Last offseason, the Houston Rockets had a major decision to make. They needed a head coach.
Better yet, they needed the right coach.
They had Stephen Silas, who was known to be an offensive guru, based on his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks, however, it's a bit different without Luka Doncic.
Surprise, surprise.
The Rockets moved swiftly to hire Ime Udoka, who wouldn't have been available if not for nefarious reasons. It's not debatable that he's a good coach, though.
The Los Angeles Lakers would've surely loved to have hired him, especially considering that they were outcoached by the Denver Nuggets' Mike Malone, which partly led to them getting swept in the Western Conference Finals.
Fast forward one year and the Lakers find themselves looking for a new coach (depending on who you believe), as they got eliminated by Malone's Nuggets in five games, however, this time in the opening round.
If the Lakers do, in fact, choose to hire a new coach, they'll be forced to pick from what's left. And based on their last coaching search, they'll have limited options, as they were rebuffed by several quality candidates.
The Lakers couldn't even sway former Rockets forward Juwan Howard to leave the University of Michigan. Let's pause there for a second.
Howard, who has never coached at the NBA level, decided against joining one of the league's premier franchises, who also happen to have two of the best players in the league.
Them being a storied franchise didn't matter.
Maybe Howard will be interested this time.
Regardless of who they choose, Udoka isn't available.
The man who took the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals in his first season at the helm, which Brad Stevens couldn't do in seven years, while also winning 41 games this past season, essentially the same amount of wins that the Rockets had in the last two years combined.
Want to join the discussion? Like Inside the Rockets on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.
More must-reads: