Who is the Lakers 3rd best coach the past 40 years.

[tamaraw08]

Phil and Riley are the top 2 best Lakers tacticians since 1983 imo,
But my question is who is the 3rd, maybe 4th best coach the past 40 years?

Del Harris had a 66% winning percentage with barely any dominant players. But his lack of success in the postseason angered most fans.
Mike Dunleavy took over after Riley left and was pretty good, leading the team to the Finals until they suffered injuries to key players vs the Bulls. 61.6 winning %.
Frank Vogel won a chip in the Bubble with a 73% winning clip but struggled when he lost key defenders and having to deal with Westbrook.
Darvin Ham?
MDA?
Mike Brown?
Magic had a paltry 31% winning record.
Byron Scott may have the worst at 23% with Kobe's farewell tour.

[stan francisco]

MDA: no defense
Potato-Head: no offense
Magic: no ability to coach
Scott: no strategy
Del: no buy-in


Vogel it is. I’m all about the championships.

[danfantastk32]

I think Del Harris was prob #3. Those Lakers were getting closer and closer to a title with him. Let's also not forget, those were Kobe's first 3 seasons. Phil got him in season 4...when he was now a dominant force. What would Del's job looked like with that 1999-2000 squad? Kobe was now ready for championship level shouldering, come the playoffs.

I think you put Dunleavy or Vogel as #4. Let's give Dunleavy some props for keeping the Lakers somewhat relevant after the dynasty crumbled. Maybe he gets the #4 for that fact.

2 coaches I think get an incomplete grade: D'antoni and Scott.

Dantoni came in like 15-20 games into the season. He had the horrible misfortune of being "the guy they picked over Phil". But he was brought in to have Nash run his offense. No camp. Didn't get to pick all his assistants. If people can remember, he walked in on crutches as he'd just got knee surgery. Most importantly...Nash was done. They never got to run anything like what he was brought in for. Dwight's back was much worse than thought, and when Kobe went down, it was over. Dwight left....Nash played like a total of 9 games as a Laker, and the whole thing was a disaster.

Same with Scott. I mean come on! The guy was given this pile of absolute garbage to work with. Jim couldn't sign anyone decent to save his life. Kobe was in his twilight, but still stubborn, and fire-driven as ever. WHO??? WHO coulda done anything with that team? I think it's totally unfair to give those two any sort of grade, as Laker coaches.

Vogel should still be our coach now. It was beyond obvious why that team sucked. Just like it sucked right up until douche-bag left, and they SUDDENLY WENT 21-6 or whatever it was. It was a terrible mistake, and complete passing of the buck to fire Vogel.

[Beethoven]

Del was carried by the strength of the Kobe/Jones/Exel/Campbell/Shaq combo back then but it takes experience from the group (too youthful) and an excellent coach to out-coach in the playoffs. I wouldnt put him up there.

I can see Vogel actually if given enough time with the Lakers and a great player cast, that he would have given us another championship out of the tenure.

--

I never saw MDA and Brown as actual coaches for the Lakers.
More like, interim place holders as we search out something better or something like that.
They dont ring "Lakers" to me for some reason.

[danfantastk32]

Del was carried by the strength of the Kobe/Jones/Exel/Campbell/Shaq combo back then but it takes experience from the group (too youthful) and an excellent coach to out-coach in the playoffs. I wouldnt put him up there.

I agree with most of what else you said...but come on....Kobe was a little scruff of a kid under Del. He wasn't carrying nobody.

[Beethoven]

Del was carried by the strength of the Kobe/Jones/Exel/Campbell/Shaq combo back then but it takes experience from the group (too youthful) and an excellent coach to out-coach in the playoffs. I wouldnt put him up there.

I agree with most of what else you said...but come on....Kobe was a little scruff of a kid under Del. He wasn't carrying nobody.

yeah I just input Kobe's name in there as part of the crew. Out of respect.

[tamaraw08]

Del was carried by the strength of the Kobe/Jones/Exel/Campbell/Shaq combo back then but it takes experience from the group (too youthful) and an excellent coach to out-coach in the playoffs. I wouldnt put him up there.

I agree with most of what else you said...but come on....Kobe was a little scruff of a kid under Del. He wasn't carrying nobody.

yeah I just input Kobe's name in there as part of the crew. Out of respect.

I feel Del's best coaching job was actually before Shaq and Kobe came to the team with 48 and 53 wins led by Ceballos, 23 yr old NVE, and Jones also at just 23. No, he didn't have much success in the playoffs but it's very hard to win with very young volatile players like these 3 esp if you face a very experienced team like the Spurs who had D-Rob,Avery Johnson, Rivers, Elliot etc.
Del is my pick if you just base it on regular season success, but overall probably Dunleavy who did great after Riley left

[DNP-Old]

Frank Hamblen

[xinxin]

MDA: no defense
Potato-Head: no offense
Magic: no ability to coach
Scott: no strategy
Del: no buy-in


Vogel it is. I’m all about the championships.

It's Vogel for me. He got a raw deal when the front office essentially screwed his season/s by trading away Kuz/ KCP for the useless Westbrook. & adding all those aging veterans.. then made him the fall guy for the disastrous season

[danfantastk32]

MDA: no defense
Potato-Head: no offense
Magic: no ability to coach
Scott: no strategy
Del: no buy-in


Vogel it is. I’m all about the championships.

It's Vogel for me. He got a raw deal when the front office essentially screwed his season/s by trading away Kuz/ KCP for the useless Westbrook. & adding all those aging veterans.. then made him the fall guy for the disastrous season

No argument here. I still get pissed when I think about it. It's rubs me, cause how freakin stupid did they think I was, that a change of coach was gonna fix everything? I picked Del, but Vogel is a good coach, and the Lakers were stupid for making him the fall guy. I guess stupid was in the air that season.

[CZ Eddie]

I like Harris for #3 even though he was a .549 career coach.
Were the Lakers the last time he coached for?

Wow, I forgot about some of these coaches, like Frank Hamblin
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/lakers-head-coach

Yes, Harris was last head coach for the Lakers, though he was an assistant elsewhere
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Harris

86 y/o

[Beethoven]

Rudy Tomjanovich is a Hall of famer coach. But we rarely ever remember him unfortunately. We just got him when he needed to retire. IF he had a good 3 or 4 more years in him, I would think he could have taken the Pau and Kobe combo to the championships as well.

[snaquille oatmeal]

No Westhead? Anyone?
Jason segal did such a great job on winning time though

[tamaraw08]

Rudy Tomjanovich is a Hall of famer coach. But we rarely ever remember him unfortunately. We just got him when he needed to retire. IF he had a good 3 or 4 more years in him, I would think he could have taken the Pau and Kobe combo to the championships as well.

I don't know man, just not a fan of this guy. Felt like he got carried by the greatness of Hakeem then plus Drexler, , clutch shooting of Kenny Smith, Cassell while opposing players like Starks and Anderson completely wetting the bed.
After those 2 rings, his team was just good not great.
That Lakers stint was pretty bad imo that he quit after 43 pretty easy games, right before they faced their hardest schedule.

[Landsberger]

Westhead if we're talking about "winning". Harris, at first, did a lot with a little but then did little with a lot. Overall that team surprised more than it disappointed. Other than those two I'm hard pressed to find a coach that made a difference.