Saturday, July 10, 2004
Special K
Missing from the dozens of articles (for example, Phil Taylor's) written about Coach K in the last week is the real reason he turned down the Lakers: Because Kobe asked him to accept the job.Huh?
That's right. Coach K turned down the Lakers because Kobe asked him to accept the job.
Sure, Los Angeles pursued Coach K at Kobe's request. And yes, Coach K considered the offer at Kobe's urging. But Krzyzewski has never been one to play second fiddle, even to his NBA(-bound) players.
In the past couple months, Kobe has all but run Shaq out of town. In the past couple weeks, he's taken control of the Lakers search for a head coach. Had Krzyzewski taken Kobe's bait, Bryant would have cemented his stranglehold over the franchise.
And it would have been he, not Coach K, who ran the show in Los Angeles. Which would have been - and therefore was - unacceptable to Duke's living legend.
