Dan Hurley Targeted as Los Angeles Lakers' Next Head Coach
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00:00We have a report this morning from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that Dan Hurley is being targeted as the L.A. Lakers' next head coach.
00:13So many different angles and wrinkles to this story, but we first start with your immediate reaction.
00:20When you saw this report from Woj, what was the first thing that went through your head?
00:25First thing that went through my head is I got on my phone and I tried to reach out to some people that I know the Hurley family pretty well, that I know, just to kind of get their thought process on it.
00:36But what I found is, number one, and I want people to understand this, this is not going to be an easy decision at all for Dan Hurley.
00:44Dan Hurley is extremely loyal to his family. Dan Hurley is a Northeast guy. He was rumored to go to Kentucky.
00:52He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave the area. He's loved by his players.
00:56His father Bob Hurley, who's offered tons of college jobs over his time at San Anthony, never left.
01:02But the big caveat is, man, is he does and his desire has always been to coach in the NBA.
01:10So the ability to go to an iconic franchise makes sense.
01:15But when you peel back and you start looking at it, LeBron talks about his offense.
01:19So I went to Synergy and I was like, you know what, let me do a deep dive.
01:22Well, what do they run a lot in the NBA? Pick and roll.
01:25Whether you're talking about pick and roll giving it to the roll or the guy with the ball continues with it.
01:30How about this past year? 99th percentile pick and roll offense when they give it to the roll.
01:3693rd percentile if the handler keeps the ball.
01:41So if you're talking about a guy that has an innovative ball screen offense and allows the players to play off of it,
01:48but also his way that he developed players, Ben, over his time at UConn and before that URI, before that Wagner,
01:56before that St. Benedict's, this guy's got a track record of developing players.
02:01And let's be honest, Ben, it's a lot of money. It's a lot of money.
02:05He only gets about five million at UConn. It's going to be at least double, if not triple, what he's going to get to go to the Lakers.
02:12But also the fact of it sets everything up for long term future.
02:17And we've seen so many college coaches get out of college basketball because of the NFL situation.
02:24And it's equally fitting. 20 years ago, the Lakers tried this with Mike Ciszewski.
02:31Can they close the deal this time? They couldn't do it 20 years ago with Coach K.