Lakers to interview J.B. Bickerstaff for head coaching job on Friday

The Los Angeles Lakers have fully moved on from their failed negotiations with Tyronn Lue and have broadened their search to feature a somewhat familiar face.

According to Brad Turner of The L.A. Times, the Lakers will include J.B. Bickerstaff — son of Bernie — in their group of candidates and are meeting with him Friday afternoon:

“Bickerstaff is scheduled to meet with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, general manager Rob Pelinka, co-owners Joey Buss and Jesse Buss, president of business operations Tim Harris, director of special projects Linda Rambis and senior advisor Kurt Rambis.”

If that list of decision-makers doesn’t inspire confidence, I simply don’t know what will.

It’s also worth noting that Bickerstaff wasn’t on the first reported list of second-round candidates for the Lakers, a group that included Frank Vogel, Lionel Hollins, Mike Woodson, Jason Kidd and Juwan Howard. Vogel interviewed for the job on Thursday.

Bickerstaff’s father Bernie is the winningest coach in Lakers’ history by percentage, but his son has not had that level of success so far, most recently going 37-34 with the Houston Rockets and then 48-97 with the Memphis Grizzlies. His departure in favor of Mike D’Antoni helped Houston take off to the stratosphere it currently resides in and, chances are, Memphis is going to improve greatly in his absence, too.

Given the Lakers’ interest in Jason Kidd (whose departure led directly to the Milwaukee Bucks becoming a title contender), this decision makes all too much sense.

Notice the trend among these names, by the way... Vogel, Hollins, Woodson, Kidd and now Bickerstaff are all has-beens or never-was’ so desperate that they might be okay with Kurt Rambis joining their staff. In fact, Bickerstaff at one point worked under Rambis in Minnesota, so, s--t, let’s get the whole gang back together. David Kahn, too.

Honestly, this is the new Lakers. Get used to it. There’s no creativity. There’s no competence. It’s all a bunch of power grabs that will result in the next dumb decision.

Bad stuff happens and then you die.

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