[SupaDave]

Been there... done that.

Actually, it is "Been there, decided not to do that."

The "rumor" comes from a columnist for the Milwaukee (http://my.journaltimes.com/post/woelfel-world-of-sports/draft_winds_change_for_bucks.html) paper (yeah, he is likely to be in the know about LA and Duke). His column talks about a ton of stuff and then just throws out this nugget toward the bottom--



Jackson is expected to stay another year or two-- $12-million is tough to turn down as is a shot at another championship.

--Jason "I am sure K would be on the Laker's wish-list, but that does not mean K would take the job" Evans

Especially when the team could be on cruise control for the first four months of the season...

[Azdukefan]

There have been so many who have criticized Coach K's every move recently. With the harsh reality that someday he will leave, I hope it is later rather than sooner. When he decides to move on, the entire college basketball community will take three steps back. So, for those of you thinking Duke needs another direction (careful what you wish for because it may become a reality), you may want to take a look back at the things coach has done for the university and college game as a whole. Coach, please do not leave what you love to manage minutes for a bunch of thugs.

[BlueintheFace]

wasn't there just a thread on this? I was going to suggest we do some locking or merging, but maybe my memory deceives me...

Well, either way, this is a non-story

[UrinalCake]

Just wanted to opine that just because he's turned down NBA jobs in the past doesn't mean that he'll never ever accept one in the future. I hope it doesn't happen of course, but it's possible the time spent with the national team has changed his perceptions of the pro game.

As a sort-of-relevant examples, Roy Williams rejected UNC once, and Kansas fans probably took that as a sign that he'd never leave. Until he did.

[SilkyJ]

As a sort-of-relevant examples, Roy Williams rejected UNC once, and Kansas fans probably took that as a sign that he'd never leave. Until he did.

Was it 5 years, $40 million relevant?

[MADevil30]

Just wanted to opine that just because he's turned down NBA jobs in the past doesn't mean that he'll never ever accept one in the future. I hope it doesn't happen of course, but it's possible the time spent with the national team has changed his perceptions of the pro game.

As a sort-of-relevant examples, Roy Williams rejected UNC once, and Kansas fans probably took that as a sign that he'd never leave. Until he did.

Thats a good example, but I think a major difference is that the jump from NCAA to NBA is really different from just changing schools. K really has it made in Durham, he is the BMOC in every possible sense and basically has a job until he wants to call it quits. Coaching in the NBA is such an uncertain profession; the league is kind of backwards in that a team is a million times more likely to stick by its star player(s) than by its coach, and therefore coaches are fired at an unbelievably fast rate. Why pass up such a sure thing where he has an untouchable legacy for a position where the average tenure can't be greater than three years?

[gep]

Why pass up such a sure thing where he has an untouchable legacy for a position where the average tenure can't be greater than three years?

Why? Well... here's one man's opinion. He's got 3 NCAA NC's, 2 Olympic "gold medals" (assistant coach, head coach). Only thing left is a NBA championship. If I recall correctly, only Larry Brown has NCAA and NBA championships... but no Olympic "gold medal". So, as much as I'd like to have Coach K stay till he calls it quits, there's still a lot of "basketball goals" out there...:rolleyes:

edit... Larry Brown got a gold medal in 1964 as a player... but not as a coach...

[flyingdutchdevil]

Is it that time of the year again? Oh my, how time flies..

[MulletMan]

Prediction: K WILL leave Duke this summer to coach The Lakers... AND The Cavaliers! Yes... you heard it here first. He's gone and will coach both teams. He will get the pleasure of coaching LeBron AND Kobe, get oodles of money, and during the tough winter grind in Cleveland, he'll just live in LA and commute. He will lead both teams to The Finals (not a problem to coach both through the playoffs the way the NBA sets up the schedule) and then, after a long and hard fought series, he will lead both teams through 15 overtimes in a Game 7 which will see all players except for Kobe and LeBron foul out... leaving them to play a one-on-one, winner take all game of HORSE. However, since it is of such gravity, they will instead play K-R-Z-Y-Z-E-W-S-K-I. K will beam on the sidelines while his two favorite players in the world take each other to the limit with a myraid of offensive fireworks and incredible defensive plays. (Yes... that's right, defense is allowed in KRZYZEWSKI... its only appropriate.) Regardless of the winner (even though we all know LeBron will win) at the end of the game, they hoist Coach K onto thier shoulders and carry him off into the sunset. Nike celebrates the event by adding a Coach K puppet to the LeBron-Kobe commercials.

[Billy Dat]

I think USA Basketball is ultimately a bigger threat as K's next step than the NBA. If this iHoops thing takes off, I can see him wanting to take on the challenge of changing the culture of US amateur basketball away from the AAU circuit to something closer to the European model. I think he's the obvious heir apparant to Jerry Colangelo.

[TwoDukeTattoos]

...was just posted on WRAL:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/colleges/blog/3572041/

Who knows? This thing may grow some legs.

[JasonEvans]

...was just posted on WRAL:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/colleges/blog/3572041/

Who knows? This thing may grow some legs.

This "update" is meaningless. It is just the reporter who started the first rumor saying that his source is reliable. What was he supposed to say, "I made the whole thing up."

Plus, it is certainly worth noting that the rumors are merely that the Lakes would approach K. I have heard nothing to indicate that K has any desire to leave Duke for the NBA.

--Jason "yawn-- we've been here before... and the result is always the same" Evans

[roywhite]

This "update" is meaningless. It is just the reporter who started the first rumor saying that his source is reliable. What was he supposed to say, "I made the whole thing up."

Plus, it is certainly worth noting that the rumors are merely that the Lakes would approach K. I have heard nothing to indicate that K has any desire to leave Duke for the NBA.

--Jason "yawn-- we've been here before... and the result is always the same" Evans

Way more likely that K will re-up for the Olympics head coaching job. If he does go for the Olympics, I seriously doubt he would also take an NBA head coaching job. If he doesn't go to the Olympics, similarly, I seriously doubt he goes to the NBA.

Despite this hot rumor from Racine, it doesn't make much sense.

[nicktonyg22]

I think in a lot of ways Coach K is a little frustrated with the college game as it is right now. He has vehemently protested the NBA entrance rule that has caused all these one-and-done situations, which have affected Duke's recruiting ability. He also seemed to truly enjoy his time with the national team, and form bonds with those NBA players.

However, I can still never see Coach K leaving Duke. The freaking court in Cameron is named after him. His family is in Durham, including grandchildren, and he showed hunger, passion and excitement towards the end of the season that I can't remember seeing in quite a while.

These are the type of rumors that should most likely be dismissed, especially considering they seem to get brought up every few years.

[SoCalDukeFan]

First of all I hope Coach K is the head coach at Duke for many years to come and devotes his entire head coaching time to Duke.

However if he were to leave for the NBA I would not fault him. In my opinion each year it is tougher and tougher to run a clean program with student athletes and be successful in college basketball. The NCAA does little to help the situation.

I would like to see K take on as his next challenge restoring integrity to college basketball while remaining Duke's head coach.

Going to the Lakers makes little sense to me for K. He would be leaving all that he has in Durham, at least for part of the year. Plus, win next year with the Lakers and he won with Phil's team. Don't win, and he is just another college coach who could not make it in the pros.

Lastly there should be some rule that once a sportswriter reports say 3 false rumors he must find other work.

SoCal

SoCal

[Savage]

Undoubtedly, Coach K can coach more or less where he pleases. Why join the Lakers when they just won the NBA title? Doesn't sound like a lot of upside apart from the money - which hasn't been a driving factor for Coach in the past.

[MarkD83]

OK its summer and baseless rumors lead to ridiculous discussions. So here is my consipracy theory.

Mitch Kupchack (sp?) (I believe he is the Lakers GM) is a UNC graduate. He knows that with the loss of all the talent at UNC that Duke may beat UNC two or three times next year. The only way to stop that is to lead K away from Duke.

Alternatively, Mitch sees that Coach K is about to have a huge recruitung haul in the next few years. To stem the tide of Duke getting a lot of new talent he starts this rumor so that Roy can whisper in recruits ears that Coach K won't be at Duke.

Either way it is a UNC conspiracy.

[dukeimac]

For some of the reasons posted as to why coach K should not go or wouldn't be interested in going are also good reasons to go.

Challenge - he has already accomplished a lot on the college level and I'm not sure there is more to accomplish.

Family - he doesn't get to see his family 9 months out of the year the way it is so why not get paid more not to see them.

Court - he already has the court named after himself. If he leaves they won't change the name.

One - and - dones - if you can't bet them join them.

Hunger, passion - it shows that he wants to coach the pro guys by being the Olympic coach.

Wouldn't it be great to have caoch K go to the pros and be the one to prove a college coach CAN be successful in the pros. There have been some successes of college coaches going to pro coaches but I'd love to see coach K win 3 titles. To me that would be accomplishing ALOT, more than any other college to pro coaches.

I follow Duke because of Coach K and not Coach K because of Duke. After coaching the Olympic team last year this might be more tempting then ever.

[roywhite]

For some of the reasons posted as to why coach K should not go or wouldn't be interested in going are also good reasons to go.

Challenge - he has already accomplished a lot on the college level and I'm not sure there is more to accomplish.

Family - he doesn't get to see his family 9 months out of the year the way it is so why not get paid more not to see them.

Court - he already has the court named after himself. If he leaves they won't change the name.

One - and - dones - if you can't bet them join them.

Hunger, passion - it shows that he wants to coach the pro guys by being the Olympic coach.

Wouldn't it be great to have caoch K go to the pros and be the one to prove a college coach CAN be successful in the pros. There have been some successes of college coaches going to pro coaches but I'd love to see coach K win 3 titles. To me that would be accomplishing ALOT, more than any other college to pro coaches.

I follow Duke because of Coach K and not Coach K because of Duke. After coaching the Olympic team last year this might be more tempting then ever.

Have no inside info, but for the sake of discussion:

Challenges at the college level---win additional national championship(s), re-take the local top position from UNC, become all-time winningest college coach.

Family---NBA travel and schedule way more of an issue than time spent coaching Duke, as far as seeing family.

Hunger, passion---didn't see signs of that waning last season; in fact, K has said the Olympic experience re-invigorated his approach to coaching overall.

Prove something in the NBA---don't see it, esp. since he's had Olympic success (and may have more). The Olympics are a nice complement to his college success already.

Statements by K over the last year or two strongly point to staying at Duke until he retires from coaching. Whether he has another basketball-related career after that (as an administrator or consultant)...perhaps.

[whereinthehellami]

I could see Coach K leaving for the Lakers. The man obviously likes a challenge and to an extent is defined by them. I don't care for the NBA and only watch NBA players play in the olympics, when they are forced to play what I view as basketball. With that said the NBA is the pinnacle league of basketball. The college game has changed from the innocent days and is still changing, losing more and more innocence. Coach K thrives on relationships and the divide between college and the NBA isn't as wide as it used to be in that regard.

If Coach K is winding down his coaching career, he might want to jump into one last challenge. Go out with a bang. If you were in his shoes it would be appealing to be able to put the NBA dream to bed. You wouldn't want to retire wondering if you could have coached in the professional realm. Couple those feelings with his obvious respect for Kobe and I could definately see it happen if a number of factors fell into place.

And as far as Coach saying he will retire as a Duke coach, I have seen way too many players/coaches back track on those kind of definative statements. Life is fluid, especially careers.

[RelativeWays]

Derision: [di-rizh-un] noun
1. ridicule; mockery
2. DBR moderators and long time posters addressing rumors and speculation about the Duke Men's Basketball program, affiliated personnel and any related subjects. :D

[JasonEvans]

Hey folks,

While I do not want to lock this thread and table the conversation, I would at least suggest that maybe this conversation would be more useful after Phil Jackson declares he will not be back at Lakers coach. Until that moment, this is really, really, really moot.

If Jackson wants to stick around, the job is his. Even if K were to publicly declare his desire to coach the Lakers, if Jackson wants to start getting rings for his toes, he will have that option.

--Jason "this is my way of saying, this conversation is waaay waaay premature" Evans

[quickgtp]

Why not lock this thread? This is ridiculous IMO.

[BlueintheFace]

Hey folks,

While I do not want to lock this thread and table the conversation, I would at least suggest that maybe this conversation would be more useful after Phil Jackson declares he will not be back at Lakers coach. Until that moment, this is really, really, really moot.

If Jackson wants to stick around, the job is his. Even if K were to publicly declare his desire to coach the Lakers, if Jackson wants to start getting rings for his toes, he will have that option.

--Jason "this is my way of saying, this conversation is waaay waaay premature" Evans

True. Lock It Up Jason.

[weezie]

Please do. I've had a tough enough week already. This thread is making me :(

[cameroncrazy3104]

How many times will the NBA try to lure Coach K out of Duke. The Celtics tried it and failed and now the Lakers are going to try for the second time.

Two things about this go around:

1) There is a chance that Phil Jackson might come back next year.
2) If Coach K turned down NBA money twice there is a pretty good chance he is gonna turn it down again.

Also in the case that he does go to LA (lets pray that he doesnt) my guess is his sucessor will probably be Collins or Wojo. Those two have played for coach k and have been his assistent for a while. Im sure they have caught on to his coaching methods and they will run the team the same way.

[WiJoe]

It's not the Milwaukee paper. It's a rag in a two-bit city to the south, Racine.

[Lulu]

Well now I'm confused. Is Coach K retiring next year or headed off to coach the Lakers? They both can't be true, can they?

Seriously, though, I've been to Racine. I'd take this with a rock of salt.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Adding more to the rumor mill, here is an article (http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9710744/Straight-Shooting:-Who-will-coach-the-Lakers?) on the possiblity of K going to LA once Jackson retires.

It seems to me for anything to happen, Jackson DOES have to retire first.

Also to be fair, the writer says K should stay right where he is.

[CameronBornAndBred]

And on the same topic..IF K were to go and coach the pros, wouldn't that be the rottenest timing on the planet? Less than 4 months before the season (or at least practices) get under way, who would Duke replace him with. In that amount of time, they would almost certainly have to go inhouse. I'm not sure Dawkins would be the option, because he would be leaving his own team in the same situation. I think they would have to go with Collins, at least as interim for a season.

[Kewlswim]

And on the same topic..IF K were to go and coach the pros, wouldn't that be the rottenest timing on the planet? Less than 4 months before the season (or at least practices) get under way, who would Duke replace him with. In that amount of time, they would almost certainly have to go inhouse. I'm not sure Dawkins would be the option, because he would be leaving his own team in the same situation. I think they would have to go with Collins, at least as interim for a season.

Hello,

Coach K has such a good thing going at Duke and he knows it. For him to leave it would take both an incredible offer and for him to feel that he no longer had a good thing going at Duke. Coach K loves Duke very much. He is not going to leave the school in the lurch. If anything there may come a day when the administration has to say, "Coach you need to leave for reason X" (like 85 year old coaches don't tend to do so well) than his leaving of his own accord.

GO DUKE!

[whereinthehellami]

Hello,

Coach K has such a good thing going at Duke and he knows it. For him to leave it would take both an incredible offer and for him to feel that he no longer had a good thing going at Duke. Coach K loves Duke very much. He is not going to leave the school in the lurch. If anything there may come a day when the administration has to say, "Coach you need to leave for reason X" (like 85 year old coaches don't tend to do so well) than his leaving of his own accord.

GO DUKE!

While I don't think that Coach K would ever leave Duke in the lurch, I do think the NBA (Lakers, Kobe) appeals to coach and just because he hasn't jumped to the league in the past doesn't mean that he won't in the future. Things change, especially college bball.

[sagegrouse]

While I don't think that Coach K would ever leave Duke in the lurch, I do think the NBA (Lakers, Kobe) appeals to coach and just because he hasn't jumped to the league in the past doesn't mean that he won't in the future. Things change, especially college bball.

Coach K turns 62 this year.

sagegrouse

[dukeimac]

Well, I'm one that says... go pro Coach!

As much as I Really like what Coach has done at Duke I think he found out something special last summer during the Olympics. In the past, pros were (in their minds) done developing by the time the got to the pros. Coach always felt a tie to the kids and developing them, per his books. Today, I think everyone is realizing the pros still need development. They are going there younger and still need someone to mentor them to be a special person and basketball player.

I would love to see Coach go to the pro level and be a mentor for guys like Koby, Lebron, etc. Just like he did last summer. I think the way he got Wade to play a "backup roll" shows just what a great job he could do at the pro level. And I think that really interests him.

[Azdukefan]

While I like your perspective Dukiemac, I am going to have to disagree. Coaching and mentoring during the olympics is much different than coaching a team through an 82 game grind and playoffs. Coach had no responsibilities with contracts, agents, and all the other fluff that comes along with that god forsaken league. If all he had to do was coach, he would be great. The reality of the NBA is that there is little coaching going on and more ego boosting and minute managing. The real leaders in the NBA our the VP's, GM's, Owner's, etc. It is these guys that win the championships in the association not the guys preaching X's and O's. Van Gundy and Howard got into a spat during the playoffs, who do you think would leave first if it came down to that? For that reason, K is best suited for the college ranks.

[Devilsfan]

Buzz around Newport Coast is that Kobe wants a certain college coach instead of that clark kent fellow. My dream senario. We land Mr. Barnes and Coach K hangs another banner and retires from coaching after coaching his grand children at Duke.

[Lord Ash]

Saw a link about this on the front page. They DID leave out a quote from the Duke PR department about the situation.

"As of right now, to my knowledge, Coach K will be at Duke University next year and coaching basketball. You can quote that."




Coach K is expected to sign with the Lakers shortly.




;)

Seriously though, these rumors will keep coming up, but Coach is not going anywhere. He gets to scratch his NBA itch with the Olympic team, and he gets to continue being a teacher at Duke. No way he leaves.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

WRAL has posted some information from today's press conference. http://www.wralsportsfan.com/duke/story/5474427/

He gives a very clear answer to the rumors when he said he's staying at Duke until he's no longer coaching.

[CameronBornAndBred]

WRAL has posted some information from today's press conference. http://www.wralsportsfan.com/duke/story/5474427/

He gives a very clear answer to the rumors when he said he's staying at Duke until he's no longer coaching.
Love it!

[ChicagoCrazy84]

Dang right! Close the thread now.

[Devilsfan]

Hey Kupchak why don't you offer one of your own, Ol' Roy that 5 year $40 contract?

[hudlow]

Hey Kupchak why don't you offer one of your own, Ol' Roy that 5 year $40 contract?

Wasn't coach K's comment a nice little poke at Ol' Roy too? He's already shown that he'll leave - regardless of what he said before.

Dadgummit.

[Devilsfan]

The job was never open. Phil is staying.

[weezie]

Yeah...somehow I never saw Ronald Artest and Michael Krzyzewski chilling together.