Chuck Person

Los Angeles Notes: Lakers, Clippers, Del Negro

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni doesn't know if he'll have all of his familiar faces back next season, but he decided to shake things up the sidelines in advance of what should be a very interesting summer in L.A.  D'Antoni has informed assistants Bernie Bickerstaff and Chuck Person that they won't be back with the Lakers in 2013/14, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter).  Here's more out of the Staples Center..

  • Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro says that he has no read on whether he will return for next season, writes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com.  Clippers vice president of basketball operation Gary Sacks says he will take feedback from exit interviews with players and coaches into consideration when deciding on Del Negro.
  • Speaking of Sacks, the Clippers exec says he is confident that Chris Paul will be back, writes Markazi.  "I think he's an integral part of this. We feel like we had a great partnership for the last couple of years and we want to continue it obviously. These are decisions that have to be made and some of them will be taken care of at the appropriate time. We can't talk to him until July 1, so we'll go ahead and do that. We'll move forward when it's appropriate," the GM said.
  • Earl Clark may be a vital piece for the Lakers to keep, simply because their ability to add talent will be so limited, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (via Sulia).
  • Mike Trudell of NBA.com spoke to Lakers management and players about Dwight Howard and his impending free agency.

Magic Rumors: Malone, Shaw, Morway, Bower

Big news out of Orlando today as the club has fired coach Stan Van Gundy and agreed to part ways with GM Otis Smith.  The latest on the Magic..

  • Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld tweets that plenty of executives are interested in the Magic GM job, and they aren't scared away by the Dwight Howard saga. 
  • David Baumann of Bright House Sports Network says that Lakers assistant Chuck Person is on Howard's list of preferred coaches, noting D12's preference for candidates with no head coaching experience (Twitter links, and a hat tip to Sam Amick of SI.com). That might be moot, however, if Howard still wants to leave the Magic.
  • Warriors assistant Michael Malone and Pacers assistant Brian Shaw are candidates to replace Van Gundy, tweets Sam Amick of SI.com.
  • Amick also tweets that many of the same candidates for the Blazers GM job will be in the running for the same post in Orlando, and links to a story from earlier this month specifying Pacers GM David Morway and former Hornets GM Jeff Bower as candidates for the Portland gig.
  • Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio says that the Magic had interest in signing Greg Oden, but that's likely changed in the wake of today's news (Twitter link).
  • Orlando Sentinel columnist George Diaz encourages the Magic to be "creative, aggressive and different" with their GM and coaching hires.

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