but again - does being a minority owner of a team and a GM for a few years prepare you to be a head coach? Not too many former GMs/Execs out there who went on to become successful coaches.

Point is that Kerr also didn't have substantive coaching experience prior to GS, but many predicted he'd be successful nonetheless not just because of his time as an exec and an analyst (he was an analyst after his time with Phoenix, so he was also hired while working as an analyst) - but because of who he was and the aggregate non-coaching experience/attributes he brought to the table.

But the question remains: who should the Lakers have hired instead? Cassell? Monty?