Leftovers: Kobe should get shot to coach Lakers

Even when the Los Angeles Lakers are out of the playoffs, they're never out of the news.

Now speculation turns to who takes on the task of following Phil Jackson and his five Lakers championships.

Doc Rivers is out, having signed a surprising five-year extension with the Boston Celtics.

And presumed favorite Brian Shaw has received permission to interview with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, which tells you he's not the favorite. If Shaw thought he was next in line with the Lakers, there's no way he even thinks about talking to those franchises.

As Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke pointed out, Lakers owner Jerry Buss takes chances with his coaching hires. Some worked out (Pat Riley), and some didn't (Randy Pfund).

Plaschke wrote he wouldn't be surprised to see Buss bring back Riley or make Kobe Bryant a player-coach.

Second acts seldom work, and why would Riley leave a Miami Heat organization that appears on the verge of a championship run?

Hiring Bryant, however, makes sense. He's practically a coach now, and though he's still an exceptional player, the incredible load of minutes he carries with the deep playoff runs year after year will start taking a toll.

Yes, the Magic Johnson experiment in 1994 failed, but that's no reason not to give Bryant a shot if he wants it.

■ BOSTON'S OLD-AGE HOME -- The Lakers' main rivals, the Celtics, are considering moving captain Paul Pierce to a reserve role next season, and fellow aging veterans Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett also might be asked to fill different needs if they are retained.

All three looked well past their prime in these playoffs, and the Celtics know they need to begin a youth movement.

"Knowing Father Time never loses, I think their being able to carry a team day in and out might be over," Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge told a radio show. "But their ability to be contributors to very good basketball teams is still there."

The Celtics still might be playing if they hadn't traded 26-year-old center Kendrick Perkins to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

■ INSENSITIVE AND STUPID -- Words are difficult to find any time a young life is lost, but unfortunately ESPN Insider's Albert Lin tried and chose the wrong ones.

"Looks as if Nick Saban was prescient when he gave rising senior OL Alfred McCullough and rising junior RG Barrett Jones snaps at LT this spring," Lin posted. "In what qualifies as devastating news on the heels of the tornadoes that flattened Tuscaloosa, juco OL Aaron Douglas, who was recruited specifically to replace James Carpenter at LT, was found dead in Jacksonville on Thursday.

"Although it's far from the most important result of this development, Douglas' death leaves the door wide open for five-star OT Cyrus Kouandjio to seize the job when he arrives this summer."

Wow. Just ... wow!

ESPN took down the post and apologized, saying "it did not meet ESPN editorial standards."

Or anyone else's.

COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL