The Los Angeles Lakers have formed one of the best starting fives in the NBA and their players are certainly capable of accomplishing great things. However, acquiring star players is just one of the steps needed to win an NBA championship. Coaches play just as important of a role as the players do, despite not being front and center during games.
The Lakers named Mike Brown their head coach last season, and even though he had to follow the footsteps of Phil Jackson, Brown did a solid job coaching the Lakers. The team improved greatly on the defensive end, but the players had some trouble adjusting to the new offense. Brown hopes the players will get more comfortable with his system, and to do that the Lakers announced the addition of three assistant coaches, Eddie Jordan, Steve Clifford and Bernie Bickerstaff.
Jordan has some experience with the Lakers as he was a member of the 1982 championship team. Still, he is most remembered for his tenure as head coach of the Washington Wizards. With the Wizards, Jordan managed to reach the post-season four times in six seasons. The Wizards developed a great nucleus and Jordan did a nice job coaching the players.
Clifford spent the last five season as an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic, meaning he is quite familiar with Dwight Howard. Howard will be moving into a new environment in Los Angeles, so it is helpful to have someone like Clifford to help ease the process for him.
As for Bickerstaff, he is the elder assistant coach and his 39 years of experience is something that will help the Lakers immensely. Bickerstaff’s last stay was in Portland where he was an assistant for two seasons.
The Lakers are adding three stellar assistant coaches to the team and they will surely help the players next season. The Lakers’ front-office has done a great job improving the team both on the court and on the bench.
