Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy is ready for the big chair.
In an appearance on the May 4 episode of the “Certified Buckets” podcast, Handy — an assistant coach on three separate championship teams — said he is ready to take the next step in his coaching career.
“I am definitely at that point now to where I know I’m ready to be a head coach,” the Lakers’ assistant said in his podcast appearance. “I’m ready to take on my own team and direct the ship in that fashion.”
Handy, who has a player development background, also said he would prefer not to inherit a losing situation.
“One, I’m not interested in losing, that’s for sure. I’m not interested in so-to-speak, quote-unquote rebuilding,” he said. “Being a head coach, you don’t always get the opportunity to pick and choose what you want, but I do want a team that has the ability to compete. That’s important to me. So being able to take some young talent and putting that talent on the floor and put yourself in position to compete and be in the playoffs, I would love to be in situation like that and be able to develop some guys, be able to help change and create a culture and bring a winning approach to the organization, so I think it’s a combination, but winning is important to me, it’s always been at the top of the list for me.”
Handy is revered among NBA players as a player’s coach and has been mentioned in the rumor mill for potential head coach openings in recent seasons. He was an assistant coach for the 2015-16 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers, an assistant on the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors that won it all in 2019, and has been an assistant with the Lakers, who won the NBA Championship in the 2020 Orlando bubble.
Nets star Kyrie Irving hit the championship-clinching shot for the Cavaliers in 2016 and credited Handy for a speech that turned the series around. The Cavs fell into an 0-2 hole to start that series before Handy lit a fire.
“The speech he gave after Game 2 really hit home for all of us,” Irving told The Undefeated. “It was a man-to-man speech that needed to be said, that we all understood in order to, kind of, will ourselves to understand that we still have a chance in this series. Golden State took care of home court. But that speech really hit home for all of us.”
Ex-Lakers breakout star Alex Caruso also credited Handy with his development into a complete basketball player.
“The stuff he teaches us is stuff I hadn’t learned from anybody else,” Caruso said. “The front office here put together a team of high-character guys, high-character coaches. Support staff that are important to the players, important to the team. It just makes it easy when you show up and guys have energy or people like Phil have your best interest in mind.”
The Lakers are among a number of teams who are looking for a new head coach after dismissing Frank Vogel at the end of their season. The Charlotte Hornets also dismissed head coach James Borrego and have an attractive job opening with cornerstones LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges. The Sacramento Kings also have a head coach opening after parting ways with Luke Walton and interim coach Alvin Gentry, and the Utah Jazz are a team to monitor after another year under head coach Quin Snyder ends in an earlier-than-expected playoff exit.
Handy is also a Black head coaching candidate in a league with a vast majority of Black players but a disproportionate number of coaches of color. Fourteen of the NBA’s 30 coaching jobs are filled by people of color, which is an NBA record but a mark the league still hopes to improve.
As does Handy, who says he’s learned so much since first joining the Lakers as a player development coach in 2011 that he believes he’s ready for his moment.
“It’s been a tremendous learning curve for me over the last 11 years and, probably within the last 3 years, I’ve really started trying to put myself in position to be looked at as head coach material,” he said. “Just learning more things about defenses and offenses and breaking down X’s and O’s and game plans and strategies.”
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