Tyronn Lue, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson among Nets head coaching candidates
Tyronn Lue Rumors
Schiffer: You read my mind on Thibs. And I’ve received the same mixed signals on the Lue/Irving relationship. What I wonder about with Lue is that his personal health suffered from his time in Cleveland and I wonder if he wants to go through all of that again and go into another situation where the expectations are enormous from the start. After those two though, like you said, there’s no name that jumps out. Then you go into a lot of first-time coaches, which I think is out of the question. To me, if Lue says no, then who knows what turns the coaching search takes.
Following the Daily News’ report that Lue is interested in the Nets’ coaching job, Richard Jefferson and Paul Pierce were both bullish on the possibilities of a Brooklyn connection. “Ty Lue, definitely — I think he would be a great fit,” Pierce said Tuesday’s on ESPN’s ‘The Jump.’ “Are they going to be a championship caliber team if you put Ty Lue in there and add (Kevin Durant) with Kyrie Irving? Yes. Can they do it? We have yet to see. Or it has yet to happen. But a great fit all across the board, I believe.”
“There are so many great young coaches out there who deserve an opportunity. T-Lue, to me, is the No. 1 young coach. He can coach,” said Jefferson, who is also an analyst for Nets games on YES Network. “He can do all that stuff. He has a proven track record. So do I think T-Lue can coach this team? Do I think he can be successful? Yes.”
Critics of Lue have labeled him a strong manager of egos who is poor with X’s and O’s. Jefferson said that’s foolish. “That’s stupid. That’s a dumb statement,” Jefferson said. “T-Lue and Gregg Popovich are the two best X’s and O’s coaches that I’ve played for in my entire basketball career. From high school all the way up until I retired.”
Tyronn Lue wants to coach Nets?
Tyronn Lue wants another chance to coach Kyrie Irving. The former Cavaliers coach is, in fact, interested in the Nets gig, according to a source, following a Yahoo! report that Irving prefers Lue on Brooklyn’s sideline.
Tyronn Lue wants to coach Nets?
Tyronn Lue wants another chance to coach Kyrie Irving. The former Cavaliers coach is, in fact, interested in the Nets gig, according to a source, following a Yahoo! report that Irving prefers Lue on Brooklyn’s sideline.
The favorite, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers, is Los Angeles Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue, who coached Irving and LeBron James with the Cavaliers, including their 2016 NBA title season.
The favorite, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers, is Los Angeles Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue, who coached Irving and LeBron James with the Cavaliers, including their 2016 NBA title season.
Adam Zagoria: Ty Lue favored to be the Nets Coach and Kenny Atkinson the Knicks Coach per ?@betonline_ag? pic.twitter.com/1nFCfQ6sHF
Kyrie Irving wants Tyronn Lue in Brooklyn
Irving soured on Atkinson early, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and currently prefers Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue to be the team’s next head coach. Lue was the head coach in Cleveland when Irving hit the winning shot in the 2016 NBA Finals and was in talks to take the Lakers job before discussions broke down.
Larry Drew replaced Tyronn Lue as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the beginning of the 18-19 season, but he ultimately wanted to leave before the season was over. “He wanted to quit at the All-Star break last year… on Cleveland,” said Joe Vardon on the Tampering podcast. “He wanted to leave. He wanted them to promote whoever was the G League coach.”
Tyronn Lue, LA Clippers assistant, former Cavs coach: I’ve got a thousand stories, but my favorite LeBron story, after we win Game 5 at Golden State, everybody’s happy and we’re celebrating a little bit, LeBron tells the guys “listen, you guys go home, give me everything you’ve got Game 6, I guarantee you I got y’all Game 7. I guarantee you I got y’all Game 7. I guarantee you we’ll come back to Cleveland with a championship.” And everybody went crazy, was going crazy. So we come back home, we win Game 6, and we bring it in the huddle in the locker room. And LeBron said “I didn’t forget what I promised you guys. I got you all Game 7.” Everybody went crazy, and we got on the plane and we go there and we win a championship. I think he gave the guys something to look forward to. Because you can be kind of nervous in those situations, but I think when LeBron spoke up and said that, it gave us that little extra boost of positivity.
Earlier in the day, during a recording of Showtime’s “All The Smoke” podcast, he talked about his fateful decision to come to Boston. At the time, he said, he was choosing between the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors, and the Boston Celtics. Garnett says the Warriors and Suns situations just weren’t right for him. He said his first choice was the Lakers, saying “I wanted to link with (Kobe Bryant),” but he says Bryant didn’t answer his call. “I shouted at Kobe he didn’t pick the line up,” he told podcast hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. “T-Lue (Tyronn Lue) and Kobe were close and he said ‘shoot at him again and see what he on.’ So I shouted again and he didn’t get back, so I had to make a decision.”
Nick Friedell: Doc describing the emotions of the night: “Ty Lue was really struggling. You forget that Ty Lue was his teammate as well and I look over at Ty during the game and he’s bawling. A lot of emotion tonight, it really was a tough night. Just a tough night.”
Lue moved out of that house every summer, and back into it before each of his four seasons as the Cavaliers head coach. He moved out for the final time in November 2019, after the Cavs fired him following an 0-6 start to the 2018-19 season. They’ve been struggling through the rebuild since his dismissal, incurring 85 losses and experiencing messy moments. And yet, Lue, in his first interview since his dismissal, told The Athletic he still wishes he were in Cleveland, still coaching a franchise that he helped win its first and only NBA title, in 2016.
“Yeah, I do,” Lue said, after a full 12-second pause to consider the question. “What I tried to build there, I think the culture I tried to set … I thought we could do it together. Koby (Altman) being a young GM, me being a young coach, having young players. I won a championship there, so you have a chance and an opportunity to do something different, and you should have that leeway to be able to go through a couple challenging years. To win a championship and go to the (NBA) Finals should buy you a little time, you would think.”
Lue, 42, is now an assistant coach under his friend and mentor, Doc Rivers, with the LA Clippers. They host the Cavs on Tuesday in Lue’s first game against his old team. “I don’t think it should’ve happened,” Lue said. “When it happened, I just kind of … It puts everything in perspective. You’ve got to continue to keep working, it’s a business — you’ve got to understand that. It was tough. To win the first championship ever in Cleveland history, and then make the finals (the next two years) and then get fired six games in, it’s hard to swallow and it’s tough to deal with. You start thinking about things like what you could have done different or if it was going to happen if you did anything different anyway. “You don’t see that very often where a coach goes to three straight finals and wins a championship, and gets fired (the season immediately after the third finals), six games into (the season). You probably have never seen it.”
Dave McMenamin: LeBron James downplayed an extra layer to tonight’s Lakers-Clippers game at Staples Center: Ty Lue, who was offered the Lakers job before the deal fell through, coaching against him. “I’m happy that he’s just back in the league and he’s a great coach,” James said.
Tyronn Lue agrees to join Clippers
Shams Charania: Former Cavaliers championship coach Ty Lue has agreed on deal to join the Los Angeles Clippers as the top assistant coach on Doc Rivers’ staff, league sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
Andrew Greif: A person with knowledge of the situation said the Clippers and Ty Lue are still discussing adding Lue as an assistant. Nothing is final, but Lue’s addition to Doc Rivers’ staff is considered likely. @Marc Stein was first to report Lue being close to joining.
Rockets, Pelicans pursue Ty Lue as an assistant
The Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans have pursued former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Ty Lue as a lead assistant, but Lue’s focus remains on a return to the NBA in a head coaching role, league sources told The Athletic. One of the top coaches available on the market, Lue has had a couple of assistant coaching offers since being fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in October 2018 and rejecting the Los Angeles Lakers coaching job in May 2019, sources said. He had a 128-83 record in his three-plus seasons with the Cavaliers and helped lead the franchise to three consecutive Finals appearances – including the 2016 NBA championship.
In November, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Maverick Carter, LeBron’s longtime business partner, met for lunch. James’ agent, Rich Paul, was seated at a nearby table, and at one point, approached Silver to complain about Walton, multiple sources familiar with the interaction told ESPN. Paul said he didn’t believe Walton was the right coach for the Lakers. Silver shrugged off the remark and asked whom Paul thought would be the right coach. Paul suggested Tyronn Lue.
Josh Lewenberg: Not-Lakers coach Ty Lue is in attendance for Raptors-Bucks.
According to a person close to the Lakers management, through the negotiation process the Lakers developed concerns about Lue’s fit with the organization. Part of those concerns stemmed from Lue’s disagreement with the Lakers about who would be on his staff. While they agreed on Vogel, they disagreed on Jason Kidd, whom the Lakers insisted he include. They also balked at Lue’s counter to the three-year deal the offered.
James has a strong relationship with Kidd, multiple sources told ESPN, which may have helped Kidd’s leverage in landing the job on the Lakers’ bench. James was taken aback by how the Lue negotiations broke down, a league source told ESPN, but James “liked” several Instagram posts touting the Vogel/Kidd hires over the weekend. It has been James’ only public endorsement of the team’s recent hires.
“Ty Lue won an NBA championship in Cleveland with LeBron James,” said Harper, who won two of his five championships with the Lakers. “Ty Lue should have been the next head coach. That’s where I stand at. I know I don’t have a vote in it. I know I ain’t got nothing riding on it, but Ty Lue should have been the next coach. “I don’t know if Frank Vogel is a step up from Luke. That’s what it’s going to boil down to, right? I thought Luke should have kept the job. I thought Luke got a raw deal too.”
Former Knicks coach Mike Woodson and former Nets coach Lionel Hollins have been informed that they are among the head coaches on the Lakers’ radar, league sources confirmed to SNY. The Lakers’ coaching search re-opened earlier this week when negotiations between Tyronn Lue and Los Angeles reportedly fell apart.
The organization communicated its interest in both Woodson and Hollins in the wake of things falling apart with Lue, per sources. It is unknown if a meeting between the Lakers, and either coach has been scheduled yet.
In light of the failed pursuit of former Cleveland Cavaliers head Tyronn Lue by the Los Angeles Lakers, disgruntled fans are planning to stage a protest outside of Staples Center on Friday at 12 p.m. The protest was organized by Reddit user Charlie Rivers (u/C-P-R) in an effort to get the attention of Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss, who he says doesn’t care about the fans but “cares what the media says.”
Lakers interview Frank Vogel
The Lakers are moving fast to try to fill their head-coaching vacancy by setting up an interview with former Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel on Thursday, according to people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. In an event-filled Wednesday in which sources from the Lakers camp and Tyronn Lue camp said both parties had moved on from the other in the hiring process, the Lakers quickly targeted Vogel as a candidate and he will have a sit-down at the team’s practice facility in El Segundo.
Ramona Shelburne: Negotiations really deteriorated w/ Ty Lue when the Lakers refused to offer more than a three year deal that was designed to line up with LeBron James’ contract. Lue felt insulted the Lakers only saw him as a coach for LeBron, sources close to the process told ESPN.
Ramona Shelburne: One league source said it appeared that Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka never expected negotiations could fall apart as they did because Lue didn’t have other offers. Lue was seeking a 5-year deal, believing his championship experience commanded it.
Dave McMenamin: Ty Lue and his reps turned down the Lakers’ offer Tuesday, per league sources. LAL regrouped with an offer in the range of 3 years, $18 million today. Lue’s side pulled out of negotiations. Lue’s camp seeking 5 year deal with salary commensurate with championship resume
Chris Haynes: Yahoo Sources: Lakers offered Tyronn Lue a three-year deal. Lue requested a five-year pact, same length issued to Luke Walton. Under Lakers’ proposal, the contract of Lue and LeBron James would have expired at the same time.
The Lakers pushed for former NBA coaches Frank Vogel and Jason Kidd to be added to Lue’s coaching staff, sources said. Although Lue wasn’t fond of having his staff picked for him, he would have relented if his contract terms were met, sources said.
Richard Jefferson: I feel bad for my guys…. which one?!? All of them, T-LUE, Bron and Luke!! This is what Luke was working with, this is what T-LUE didn’t want to get involved with and this is what Bron is dealing with.
Lakers, Tyronn Lue talks break down
Tania Ganguli: The Lakers have decided to move on from Ty Lue as they search for their next head coach, having determined he isn’t the right long-term fit for the organization, according to a team source.
Brad Turner: Ty Lue and his representatives have informed the Lakers that he is moving on from trying to be hired as the Lakers’ new coach, sources. Lue and his reps thanked the Lakers.
Beyond an inability to agree on contractual terms, the Lakers had proposed several scenarios involving their preferred candidates for assistant coaches, including Jason Kidd, league sources said. The Cleveland Cavaliers still owe Lue $10-plus million on his contract payout, and accepting a less-than-market value deal from the Lakers could ultimately cost him money.
General manager Rob Pelinka and front office advisor Kurt Rambis had interviewed Kidd for the head coaching job, and became convinced that he should be a key member of a Lue coaching staff, league sources said. They believed Kidd could be impactful with point guard Lonzo Ball, and were impressed with the Milwaukee Bucks player development during his tenure there. It isn’t believed that Lue had objections to Kidd joining his staff, but the two had not discussed the possibility directly, league sources said.
Marc Stein: Among the issues that have led to a breakdown in talks between the Lakers and Ty Lue: League sources say that the Lakers have been trying to impose their choices for assistant coaches on Lue. @espn first reported the impasse between the Lakers are Lue
Marc Stein: As @NYTSports reported late in the regular season, management’s dismay with Luke Walton’s staff was among the reasons Walton fell out of favor with the front office before the abrupt resignation of team president Magic Johnson on April 9
