NBA Rumors: Lakers After Roy Williams Again

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Williams has a close relationship with Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, a fellow former North Carolina Tar Heel. The Lakers coaching search, which was limited to just a couple of candidates last time it was open due to it being in season, is obviously going to be expansive. Williams is one of over a dozen names to already surface in association with the position.

In 2004 the Lakers were in an uncertain place, with Shaquille O’Neal being traded and an obvious rebuilding process beginning. They’re a year into the rebuilding process this time around, but the job likely appeals to Williams no more than it did ten years ago when he originally told Kupchak he wasn’t interested. Kupchak never formally offered him the position, but did gauge his interest in making the jump to the NBA.

Williams’ contract at North Carolina currently runs through 2018, but he’ll likely hold the position for as long as he wants. The security he has there far exceeds anything he could get with the Lakers and he would also likely have to pay a buyout that could be a couple million to get out of his contract, although the specific buyout language in his deal is not publicized.

The league has yet to officially announce Durant as the MVP, but it’s the only postseason award that they’ve yet to do so. It’s been apparent for some time that Durant, who has been the perennial No. 2 during LeBron James’ MVP streak, would finally top him and earn the award for the first time in his career.

While the Thunder will celebrate Durant’s achievement, the bigger concern for them is their 0-1 deficit to the Los Angeles Clippers, who handled them in blowout fashion in Game 1 to take homecourt advantage on Monday night.

Hibbert’s struggles have been well publicized so far. He’s declined in epic fashion since the last month of the regular season and it has not just carried over to the postseason, but actually gotten worse. There was the hope from Indiana that Atlanta’s small ball lineup was the root of Hibbert’s struggles, but he went without a point or rebound in 18 minutes in Game 1 against the Washington Wizards, a team that plays a traditional lineup with true bigs in Nene and Marcin Gortat.

As the 18 minutes indicate, Pacers head coach Frank Vogul is running out of patience with Hibbert. If he doesn’t make a noticeable impact early on in Game 2, he could see his role reduced even further as Vogul can’t afford to lose waiting for Hibbert to come back to life.