Sources - Lakers to start contacting head coaching candidates - ESPN

CHICAGO — The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to start contacting coaching candidates in the coming days with an initial concentration on sitting assistants and ex-head coaches with whom they have less familiarity, sources told ESPN on Monday.

Lakers VP of Basketball Operations and GM Rob Pelinka has been gathering information on a number of head coaching candidates, including ESPN analyst JJ Redick, but the initial wave of requests for interview permission will be with those candidates with whom the organization hadn't met with in precious searches, or simply know less than other candidates, sources said.

In Pelinka's conversations with officials across the league, the term «grinder» keeps coming up in the GM's description of an important characteristic of the Lakers' coach, sources said.

That initial interview list is expected to include assistant candidates such as Miami's Chris Quinn and New Orleans' James Borrego among multiple others, sources said.

The search is expect to proceed in stages with this initial wave, then a period of talking to coaches with whom the Lakers have more history, and then a whittling down of the list to a final round of candidates, sources said.

The Lakers fired Darvin Ham after two seasons earlier this month. Ham was 90-74 overall with a trip to the Western Conference Finals in his first season followed by a five-game series loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first round this season.