The Los Angeles Lakers are filling out the coaching staff with former head coaches as they’ve added former Grizzlies and Nets head coach Lionel Hollins to Frank Vogel’s staff, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Hollins was reported as a candidate for the head job and apparently made enough of an impression that he got a job on the staff. Hollins has a career coaching record of 262-272 (.491), with his best season coming in 2013 when the Grizzlies made it to the Western Conference Finals. It also can’t be dismissed in the hiring that Hollins is a “favorite” of Kurt Rambis, who has seen his role within the Lakers franchise grow.
Hollins, 65, joins Jason Kidd as the assistants on Vogel’s staff. That makes three former head coaches and in an incredible coincidence, Hollins succeeded Jason Kidd with the Brooklyn Nets after Kidd’s departure to Milwaukee in 2014.
The addition of Hollins to the staff also seems to be a response to concerns that the Lakers front office had last year about Luke Walton’s coaching staff being relatively inexperienced and lacking a former head coach on the bench.
Nevertheless, the Lakers staff will be loaded with former head coaches this season. It will be interesting to see if that turns into the results they and LeBron James so desperately desire. Or if the clash of big personalities on the bench will create a combustible mix.
