Darvin Ham... The weak link?

[tamaraw08]

It’s always nice to kick the Mavs’ arse, even when half injured. Good win. Good energy on both ends. Vanderbilt played some great defense. D Lo played some great offense.

Ham seems to have realized that with Vandy’s offense, you need D Lo on the court to cover for it; and with D Lo’s defense, you need Vandy and AD on the court to cover for it. Brilliant.

In a playoffs series, however, D Lo’s defense will be exploited once again until he’s benched (see WCF) Then what?

Vandy with a 3PT shot would be a scary thought but a pipe dream. D Lo playing defense as well as he plays offense is also a pipe dream. Neither is going to happen before April.

I hope Ham and Rob both do their part to improve it all before the post season. And that we soon get to have a healthy roster for a while.

The 2 wins over OKC and Dallas looked great on paper but it was overshadowed by the fact that those 2 teams missed a TON of open 3 pt shots. Ham’s scheme is to pack it in, prevent layups, don’t foul and pray the other team miss shots from beyond 24 feet. Sometimes it works but you keep playing with fire because players get into a nice rhythm including bad shooters like Exum, Smart and a chucker like Cam Thomas leading to bad losses.

[Beethoven]

Ham needs to go

[Danny Darko]

#can_Ham... Jeanie probably needs to sell.

[stan francisco]

#can_Ham... Jeanie probably needs to sell.

Or we can always try to rebuild until LBJ is 45.

Rebuilding while having two superstars suggests that the coach needs to go. Now.

[Hans1984]

He needs to go. It's one thing to lose but they way this team is losing right now is just unacceptable.

[MAMBAEMD]

There are multiple issues with Ham.

The fact that they are so poor and not even really trying on defense is a huge problem. They've essentially quit on him on that end.
The substitution pattern is abysmal and does not make sense.

The way he calls time outs is a head scratcher and frustrating. If we were winning more, I wouldn't worry about it. I used to get frustrated with Phil Jackson's way of calling time outs too. Ham allows opposing teams small runs to become large runs before he intervenes. And when he does call time outs, the plays out of those don't seem to be very effective.

Game prep has been an issue. I remember we were poorly prepped for the zone defense in the Miami game.

Also, mid-game adjustments don't happen much, or maybe I haven't noticed any.

There's more but the biggest thing for me is the poor defense and the lack of trying.

[jehosafats]

Darvin Hamster Wheel promises you uninspiring rotations and unimaginative play

[Danny Darko]

There are multiple issues with Ham.

The fact that they are so poor and not even really trying on defense is a huge problem. They've essentially quit on him on that end.
The substitution pattern is abysmal and does not make sense.

The way he calls time outs is a head scratcher and frustrating. If we were winning more, I wouldn't worry about it. I used to get frustrated with Phil Jackson's way of calling time outs too. Ham allows opposing teams small runs to become large runs before he intervenes. And when he does call time outs, the plays out of those don't seem to be very effective.

Game prep has been an issue. I remember we were poorly prepped for the zone defense in the Miami game.

Also, mid-game adjustments don't happen much, or maybe I haven't noticed any.

There's more but the biggest thing for me is the poor defense and the lack of trying.

Time out usage was a red flag for me since day one with him, but we had a late run last year that bought him some time and this year he has absolutely f'd it up in games we are in by not stopping momentum or giving rest to aging superstars... it's vexing.

[Kilroy]

Might as well keep the Ham unless we're willing to make major roster changes. This team is in essentially the exact same position it's been in for the lat 5 seasons... Time to stop thinking we're "one move away" or that a coaching change is the issue... I was optimistic earlier in the season, but now it's deja vu all over again...

[stan francisco]

I think also that a big problem for Ham is that LBJ chooses when to turn his defense on. I don’t blame LBJ but it’s got to a problem for Ham.

[Kilroy]

I think also that a big problem for Ham is that LBJ chooses when to turn his defense on. I don’t blame LBJ but it’s got to a problem for Ham.

Yeah, but that was a known from the get... Any coach that chooses to coach LeBron had better have a strategy for that... Ham seems to think more offense is the answer to LeBron's non-existent D. He consistently rotates in the guy he thinks will add scoring instead of the best defender. His rotations should be tailored to mask LeBron's defense... He seems to either not think that it's a problem, or has know idea how to fix it...
Which isn't to take the heat off LeBron... He makes it super difficult to cover for his defense by his hero ball approach. He seems to not want anyone else doing anything unless he is involved. He plays like everyone else is just supposed to figure out what he and AD are doing on D and adapt. No communication until after it all goes tits-up... No cohesion. And it's not like when he's taking D off, he's some sort of offensive juggernaut still, either...

Worst than that, now we got AD taking plays off on that end of the floor too...

All that said, I am convinced the AD/LeBron duo is essentially uncoachable at this point. They'll be exactly what they are now, no matter who we get to coach them. They have created a comfortable little bubble in LA and no one is going to get through. I think they're both happy with the way things are. I don't think winning championships is their top priority here anymore. And Pelinka and the FO are too weak or stupid to shake it up.

I feel like the fans are being fed hamburger on a silver plate and expected to gobble it up like it's caviar... There's a fakeness to the whole team right now.

[Hans1984]

I guess we were all wrong. The problem seems to be Lebron and AD.

[Kilroy]

I guess we were all wrong. The problem seems to be Lebron and AD.

Build a legit title contender around them with realistic moves...

[stan francisco]

I guess we were all wrong. The problem seems to be Lebron and AD.

Build a legit title contender around them with realistic moves...

We went to the WCF eight months ago, won a championship with them both recently. We improved our roster since then. See NBA Cup.

If we make the playoffs, we’re contenders until eliminated. Bron turns on the defense full time at that point.

I’d understand the Ham hiring better if we were rebuilding. Poor match to have a rookie coach paired with the oldest player in the game. Big risk to take during the last years off the LBJ / AD era, hiring Ham.

[Kilroy]

I guess we were all wrong. The problem seems to be Lebron and AD.

Build a legit title contender around them with realistic moves...

We went to the WCF eight months ago, won a championship with them both recently. We improved our roster since then. See NBA Cup.

If we make the playoffs, we’re contenders until eliminated. Bron turns on the defense full time at that point.

I’d understand the Ham hiring better if we were rebuilding. Poor match to have a rookie coach paired with the oldest player in the game. Big risk to take during the last years off the LBJ / AD era, hiring Ham.

Another year, same story... Be honest... Do you really believe this team can win a championship this year?

Another way to assess this team is we've backed into the post season each time we've made it since LeBron was here... Even in the Bubble, which seems pretty clear took a lot of the fight out of the teams we faced. We're injury prone, and old and predictable... Our D is mediocre...
And we've made roster improvements each season...

To be clear... Anything can happen... If we stay healthy and the other genuine contenders don't, we can win a championship... But it will be pure luck... Like the Bubble...

Could we still make a couple moves that give us enough beans to get past the WCF and win it all? Sure... But I'm asking if you actually think that's likely, given the last 5 seasons?

[stan francisco]

Build a legit title contender around them with realistic moves...

We went to the WCF eight months ago, won a championship with them both recently. We improved our roster since then. See NBA Cup.

If we make the playoffs, we’re contenders until eliminated. Bron turns on the defense full time at that point.

I’d understand the Ham hiring better if we were rebuilding. Poor match to have a rookie coach paired with the oldest player in the game. Big risk to take during the last years off the LBJ / AD era, hiring Ham.

Another year, same story... Be honest... Do you really believe this team can win a championship this year?

Another way to assess this team is we've backed into the post season each time we've made it since LeBron was here... Even in the Bubble, which seems pretty clear took a lot of the fight out of the teams we faced. We're injury prone, and old and predictable... Our D is mediocre...
And we've made roster improvements each season...

To be clear... Anything can happen... If we stay healthy and the other genuine contenders don't, we can win a championship... But it will be pure luck... Like the Bubble...

Could we still make a couple moves that give us enough beans to get past the WCF and win it all? Sure... But I'm asking if you actually think that's likely, given the last 5 seasons?

To avoid a repeat of last year’s WCF, let’s upgrade what made us fail last year; D Lo’s lack of defense and Ham’s lack of solid coaching.

We can contend if we do. I think this roster is good enough as is.

The fact that we just won the NBA Cup against a tough Pacers team makes it likely, yes. We’ve had many quality wins this season. Boston, NYK, OKC, LAC, IND, …

Vanderbilt’s new ankle injury is really unfortunate. Now we’ll have to rely on Kwame Reddish for that wing defense, once he’s healthy.

[Danny Darko]

Read on Twitter

his awful use of timeouts, lineups, and urgency needs to go. not as bad as Byron, but please just cut him now and ride with Phil Handy.

[Mamba Mentality]

Idk if Handy is ready. My bold prediction is Ty Lue gets fired and Lebron pushes to bring him on board.

[Beethoven]

Let's put this up here or even sticky this thread as the team has to overcome the atrocities of this coach ham to even compete in this series.


Let's hope, via committee, lebron ad dlo and Co will demonstrate their on-the-fly adjustments and coaching ability throughout the games...
Especially during crunch time in 4th when it gets close.

I repeat... last year we didn't lose bc of denver. We lost due to ham. Hopefully a relatively healthier lebron ad this year and hopefully an effective dlo will overcome this coach this year.

[LAKESHOW]

Ham definitely needs to show improvement on coaching skills this series