Former Wildcats Miles Simon and Quinton Crawford are NBA Champions

Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Miles Simon and Quinton Crawford led their NBA Team to their first NBA Championship in the LeBron James and Anthony Davis era.

The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship in the NBA Bubble on Sunday Night clearing cobwebs from the last decade. And as Lakers fans are cheering, so should Wildcats fans, as Former Arizona Basketball players Miles Simon and Quinton Crawford are on the coaching staff for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Simon was one of five Lute Olson era players coaching in the NBA Finals. Per Bruce Pascoe, “Crawford [at Arizona 2011-2013] became the first Sean Miller-era player to coach in the NBA Finals, while Arizona has now had five Lute Olson-era players to do so: Steve Kerr, Bruce Fraser and Luke Walton with the Warriors, Bret Brielmaier with the Cavaliers and now Simon [at Arizona 1994-1998] with the Lakers.”

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The Lakers beat the Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals by a score of 106-93. Ironically, the final 3-pointer made for the Lakers was Dwight Howard, who started his career in Orlando, the location of the Championship.

For the Heat, the final points were scored by none other than former Wildcat Solomon Hill.

Hill and Andre Iguodala were playing for the Heat who won two games in the series, and you have to think Iggy’s defense helped the young team from the bench and on the floor, so let’s credit him for that.

As a Lakers fan myself, I wish Luke Walton was still the head coach of the Lakers, but it seems it took three head coaches to coach this mega team, Frank Vogel (first year with the Lakers and first NBA Championship) and his two main associates Jason Kidd and  Lionel Hollins. Rounding out the coaching staff was Simon, Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy.

Simon was brought onto the Lakers by Walton after a successful run as head coach for the 2017 USA Junior National Select Team at the Nike Hoops Summit. Crawford was signed this year to the Lakers staff as well after serving as Charlotte’s head video coordinator.

Simon now joins Terry, creating an elite duo of former Arizona Wildcats who can say they were part of an NBA Championship team and an NCAA Championship team. Mike Bibby played for the Heat in the 2011 Finals, but fell to Terry and the Dallas Mavericks 4-2 in the series.

Simon of course has a very special place in our hearts, especially as he helped bring in Arizona’s first and only NCAA Basketball Championship in 1997.

This series was certainly an emotional one for Miles, as he not only lost his father three years ago when he joined the Lakers coaching staff, but he also lost his friend Kobe Bryant and former head coach Lute Olson this year.

It has been a tough road, but he came out swinging in the first and we hope only NBA Championship won in the Bubble.

For our former Arizona Wildcats, they are seemingly making it habit to have ties in the NBA Championship Series virtually every season it seems like. This time Miles and Quinton get to hold the trophy, and this Wildcats fan is hoping for a repeat in Los Angeles!