Mitch Kupchak, Los Angeles Lakers GM, Admits Phil Jackson, Mike D'Antoni Hiring Was 'Clumsy'

Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak admits team officials could have handled last year’s early season coaching crisis much better than they did.

After firing Mike Brown just five games into the season, the Lakers immediately turned to and spoke extensively with Phil Jackson about taking over the reins before Mike D’Antoni seemingly emerged from nowhere to do so. The L.A. Times reports at the time of D’Antoni’s hiring, Jackson was still said to be contemplating the conditions under which he would reassume a post he thought was his for the taking.

“There was really no other way to get around it,” Kupchak told The Times of the subsequent “clumsy” conversation he was forced to have with the Hall of Famer Jackson. “In this business you don’t make announcements until you have signed contracts. The last thing we wanted was for Phil Jackson, who we love in the organization, the city loves him, to wake in the morning or to get a phone call from somebody at 4 or 5 in the morning saying, ‘Guess what? Didn’t Mitch tell you?’”

According to The Times, with Dwight Howard having now officially bolted the organization for Houston, for the first time in decades the Lakers seem to sense the need for an image rehabilitation effort. That commenced with owners Jim and Jeanie Buss giving rare and lengthy interviews last week about management’s vision for the team.

Beyond that, much of the plan seems to call for mending fences with Jackson."Phil is a really close friend of mine and he's an icon, not only in the city but in the basketball community” said Kupchak. “He's revered here.”