Lakers Coach Mike Brown Fired: Phil Jackson, Mike D'Antoni, Jerry Sloan Possible Candidates to Lead Kobe Bryant and the Lakers?

The Mike Brown era has come and gone in Los Angeles after one season and a handful of losses for the Lakers into the 2012-13 season.

And while Bernie Bickerstaff is taking the reins of this star laden squad at the moment, it's a safe bet to assume that Bickerstaff won't be steering the massive vessel that is the demanding Lakers very long. Already, sources have told ESPN that the Lakers are considering several candidates to take Brown's place and lead this squad of Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol to the promised land that is the NBA Finals.

Phil Jackson

The pedigree for this man's coaching experience speaks for itself.

11 NBA Championships. Six Eastern Conference titles. Seven Western Conference championships. Named one of the Top 10 coaches in NBA History. Four-time NBA All-Star head Coach. The 1996 NBA Coach of the Year award, during which he led Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippin and Dennis Rodman on a historic 72-10 regular season campaign culminating in the 1995-96 NBA title. Leading three different squads (1991-1993 Bulls, 1996-1998 Bulls, 2000-2002 Lakers) to three-peats as NBA champions. The list goes on and on.

The master of the Triangle Offense, Jackson used this triple-post offensive style to coach the likes of Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Pippen and Rodman to multiple championships. He likes high-profile teams with high-profile players, which there is certainly no shortage of on this Lakers squad with two sure-fire Hall of Famers and a superstar center in his prime. He's coached Bryant and Gasol before. And he has an inside knowledge of the Lakers organization as he is close with top members of the Lakers brass (have we mentioned he's dating Jeanie Buss, owner Jerry Buss's daughter?)

First, there is the issue of his health. Jackson, 67, stepped away from the game in 2011 after health issues including a bad knee that required knee replacement surgery. Girlfriend Buss has said that he has been recuperating very well since then.

Second, does he want to come back? Jackson could have the motivation to come back for one last run to wash the bitter taste of being swept in the 2011 playoffs, 4-0, by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks out of his mouth and off his legacy, allowing him one last chance to walk off into the sunset in glory. His name came up in rumors that he could coach the Knicks last offseason, only for the Knicks to pass on Jackson in favor of keeping Mike Woodson aboard.

Sources tell ESPN that the Lakers are reaching out to Jackson to gauge his interest.

It is hard to picture a candidate more well-suited for this team than Jackson, who has had a great track record of getting multiple stars to co-exist and maximize their talents into winning seasons. But it will largely depend on Jackson's desire to return. Does he really want to give up the cushy life of wealthy retirement for the grind and demand of a full-time NBA season, even with a squad that arguably, would be more talented than any Jackson has ever coached? And bear in mind, even with Jackson's legendary coaching skills, even the "Zen Master" could be facing his share of struggles in the early onset of returning as the Lakers-Howard and Nash, specifically-try to learn Jackson's offense. As beloved as Jackson is in Lakers lore, will the front office turn on him, too, if the Lakers continue to struggle amid LA's "win-now" mentality with expectations at their highest? There's only one real way to find out...

Mike D'Antoni

A former 2005 NBA Coach of the Year, D'Antoni is well-known around the league for his lightning-fast offensive schemes that generate tons of points, though not much on defense. As a coach that prefers running the offense through point guards, D'Antoni had great success with Nash when the two played together in Phoenix, and it is widely known by now how his "7 seconds or less" style of play took a no-name kid named Jeremy Lin last season and turned him into an overnight sensation with the New York Knicks.

However, it is rumored that clashes with Carmelo Anthony over his role on the team led to D'Antoni leaving the team halfway through the year last season.

SB Nation reported Saturday that D'Antoni has already been contacted by the Lakers.

Already close with Nash and having connections with Bryant and Howard, D'Antoni's high octane offensive style would certainly signal a return to LA of  the "Showtime" days when Magic Johnson reinvented the fast-break and turned it into five world titles for the 1980s Lakers. But can this older Lakers squad handle the kind of wear and tear that constantly running the floor under a D'Antoni offense?

And how such an offense, in spite of such great players at D'Antoni's disposal, handle against defensively superior teams like the Spurs, the Thunder, the Heat, and lately, the Knicks, leading the league in points allowed with 87.5 ppg?

D'Antoni's arrival in Los Angeles would be a lot of things, but if nothing else, it would certainly bring more excitement to Lakers Nation.

Jerry Sloan

NBA Commissioner David Stern once called Sloan "one of the greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history."

That's one heck of an endorsement for the man who coached the Utah Jazz for 24 years before resigning in 2011 amid rumors of conflict with then-Jazz guard Deron Williams. But considering Sloan's 2,024 career wins and .603 winning average over his two decades on the sidelines, it's one well-earned.

Under Sloan's pick-and-roll offense in the mid-90s, NBA legends Karl Malone and John Stockton combined together to not only become megastars in a Michael Jordan-dominated league, but to lead Utah to several division titles and Western Conference championships, as well as back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.

Currently, betting site Bovada has Sloan as a 2-1 favorite, just behind D'Antoni, as being the next coach of the Lakers, the LA Times reports

Nash and Howard would be perfect fits for the pick-and-roll offense, with Howard being a taller, just-as-strong version of Malone and Nash certainly having the skills to match Stockton's legendary ball-handling prowess. Where Kobe fits in that scheme is anyone's guess, but his presence and Gasol's would add in much more powerful reinforcements that Sloan would have loved to have when they ran into Jordan's Bulls back in '97 and '98.  

Brian Shaw

Shaw, now an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, was an assistant coach under Phil Jackson when the Lakers won back-to-back world titles in 2009 and 2010, and won three more with the Lakers in his playing days before he retired in 2003.

So far, Yahoo! Sports correspondent Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted on his Twitter page, league sources told Yahoo! Sports that "the Lakers have not reached out to the Pacers about the possibility of hiring associate head coach Brian Shaw."

And when approached by Indy Star.com about whether he was interested in the job, Shaw replied, "I have no comment." However, he has interviewed for the position before in the summer of 2011 after Jackson left the Lakers.

A familiar face to Bryant and Gasol and having previous experience with the organization, Shaw could very well be the candidate the Lakers are seeking.