Los Angeles Lakers interested in North Carolina coach Roy Williams
By Joe Nardone
Belly putting is cheating, coach! Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey/CFA-pr via USA TODAY Sports **HAND OUT PHOTO **
Welp, you can add yet another coaching candidate to the list of possible new Los Angeles Lakers coaches. This time there are reports that the Lakers are interested in North Carolina Tar Heels head coach, Roy Williams.
Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times has reported that Williams now joins George Karl, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Van Gundy, John Calipari, and Kevin Ollie, on the Lakers not-so-short-list of possible new coaches.
Bresnahan also states that Los Angeles won’t hire a new coach before the May 20th NBA Draft Lottery.
What does all of this mean? Pretty much nothing. The Lakers are the Lakers. They are going to pursue — or at least talk to — every big name coach on the planet. It does not matter if it is previous NBA, college or Space Jam coaches, that is what they do.
Roy Williams, now 63, was previously courted by the Lakers in 2004, but he turned down that offer.
If I were a UNC fan (one who liked Williams), I wouldn’t be too worried about it. It seems far-fetched that he would jump ship at this point in his career. Especially for a Lakers team which doesn’t exactly scream awesomeness at the moment.
Until a new Lakers coach is hired, though, expect eleventy-billion more candidates to emerge.