Ast. Coach talk- IN: Messina, Kuester OUT: Malone, Shaw

[Dr Aki]

As of now Hoopsworld is the only media outlet reporting on Messina.

eric pincus is fairly close to the lakers organisation. still sounds legit until someone says otherwise

[dockingsched]

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/n ... id=6629102

Italian coach Ettore Messina has agreed to join Mike Brown's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Lakers, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

Messina will be listed as an assistant coach but will be behind the bench, not on it, and will serve in more of a consulting capacity, sources said.

Brown developed a relationship with Messina when he was head coach of the Cavaliers and Messina was the head coach of CSKA Moscow. Brown routinely flew to Italy, where Messina held CSKA's training camps, to pick up new ideas to use with the Cavs.

[ROballer]

http://twitter.com/#!/daldridgetnt

Source: Kuester 99 % certain to join Mike Brown in LA as offensive coor., w/Mike Malone likely Def. Coor.

Just to be clear, Ettore Messina still coming over to Lakers in advisory role.

[Jajwanda]

He's going to want a true PG to be sure.

[Slava]

Too much of a wholesale change for a veteran team. I'm curious to see how this all plays out.

[NOODLESTYLE]

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/lak ... europe-com

During his introductory presser, Mike Brown acknowledged European coach Ettore Messina -- who most recently coached for Real Madrid and won Euroleague titles with Virtus Bologna and CSKA Moscow -- would be among those considered for his coaching staff. Well, according to ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher, Messina has been tabbed to join next season's staff, though while he'll be listed as an assistant coach, Messina's job will be more of a consultant. Whether his duties are similar to Tex Winter's former role with the Lakers or the responsibilities are more expansive remains to be seen. Also, nothing is official yet, thus a Laker spokesperson when asked didn't confirm the report.

Either way, Lakers Nation has its collective eye on Messina, so I reached out to Os Davis from BallinEurope.com (TrueHoop network), who was kind enough to answer some questions. As luck would have it, Davis is equally familiar with the current incarnation of the Lakers as he is Messina's career overseas, making his perspective that much more valuable. Here's what Davis had to say about Messina.

Land O' Lakers: How would you describe Messina’s offense/system? More half court or wide open? What’s the tempo? Does it have any principles or characteristics of the triangle?


Can Messina's success overseas translate to a winning NBA coaching staff?


Os Davis: Messina’s teams tend to play quite a slow tempo relative to that of most European leagues, particularly in Spain’s ACB, ....

[dockingsched]

great read, thanks for the link. i snipped most of the article since we don't want to be copy and pasting the entire thing.

[Gek]

Very solid read, I think he would be the most respected coach by Bryant.

[dockingsched]

looks like GS it throwing some money to malone to have him join mark jackson in oakland

http://twitter.com/#!/STEIN_LINE_HQ

NBA coaching sources say Warriors have made "generous" offer to Mike Malone to convince him to join Mark Jackson's staff (over Mike Brown's)

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

thank god. One less Cleveland-faced failure.

[Dr Aki]

GS betting that money will be the deciding factor for malone.

[dockingsched]

GS betting that money will be the deciding factor for malone.

it was, malone chooses the warriors.

New Orleans assistant Mike Malone has agreed to join Mark Jackson's staff in Golden State as his top aide, league sources tell Y! Sports.

http://twitter.com/#!/WojYahooNBA

[BEazy]

That means Kuester is def. coming to LA.

[Dr Aki]

GS betting that money will be the deciding factor for malone.

it was, malone chooses the warriors.

New Orleans assistant Mike Malone has agreed to join Mark Jackson's staff in Golden State as his top aide, league sources tell Y! Sports.

http://twitter.com/#!/WojYahooNBA

lol, looks like malone had an eye towards a HC job after mark jackson falls flat.

im guessing, malone took one look at messina, (and shaw and rambis) and thought he wasn't going to land the lakers HC job anytime soon and said might as well take the money as well

[So Gutta]

Mitch could veto Kuester however.

We'll see.

[EnigmaticProblem]

Though I feel for John Kuester 'cause of the treatment given to him by his players. . . I don't want him anywhere near the Lakers. Mike Brown should bring in one of Lawrence Frank or Tim Grgurich as defensive coordinator. The combination of Ettore Messina, Lawrence Frank, and Tim Grgurich would be awesome!

[BEazy]

Now all thats left is Tim Grgurich....I HATE KUESTER HE SUCKS!

[Slava]

We're in full fledged cost cutting process when it comes to the coaching staff, so don't expect us to go into bidding wars for any coach that's wanted by another team. We'll pretty much land whoever falls for us.

[NOODLESTYLE]

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblo ... urich.html

Background: Obviously, any hire wouldn't happen until after the NBA Finals between Dallas and Miami, possibly as early as Thursday. Grgurich joined the Mavericks in somewhat of a consulting role, with management giving him flexibility to attend practices and games as he chooses. He had unexpectedly left the Denver Nuggets last summer, with the Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman and Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reporting Grgurich's disappointment Denver didn't re-sign executive and longtime friend Mark Warkentien. Grgurich spent 12 seasons coaching under George Karl, which included a trip to the 1996 NBA Finals with the Seattle Sonics and five division titles. He also had assistant coaching stints with the Portland Trail Blazers (2004-05 and 1998-2001, including two Western Conference Finals appearances), Phoenix Suns (2002-04), Milwaukee Bucks (2001-02) and Sonics (1991-98).

Connection to Brown: Consider Brown's revelation to Hochman about Grgurich when he was coaching the Cavaliers during the 2009-10 season: ""He's probably, single-handedly, the most important guy who helped me get to the seat I'm in now." Brown as a former Nuggets video coordinator served as a counselor at Grgurich's famously secretive summer camps at Las Vegas, which consistently attract the best NBA talent. Brown recalled Grgurich's willingness to throw Brown in charge of certain drills. "With him taking me under his wing and giving me credibility alone, that's helped me move up and be bigger than I was in a lot of people's eyes," Brown said. "He took a chance on me. He taught me a lot in terms of wisdom, how to interact with players, how to teach players and how to be yourself, and that's the most important thing. And I did listen some, because that's one of the reasons I'm here."

Style: In the same article, Karl described Grgurich as the "best assistant coach in the NBA" and every single publication written about him indicates the high level of respect players and coaches have around him. Grgurich has rarely talked to the media, but there's plenty of anecdotes that illustrate how he's cultivated strong relationships with players. Carmelo Anthony frequently talked with Grgurich even when he shut off talks with other Nuggets officials after refusing to sign a three-year, $65-million extension. Hochman also indicated that Grgurich played the "good cop" role for players falling in Karl's doghouse, most notably J.R. Smith.

[NOODLESTYLE]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketbal ... vrit=53295

Also, the Lakers probably will announce this week they have hired assistant coaches John Kuester, Chuck Person and Quin Snyder, according to an NBA executive not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.