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Saturday, if there was any hostility between the organization and James, it never showed up in any obvious ways. He arrived with his wife, Savannah, daughter, Zhuri, and a group of his closest friends. James arrived in Las Vegas on Saturday morning after attending a Bad Bunny concert in Puerto Rico on Friday night. James sat near Lakers assistant Greg St. Jean for most of the third quarter. Earlier, he spoke with other members of the coaching staff in attendance, a group that included assistants Nate McMillan and Bob Beyer, and teammate Dalton Knecht, who didn’t dress after playing in four games with the summer league team over the past four weeks.
Lakers team sources believe they have the coaching staff required to make Deandre Ayton signing work
For Ayton, who turns 27 at the end of July, the opportunity to re-establish himself couldn’t be more clear. While his contract with the Lakers has a second-year player option, no one involved wants him to exercise it — the hope being that he far outplays that $8 million valuation and commands way more next summer. Team sources believe the Lakers have the right coaching staff to make that happen. In JJ Redick, they have a deadly serious head coach who also understands how to relate to players. Assistant Scott Brooks worked with Ayton in Portland two years ago, and Nate McMillan has either played or coached with or against virtually every personality type the NBA’s ever concocted. And if not, the Lakers have maintained their flexibility for next summer and beyond.
Washburn’s collegiate days were as electric as they were turbulent. A high school phenom, he joined a stacked NC State squad that included Vinny Del Negro, Nate McMillan, Lorenzo Charles and Spud Webb.“I played with Spud my freshman year… during those 10 games we went 10-0,” said Washburn. “I got suspended for those little stereo pranks that I did and then they lost the next 7 games,” Washburn recalls. “Fast forward to my sophomore year, now we have Nate at the point guard, we have Vinny at the 2… me and Shackleford were the same size, so a lot of times he would guard the center and I would guard the forward… I really never watched sports on tv, I never knew how loaded we really were
Even those who are close to Karl, like former player and current Lakers assistant Nate McMillan, believe Karl’s candor in the book will have lasting implications, particularly when it comes to Coby’s chances to get a head job. “When you say things like that, it can get under people’s skin. This whole thing is about networking and who you know. If people feel a certain way, or look at you in a certain way, it can make it hard,” McMillan said. “But if it wasn’t for Coby, I don’t think George would have many regrets about what he said. A lot of what he said is real … it’s just things that other people wouldn’t say.”
Draymond Green passes Nate McMillan in assists
Jorge Sierra: Draymond Green passed Nate McMillan in assists and is now No. 75 all-time. Also: Trae Young tied Dell Curry in three-pointers for No. 93. Now only 2,800 threes away from Steph.
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Darius Miles: Funny story—Nate McMillan becomes the head coach, and we go to training camp about an hour away from Portland. We get to camp, and we’re staying in a Holiday Inn or a Days Inn—some spot like that. It wasn’t even the type of hotel we normally stayed in, but it was a small town, so I understood. But then they tell us, "We gotta share rooms." I looked at Z-Bo like, "Hold up. So I gotta sit in a room with another dude, smelling his funk? What if I want to be on the phone with my old lady? I can’t talk to my old lady?" Me and Z-Bo took offense to that. I was like, "Bro, I got a black card in my wallet. Man, this is crazy!" So me and Z-Bo got our own rooms. Next thing you know, we go to the team meeting, and the first thing Nate McMillan says is, "Who in here got their own room?" Only ones were me and Z-Bo. He looked at us and said, "Y’all can get the f*** up out of here." So me and Z-Bo just walked out! We went to TGI Fridays and got something to eat.
Nate McMillan: I'm done with head coaching jobs
“I’m over the first seat. I’m done with that,” McMillan said. “My thing is to assist JJ and give him my thoughts, and whatever he decides, assist him on his decision. I’m not the offensive coach. I’m not the defensive coach. I just kind of chat with everybody, help with game management, and, if he has any questions, tell him what I see.”
Redick says they have both been “perfect fits” because each can offer a different perspective. “I call both of them my spiritual gurus,” Redick said. “They are great with the X’s and O’s stuff — our entire staff is — but I think with them, it’s just … they have seen everything having been in the NBA 35-40 years. There are three or four times a week where I’m like, ‘Hey, did I handle that right? How should I handle this … and what did your teams do when they were going through X, Y, Z?’ They have lived it all.”
The series was tied 2-2, and as Game 5 unfolded, McMillan and Brooks found themselves tangled and locked up with each other on several occasions. In the third quarter, McMillan drove left and tried to lose Brooks on a screen by teammate Derrick McKey. Brooks bounced off McKey and immediately re-engaged with McMillan, touching and bumping him along the way.
McMillan continued driving and rose toward the basket, his elbow catching Brooks flush on the chin. Brooks responded by lunging at McMillan and grabbing his jersey near the armpits. Brooks pushed McMillan into the basket stanchion.
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Over the last 31 years, McMillan said he and Brooks never really talked to each other about their confrontation. Even in the immediate wake of the fight, before Game 6, there was no handshake, no apology, no nothing. And it pretty much stayed that way for three decades. “We didn’t acknowledge that until we coached against each other,” McMillan said. “And even then, we would just kind of nod at each other and smile. But you know, in the back of your mind it’s … that’s the guy …”
Jorge Sierra: Nikola Jokic passed Doc Rivers in assists yesterday and is now 73rd all-time in a tie with Nate McMillan. Not bad for a center. He also moved past Wayne Embry in rebounds. He's No. 92 now.
Nate McMillan’s current role as an assistant for the Lakers is thanks largely Jamelle. And that’s where this story goes a couple different paths. Nate was fired in Atlanta during the 2022-23 season and spent last season without a job on an NBA bench. He believed he was done without firm plans for his coaching future. The late nights. The road trips. The hours poring over film and scouting reports. No longer having to deal with media criticism or constant analysis. It was time to be a grandfather. Then the phone buzzed. Not Nate’s. It was Jamelle’s with a text notification while he happened to be on the phone with his pops. The text was from JJ Reddick, the new coach of the Lakers who played in New Orleans during the time Jamelle worked for the Pelicans. “First, he asked me, ‘Would your dad come coach the Lakers?’” Jamelle recalled.
That led to a brief back-and-forth between father and son over speaker phone. “I said, ‘Get off the phone with me. I have nothing else to say to you. Bye. Call him back.’ I hung up the phone. I text him (Reddick’s) number. Not even 20 minutes later, it was done. He called me back and was like, ‘I’m coaching the Lakers,’” Jamelle said. McMillan mostly watches and observes in his role with the Lakers. During a game last month against the Nuggets, the only times he rose from the bench were during timeouts. Stalking up and down the sideline is reserved for Reddick, now.
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