Former player and coach Kurt Rambis has long been known for being the main assistant to Phil Jackson for a better part of the Zen Master’s tenure as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in the ’00s. The two are very close, and Rambis openly slammed Jim Buss back in November for the way he mistreated Jackson during the hiring process.
Knowing these things, it was quite a surprise to hear that Rambis would be a real candidate to become an assistant to Mike D’Antoni a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, the hiring of Rambis became official on Monday when he announced the decision on his twitter account, from Mark Medina of Daily News:
The Lakers were strongly expected to make these hirings in recent weeks. But the announcement didn’t happen until Monday morning. Rambis first shared the news on his Twitter account.
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Rambis had overseen the Lakers’ defense during Jackson’s coaching tenure and has past experiences coaching Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. It’s possible the Lakers could incorporate more elements of the triangle offense considering Rambis’ ties to Jackson, though that currently remains unclear.
“Kurt and Johnny bring many years of NBA experience both as coaches and as former players to this team,” D’Antoni said in a statement. “Kurt is a great basketball mind, extremely good at working with big men and his experience as a head coach in this league is going to prove very helpful to our staff. Johnny is a two-time NBA head coach with years of experience playing as well as coaching in this league. The vast array of NBA knowledge he brings to the table will be invaluable to us.”
Rambis’ familiarity with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, as well as the returning Jordan Farmar should help him fit right back in with the organization. He is also known as a very good defensive coordinator. Still, there is known history between his friend Jackson and D’Antoni from their past meetings in the playoffs. Given that notion, Rambis’ rant on Buss, as well as his criticism of how the Lakers operated this past season as an analyst for ESPN, it was a surprise even to himself that D’Antoni wished to hire him, from Serena Winters of Lakers Nation:
“Quite frankly, I was a little bit shocked about that, and for [D’Antoni], he said it was a no-brainer, and I jumped on it right away. I said, ‘This would be great, I think it would work out well for both of us.”…
Rambis continued by saying that, after their initial meeting, D’Antoni was convinced that after running it by Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, it would be a “done deal.” Prior to meeting over lunch, Rambis couldn’t have imagined that D’Antoni would be asking him to join his coaching staff. “We rekindled our friendship. We’ve known each other for several years going back in coaching circles. It was kind of an interesting conversation, I just had no idea that that’s the direction it was going to go.”
All extracurricular things aside, the hire should certainly help the Lakers improve from a coaching standpoint and help better legitimize the staff. Last season, there was a leftover regime from Mike Brown and many often wondered (with respect) if assistants like Eddie Jordan (who was brought in to introduce the Princeton offense) and Bernie Bickerstaff actually had any real role or say behind closed doors.
Onto other news from around the league:
Ryan Gomes is back in the league and signing on with the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “Free-agent forward Ryan Gomes has agreed to a one-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. Gomes, 30, gives the Thunder a versatile forward with the ability to spread the floor with his shooting. The deal is short of a full guaranteed salary at the veteran’s minimum, league sources said. A seven-year NBA veteran, Gomes was out of the league for the past year after the Los Angeles Clippers used the amnesty provision on him. After failing to capture a job in the NBA a season ago, Gomes played briefly in Germany before parting ways and returning to the United States.”
