When you think of the players to have won the most championships in NBA history, the members of the dynastic Boston Celtics immediately come to mind. Bill Russell won a record 11 titles in his career, while his teammate Sam Jones is second on the list with 10. A few more Celtics follow until we finally get someone who wasn’t a part of those teams, and that, of course, is Robert Horry, who won 7 titles in his career.
Three of those came with the Los Angeles Lakers as he was a part of that team which three-peated from 2000 to 2002, and Horry still has some ties with the team. In a recent episode of the “Off the Dribble” podcast, he revealed that the Lakers were interested in hiring him as a coach last season, and while he is passionate about it, he doesn’t want to get into a full-time role just yet.
(starts at 3:24 mark):
“I’ve always had that passion. Even last season, the Lakers brought me in to interview about being a coach, and it’s hard because you want to do it, you have the passion to do it, but it takes a lot of time, man, and I don’t have that much grey (hair) yet!”
“I have the passion to do it. I want to do it but I’m at that point that can I coach and not travel? If I can do that, then I can do that.”
Horry has been a coach at the AAU level, but he doesn’t have any experience when it comes to coaching in the NBA, even as an assistant. The Lakers seem to believe he has what it takes, though, which is all that matters.
During this episode, Horry also recounted a story of his time with the Lakers, as he revealed that he, along with some of his teammates, used to mess with a young Kobe Bryant because he couldn’t shoot. He added how Kobe would work very hard to prove them wrong, and that desire of his to get better is what helped him become one of the all-time greats.
