The Los Angeles Lakers lost their best big man this offseason when Dwight Howard left via free agency for the Houston Rockets, but now they've gained one of the league's top big man coaches in Kurt Rambis.
Rambis, former Lakers great and Johnny Davis have joined head coach Mike D'Antoni's staff officially. In a statement about the two new assistants, D'Antoni gushed about their credentials.
"Kurt is a great basketball mind, extremely good at working with big men and his experience as a head coach in this league is going to prove very helpful to our staff." On Davis, D'Antoni said, "Johnny is a two-time NBA head coach with years of experience playing as well as coaching in this league. The vast array of NBA knowledge he brings to the table will be invaluable to us."
Rambis, who has a relationship with both D'Antoni and ex-Lakers coach Phil Jackson expressed both surprise and excitement at being offered a position. "Quite frankly, I was a little bit shocked about that, and for him, he said it was a no-brainer, and I jumped on it right away. I said, 'This would be great, I think it would work out well for both of us.'"
"We rekindled our friendship," Rambis said. "We've known each other for several years going back in coaching circles. It was kind of an interesting conversation, I just had no idea that that's the direction it was going to go."
Rambis made clear that despite his close friendship with Jackson, he will back D'Antoni in any public issues or spats. As the Lakers scuffled last season calls for Jackson could be heard throughout Staples Center.
"I'm here to support Mike," Rambis said. "It doesn't mean that I won't talk to everybody and anybody about basketball. I've done that my entire life. I don't think anybody knows everything about basketball. There's always good ideas, even if it's just drills for practices. So, it's always good to talk basketball with people. I think whenever you're a coach at any level in any situation, the more conversations you have with different people -- especially successful people -- it only benefits you."
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