Lakers hire Gary Vitti's replacement

Sports in 2017 are going to be weird. Kobe Bryant will be retired. Vin Scully won't be calling Dodgers games. Gary Vitti won't be manning the sidelines for injured players. My brain can't process all this.

We've known who'll be "replacing" (because no one honestly can) Scully and Bryant, but the Lakers had yet to hire someone to fill Vitti's shoes. Well, they found someone today and, as basically anyone who's paid attention to anything the Lakers have ever done, ever, could have predicted, they hired in-house.

Per Mike Bresnahan, Marco Nunez will be tasked with keeping the Lakers healthy throughout the grueling NBA season moving forward. He's spent the last nine years as Vitti's assistant and also logged time with the Sparks and D-Fenders.

I won't claim to know much about the process that went into the hire, but I also can't help but sigh just a little about yet another refusal to look outward. Aside from the pressure of following someone with such an extensive tenure, Nunez steps into a pretty tough situation as he'll have to many players trying to get acclimated to 82 NBA games in a single season.

Best of luck and congratulations on the hire, Marco!

You can follow the author of this article at @AnthonyIrwinLA.