Darvin Hams future as a Lakers head coach is in serious peril.

[Rafael122]

What coach is going to take this high pressure job with a soon to be 40 year old Lebron?

[MrGoat]

How funny would it be if that thread about Rondo yesterday that got locked for no sauces ended up being right

[NyKnicks1714]

Just a reminder that Ham was doing stuff like this earlier in the season:

This completely ignores how all of Twitter was BEGGING for Austin to be benched at the beginning of the season, or how Twitter was BEGGING for D'Lo to be benched and/or traded all December while he struggled that whole month, or how Jarred and Rui both missed significant time at the beginning of the season, or how Rui struggled when he first came back from having his face broken.

And even then, the Lakers still won 47 games this year, and would likely still be playing had they not drawn the worst possible first round matchup possible, and we're only a year removed from a conference finals run.

But I'm sure JJ Redick will fix it.

Well one, I don't care about what fans are saying on twitter. If he was basing his rotations on what fans thought, which I don't think he was, then that's a bad thing. Don't get your point there at all.

His early season lineups were awful. The Lakers couldn't score at times. To have both Russell AND Reaves on the bench as you start Reddish and Vanderbilt together makes absolutely no sense in today's NBA. Luckily for him and the team, he was able to land on the right starting lineup. It just took way too long.

As for your last sentence...no one said Reddick is going to "fix it". He'd have a great chance to simply be a better coach than Ham has been. He has a great basketball mind and the makings of a good coach. He may also may help get Lakers ownership/management out of the pre-analytics dark age they're stuck in.

People get so caught up in saying it's unfair to fire coaches, that they don't deserve the blame. It's not about that. Sometimes there are just better options out there. It's no different than trading players for better players.

[FrobeBryant]

Just a reminder that Ham was doing stuff like this earlier in the season:

You tinker with lineups for various reasons. Don’t see it as a big deal.


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The problem was he was tinkering with the lineup far too often and at the cost of losing games they should have won. Had they won a couple more games earlier, they probably would have ended up in a higher seed and not have to face the defending champs in the first round. He also played favorites with his rotation by giving Prince and Reddish way too long of a leash while Reaves and DLo, who are far better players, got pulled out of the starting lineup way too soon.

[jigga_man]

Ham did a good job if you ask me. He didn't make Rui etc. miss shots.

Rui shot almost 40% from three. The only player on the Nuggets that shot better was MPJ.

Lebron and AD are surrounded by one way players. Reaves and Russel played decent defense in the series but unless Reaves has the ball in his hands or Russel shoots well, they're not providing much value. If Rui was a good defensive player/rebounder he would probably be close to a max player or at the very least making 30-40M per year.

The Lakers played a better and more well rounded team.

[reddyplayerone]

Well one, I don't care about what fans are saying on twitter. If he was basing his rotations on what fans thought, which I don't think he was, then that's a bad thing. Don't get your point there at all.

I'm pointing out that fans very often do not know what they're talking about, regardless of whether they're talking about it on Twitter or here or elsewhere. The result is a pretty classic "Damned if he does or doesn't" situation for a head coach.

Another case in point:

His early season lineups were awful. The Lakers couldn't score at times. To have both Russell AND Reaves on the bench as you start Reddish and Vanderbilt together makes absolutely no sense in today's NBA. Luckily for him and the team, he was able to land on the right starting lineup. It just took way too long.

The Lakers team was awful at the beginning of the year. Austin started the year horribly and Ham was getting killed for playing him as much as he did. D'lo was near unplayable through December and Ham was getting killed for keeping him in the starting lineup.

Vandy and Rui both missed significant time and needed time/reps to get back to playing particularly well. Gabe Vincent barely got to play during the rs. Wood never delivered consistently, and Jax is just an energy guy.

Reddish and Prince were signings people liked in the offseason that flopped spectacularly, but someone needed to play those minutes with so many guys out, and it was going to be them or Hood-Schifino, who never looked great, or Max Christie, who probably has the most legit gripe in terms of how little he got to play.

At some point people just need to come to grips with the fact that a head coach cannot cast a spell and have their 5 best guys all perfectly healthy and playing great all at the same time for as long as it may please, or to perfectly optimize their roster with all the right complimentary pieces. There's only so much anyone can do with the players that are available to them.

As for your last sentence...no one said Reddick is going to "fix it". He'd have a great chance to simply be a better coach than Ham has been. He has a great basketball mind and the makings of a good coach. He may also may help get Lakers ownership/management out of the pre-analytics dark age they're stuck in.

The idea that Redick has the makings of a good coach is based on what, exactly? The fact that he has a popular podcast?

Has he ever even coached before? Like at any level?

Ham was a well regarded assistant for quite a few years before getting the Lakers job at least.

People get so caught up in saying it's unfair to fire coaches, that they don't deserve the blame. It's not about that. Sometimes there are just better options out there. It's no different than trading players for better players.

Yeah I'm sure the podcaster with a "great basketball mind" will do much much better right away.

[kenwood3333]

The Lakers lost to a better team and most were competitive games. If losing in the first round is the baramotor of firing, then Spo should be fired too - the heat got blown out almost every game.

[NyKnicks1714]

Well one, I don't care about what fans are saying on twitter. If he was basing his rotations on what fans thought, which I don't think he was, then that's a bad thing. Don't get your point there at all.

I'm pointing out that fans very often do not know what they're talking about, regardless of whether they're talking about it on Twitter or here or elsewhere. The result is a pretty classic "Damned if he does or doesn't" situation for a head coach.

Well you're a fan too FYI. And unless I was bashing him for playing Reaves/Russell, which I wasn't, this whole line of conversation is irrelevant.

Another case in point:

His early season lineups were awful. The Lakers couldn't score at times. To have both Russell AND Reaves on the bench as you start Reddish and Vanderbilt together makes absolutely no sense in today's NBA. Luckily for him and the team, he was able to land on the right starting lineup. It just took way too long.

The Lakers team was awful at the beginning of the year. Austin started the year horribly and Ham was getting killed for playing him as much as he did. D'lo was near unplayable through December and Ham was getting killed for keeping him in the starting lineup.

Again, I wasn't killing him for that, so that's irrelevant.

Vandy and Rui both missed significant time and needed time/reps to get back to playing particularly well. Gabe Vincent barely got to play during the rs. Wood never delivered consistently, and Jax is just an energy guy.

None of this is relevant as it pertains to starting Reddish/Vanderbilt and having Reaves/Russell come off the bench.

At some point people just need to come to grips with the fact that a head coach cannot cast a spell and have their 5 best guys all perfectly healthy and playing great all at the same time for as long as it may please, or to perfectly optimize their roster with all the right complimentary pieces. There's only so much anyone can do with the players that are available to them.

Cool. Doesn't apply to what I'm saying at all

As for your last sentence...no one said Reddick is going to "fix it". He'd have a great chance to simply be a better coach than Ham has been. He has a great basketball mind and the makings of a good coach. He may also may help get Lakers ownership/management out of the pre-analytics dark age they're stuck in.

The idea that Redick has the makings of a good coach is based on what, exactly? The fact that he has a popular podcast?

Has he ever even coached before? Like at any level?

Ham was a well regarded assistant for quite a few years before getting the Lakers job at least.

No, it's what he says on said podcast, and to a lesser degree when calling games. Lots of former NBA players have popular podcasts. I don't think they should all be coaches. And no, he hasn't coached before. The Lakers don't have much to lose; it's worth the risk.

If you're trying to say it's unfair to hire first-time coaches when there are a lot of assistants who have paid their dues, fair enough, but that's not what you said.

People get so caught up in saying it's unfair to fire coaches, that they don't deserve the blame. It's not about that. Sometimes there are just better options out there. It's no different than trading players for better players.

Yeah I'm sure the podcaster with a "great basketball mind" will do much much better right away.

Who said he'd "do much better right away"? I said he has a good chance to be better.

[CDM_Stats]

How TF do you plan to fire someone?

Just do it.. enough with this Office Space nonsense

[Capn'O]

How TF do you plan to fire someone?

Just do it.. enough with this Office Space nonsense

That headline is just disrespectful.

[vxmike]

Good. The Lakers need to stop acting like a poverty franchise hiring these bottom tier coaches.

You can’t hire a top tier coach for a LeBron team because he only wants puppet coaches.

[nitetrain8603]

Yeah, they just need to fire him. With that stated, I don't think there's enough talent on the team. I think Reaves needs to be featured all times he's on the court, or he's worthless. Let LeBron distribute 90% of the time. DLo wouldn't be bad, but he's also a guy who needs the ball to be effective.

[Bloodbather]

Everyone is saying JJ Redick

Would be pretty funny for Lebron to be doing a podcast with his head coach.

LeBron would basically be co-coach anyway. I think any situation where LeBron doesn't have particular respect for the coach's acumen will lead to LeBron trying to be a player-coach. I don't even think this is a slight on LeBron, he's more experienced and has a higher basketball IQ than most coach candidates out there.

Lakers need to hire a legend of the game if they want to avoid a situation like this. Like a D'Antoni or something. Or someone whose basketball IQ LeBron holds in very high regard, like Rajon Rondo etc.

[Tottery]

Doesn't matter who they bring in to coach if the roster isn't greatly improved.

[sikma42]

Just a reminder that Ham was doing stuff like this earlier in the season:

This completely ignores how all of Twitter was BEGGING for Austin to be benched at the beginning of the season, or how Twitter was BEGGING for D'Lo to be benched and/or traded all December while he struggled that whole month, or how Jarred and Rui both missed significant time at the beginning of the season, or how Rui struggled when he first came back from having his face broken.

And even then, the Lakers still won 47 games this year, and would likely still be playing had they not drawn the worst possible first round matchup possible, and we're only a year removed from a conference finals run.

But I'm sure JJ Redick will fix it.

Well one, I don't care about what fans are saying on twitter. If he was basing his rotations on what fans thought, which I don't think he was, then that's a bad thing. Don't get your point there at all.

His early season lineups were awful. The Lakers couldn't score at times. To have both Russell AND Reaves on the bench as you start Reddish and Vanderbilt together makes absolutely no sense in today's NBA. Luckily for him and the team, he was able to land on the right starting lineup. It just took way too long.

As for your last sentence...no one said Reddick is going to "fix it". He'd have a great chance to simply be a better coach than Ham has been. He has a great basketball mind and the makings of a good coach. He may also may help get Lakers ownership/management out of the pre-analytics dark age they're stuck in.

People get so caught up in saying it's unfair to fire coaches, that they don't deserve the blame. It's not about that. Sometimes there are just better options out there. It's no different than trading players for better players.

Wait, you think JJ Reddick is a great basketball mind and has some high level skill relating to basketball analytics. These are too ridiculous assertions. I honestly hope he gets the Lakers job now bc it’s gonna be hilarious.


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[SomeBunghole]

How TF do you plan to fire someone?

Just do it.. enough with this Office Space nonsense

He has a contract, you don't just send him an email saying not to come in unless you want to be tied up in lawsuits. There's a reason NBA coaches always "mutually terminate" contracts.

The Lakers are probably negotiating with Ham as we speak. They'd be stupid to just announce he's done the morning after they were knocked out of the playoffs and I'm sure their lawyers would tell them so.

[Childs]

Who would want to coach this team? Above all else you would want stability. This isn’t Prime LeBron, it’s 40 year old LeBron.

[KembaWalker]

Who would want to coach this team? Above all else you would want stability. This isn’t Prime LeBron, it’s 40 year old LeBron.

Still more appealing than the Hornets job

[NCHeels2008]

Everyone is saying JJ Redick

This is probably the funniest possible outcome actually

he can kiss his friendship with James goodbye

[NCHeels2008]

Yeah, they just need to fire him. With that stated, I don't think there's enough talent on the team. I think Reaves needs to be featured all times he's on the court, or he's worthless. Let LeBron distribute 90% of the time. DLo wouldn't be bad, but he's also a guy who needs the ball to be effective.

yea DAR and Reaves are redundant and either is small as your 2-guard, Rui should remain and keep breeding confidence because he's a nice big wing that's versatile around AD and LeBron.