Lakers Assistant Coach Reveals Taking Inspiration From Michael Jordan & Grant Hill to Shape His NBA Career

Phil Handy is the Lakers’ current Assistant Coach but has made quite a resume for himself in the NBA. He started his coaching career with the Lakers itself in 2011. But ended up working with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors as well.

The man has been a part of history by being the Assistant Coach to the Cavs when they won their first title in franchise history.

After making 4 straight visits to the NBA Finals, he spent 1 season with the Raptors when they also won their first championship. And now, he was with the Lakers when they won their title after a decade, making it 6 straight visits to the Finals.

Who does Phil Handy look up to?

Even though Phil never played professionally in the NBA, he spent some time playing all over the world. So, what helped Handy perfect his craft? In an interview on James Posey’s podcast, Phil talked about how the latter part of his career was the game-changer for him.

“I think it started For me, towards the end of my career, right,” Phil stated. “As a young, as a young player, I was one of them that just thought I’d just dunk on everybody. Or try to dunk everything flying. You know, I was wrecked, I was reckless.

“And so, you know, I got to the point at the end of my career where I didn’t really have any injuries. But you know, as we get older, our bodies start telling us different things.

“You slow down. And so what I learned was, you know, even at the end of my career, I still was pretty quick, but obviously, I wasn’t as quick as I was two years ago.”

So, how did he work on his efficiency? He further revealed, “So even myself, I mean, I always watch, always watch Grant Hill. Always watch MJ, you know.

“I used to watch these dudes man and, and I wanted to emulate large parts of their game to be as complete a player as I could be.”

Michael Jordan and Grant Hill’s impact

In fact, Phil also explained the specifics of what he picked up from those legends. He said, “So as I got older, I really started focusing on my shooting, right.

“And understanding I’m not gonna always be able to get to the rim. I got to get better with shooting threes, and getting better shooting the ball dribble.

“So I spent a lot of time how to get better learn how to post up, you know. I want to post up smaller guards as a point guard. So the later part of my career, I really started working on those things.

“Just by watching guys and emulating what MJ was doing or emulating what Grant Hill was doing.”

Following Jordan and Grant’s footsteps is surely working for Handy. Also, it is doing wonders for every team that he ends up coaching. Will he be able to pull off another straight entry into the NBA Finals this year with the Lakers?