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After turning the basketball world upside down for the past few days, Mike Krzyzewski has calmed everything down, by opting to remain at Duke . Perhaps Coach K really does want to go to the NBA, but has little interest in being a part of the Lakers psychodrama. Perhaps, he's just happy ruling over college basketball. But whatever the reason, this is probably not great news for the Lakers.
Without Coach K, Kobe Bryant may very well become a Clipper , thereby making Donald Sterling's team a viable NBA franchise for the first time ever. And while LAist respects Rudy Tomjanovich as the most accomplished NBA coach out there, he's no Phil Jackson, he may not be healthy, and his last four years in Houston were hardly spectacular. If the Lakers actually go into rebuilding mode, LAist would like Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak to reconsider Kurt Rambis, who deserves another shot.
Still, if Kobe leaves, and the Lakers keep Shaq because there is no suitable offer on the table, perhaps Tomjanovich is the best candidate to make Shaq happy. The Lakers could still pull off a sign-and-trade with the Clippers for someone like Quentin Richardson, hope that Gary Payton becomes good again, and then you'd have a Laker-Clipper rivalry so fierce that it would make USC-UCLA pranks look tame. Shaq vs. Kobe? We can get used to it.
