Darvin Ham hired as coach. update: Sheed Wallace not joining

[tamaraw08]

Coaches and assistants pay dont count on salary cap and therefore wont add to their luxury tax but It just seems like Jeannie has implemented a strict budget so they ended up just promoting their shooting coach to help Vogel strategize… to save money

Now Stotts is available, Snyder is available, let us see if they will hire guys who has vast knowledge about the intricacies of the game… or go cheap again and get another shooting coach

Dang Tamara, you're high maintenance. I have no problem with the FO not spending like crazy on assistant coaches. Long contracts also mean you have to pay to move off those contracts if deciding to part ways before the contract is up. Besides, have you considered that Stotts and Snyder may not be interested in being assistant coaches to a young coach? And on the flip side, hiring them will undermine Darvin Ham too, since they are more experienced.

Agree....why would Snyder want to come and be an assistant coach for this s**-show? If you feel that Ham needs some experienced guys behind him.....then why'd you hire him in the first place? No...I think neither side is interested, and it has nothing to do with $$ for either party either.

Did you forget what happened to the Lakers when Luke Walton decided to hire his buddies instead of acquiring veteran assistants?
Phil Jackson as a rookie coach in Chicago relied heavily on Tex Winter. He loved and respected Tex so much he insisted to bring him to LA.
A very good coach Rick Adelman relied on veteran Pete Carril to assist him.
rookie coach Steve Kerr had Alvin Gentry and after winning 3 rings and no more Gentry, GSW MADE SURE he has veteran help to they hired Mike Brown AND Kenny Atkinson.
rookie coach Billy Donovan had Maurice Cheeks as assistant in OKC and guess who did he bring with him in Chicago to assist him?

[Ball so hard]

Like most press conferences, this one was filled with platitudes. “It all starts on defense,” “we want to get out in transition,” “we’re going to hold everyone accountable,” etc. Fortunately for Ham no one will remember a word from his press conference in a few days. Also worth pointing out that his predecessor coached us to a top 10 defense his first 2 seasons. How do you get Bron and Russ to play defense?

A few points that stood out:
Ham talked about playing 1 inside and 4 on the outside. Again this is nothing new. How will this work with brick laying Westbrook and to a certain extent AD’s poor shooting from the outside? Who’s playing on the inside? How will we remake the roster given our limited resources?

He mentioned Bron will be Bron. This is a euphemism for Bron will do whatever the hell he wants. This includes not buying into playing defense.

Hopefully Ham can perform better at coaching than he did elucidating his points during his press conference.

What did you want him to say?

Honestly, there's nothing more to say than what he said. These conferences are just fluff.

Don’t really care what he said. Was merely pointing out his press conference was like most of the others before his—fluff as you call it. I see several comments lauding his message as if it’s anything more than empty words.

[danfantastk32]

Snyder is probably not interested but the idea is to TRY.

No....the idea is to hire the right guy, and let him fill out his staff as he sees fit. If Ham wants to bring in Snyder, then he can call Snyder, and the wheels can start turning.

I personally don't want Jeanie on the phones every time some sorta interesting development takes place. Who knows dude?? Maybe Ham and Snyder don't particularly get along? Maybe Ham already called? Maybe Ham already had a conversation with Snyder 2 months ago, and Snyder already told him he was looking at leaving Utah so that he could take a year off??? I mean, who knows? But the idea that Jeanie is somehow cheap, because she hasn't personally called this guy (to your knowledge) is ridiculous.

I know guys sometimes go back down to assistant...but Snyder's stock is really high right now. Utah totally wanted to keep him, and he is the one that ended the relationship. I really doubt he did that so he could come be assistant coach for this absolute wreck of a roster.

[danfantastk32]

Did you forget what happened to the Lakers when Luke Walton decided to hire his buddies instead of acquiring veteran assistants? Phil Jackson as a rookie coach in Chicago relied heavily on Tex Winter. He loved and respected Tex so much he insisted to bring him to LA. A very good coach Rick Adelman relied on veteran Pete Carril to assist him.
rookie coach Steve Kerr had Alvin Gentry and after winning 3 rings and no more Gentry, GSW MADE SURE he has veteran help to they hired Mike Brown AND Kenny Atkinson. Rookie coach Billy Donovan had Maurice Cheeks as assistant in OKC and guess who did he bring with him in Chicago to assist him?

That's all well and good. Nobody is arguing that hiring good experienced assistants is not a good idea. I think it'd be great if Snyder joined up. But your throwing this on Jeanie, and her cheap ways.....when A) we don't know what has been asked/not asked. B) It's really Ham's decision to make...not hers.

Personally, I hope Jeanie hasn't even brought it up. If Ham talks to Snyder, and there is interest....then he can go into Jeanie's/Pelinka's office, and plead his case. If the $$$ is reasonable....I'd expect them to shell out. But if Ham hasn't done the first couple steps, then it's a non-issue. It's not Jeanie's job....nor should it be.

[danfantastk32]

Don’t really care what he said. Was merely pointing out his press conference was like most of the others before his—fluff as you call it. I see several comments lauding his message as if it’s anything more than empty words.

I think they all are. The only press conference that wasn't fluff, was when poor Vogel got to sit there while the media asked Pelinka about being called a snake by Magic. Man, that was awkward. But your totally right.....it's blah, blah, blah.....play D....."basketball the right way" and all that nonsense.



"Westbrook is going to get back in transition, or he won't play". "No...I don't care how he want's to run the offense. His shooting % doesn't justify him having the ball. But if he's willing, we'll work on that this camp, and figure out how he best fits. It's his minutes....I don't really care." <---------- Now there's some words that would actually impress me.

[LAL1947]

Read on Twitter

[tamaraw08]

Did you forget what happened to the Lakers when Luke Walton decided to hire his buddies instead of acquiring veteran assistants? Phil Jackson as a rookie coach in Chicago relied heavily on Tex Winter. He loved and respected Tex so much he insisted to bring him to LA. A very good coach Rick Adelman relied on veteran Pete Carril to assist him.
rookie coach Steve Kerr had Alvin Gentry and after winning 3 rings and no more Gentry, GSW MADE SURE he has veteran help to they hired Mike Brown AND Kenny Atkinson. Rookie coach Billy Donovan had Maurice Cheeks as assistant in OKC and guess who did he bring with him in Chicago to assist him?

That's all well and good. Nobody is arguing that hiring good experienced assistants is not a good idea. I think it'd be great if Snyder joined up. But your throwing this on Jeanie, and her cheap ways.....when A) we don't know what has been asked/not asked. B) It's really Ham's decision to make...not hers.

Personally, I hope Jeanie hasn't even brought it up. If Ham talks to Snyder, and there is interest....then he can go into Jeanie's/Pelinka's office, and plead his case. If the $$$ is reasonable....I'd expect them to shell out. But if Ham hasn't done the first couple steps, then it's a non-issue. It's not Jeanie's job....nor should it be.

I was merely replying to your question.

Agree....why would Snyder want to come and be an assistant coach for this s**-show? If you feel that Ham needs some experienced guys behind him.....then why'd you hire him in the first place?

He did mentioned he would need to hire an assistant who had HC experience during the press conference. Why am I throwing this on Jeannie? Because it was reported by silverscreenandroll that they did try to hire Scott Brooks but their offer was very low. Ramona Shellburne revealed in the Mason and Ireland podcast that Brooks actually wanted to join the Lakers but they OFFERED LESS THAN HALF of what Portland offered. Now, you can say it was Rob who made the offer, but the Lakers already chose not to retain Caruso because of the luxury tax.... again you can say again it was Rob and not Jeannie but Jeannie have WHINED on air about having to pay that luxury tax. I heard the saying before, it's impossible to try to wake up a person pretending to be asleep... it might be the case here.

[tamaraw08]

Read on Twitter

3 time champ Kerr lost Walton and Gentry and GSW hired ex head coaches Mike Brown and Atkinson to assist him.
Lakers hired ex HC Kidd and Hollins to help Vogel, won a ring first year, still competed hard until AD injury the following year.
Lakers hire a Rookie coach who mentioned he wants to hire a vet assistant;
Kerr now loses both Brown and KA, and so the race is on on what team would hire the very few ex head coaches available.
Snyder might want to rest. Stotts was inactive and might be itching to comeback. Ill be happy with him or Clifford. James Borrego? I see Vogel might go to GSW if he doesn’t get the Utah gig

[sonnyhill]

Did you forget what happened to the Lakers when Luke Walton decided to hire his buddies instead of acquiring veteran assistants? Phil Jackson as a rookie coach in Chicago relied heavily on Tex Winter. He loved and respected Tex so much he insisted to bring him to LA. A very good coach Rick Adelman relied on veteran Pete Carril to assist him.
rookie coach Steve Kerr had Alvin Gentry and after winning 3 rings and no more Gentry, GSW MADE SURE he has veteran help to they hired Mike Brown AND Kenny Atkinson. Rookie coach Billy Donovan had Maurice Cheeks as assistant in OKC and guess who did he bring with him in Chicago to assist him?

That's all well and good. Nobody is arguing that hiring good experienced assistants is not a good idea. I think it'd be great if Snyder joined up. But your throwing this on Jeanie, and her cheap ways.....when A) we don't know what has been asked/not asked. B) It's really Ham's decision to make...not hers.

Personally, I hope Jeanie hasn't even brought it up. If Ham talks to Snyder, and there is interest....then he can go into Jeanie's/Pelinka's office, and plead his case. If the $$$ is reasonable....I'd expect them to shell out. But if Ham hasn't done the first couple steps, then it's a non-issue. It's not Jeanie's job....nor should it be.

I was merely replying to your question.

Agree....why would Snyder want to come and be an assistant coach for this s**-show? If you feel that Ham needs some experienced guys behind him.....then why'd you hire him in the first place?

He did mentioned he would need to hire an assistant who had HC experience during the press conference. Why am I throwing this on Jeannie? Because it was reported by silverscreenandroll that they did try to hire Scott Brooks but their offer was very low. Ramona Shellburne revealed in the Mason and Ireland podcast that Brooks actually wanted to join the Lakers but they OFFERED LESS THAN HALF of what Portland offered. Now, you can say it was Rob who made the offer, but the Lakers already chose not to retain Caruso because of the luxury tax.... again you can say again it was Rob and not Jeannie but Jeannie have WHINED on air about having to pay that luxury tax. I heard the saying before, it's impossible to try to wake up a person pretending to be asleep... it might be the case here.

Without having the necessary budget to bring in top-notch assistants, aren't Jeanie and Rob hindering Ham, instead of empowering him?

[danfantastk32]

Without having the necessary budget to bring in top-notch assistants, aren't Jeanie and Rob hindering Ham, instead of empowering him?

Do you know what Ham's budget is? To my knowledge, there is no evidence that Ham has contacted, or asked to speak with Snyder about being an assistant. It's definitely not Jeanie or Rob's job to go hunt Snyder down and offer him a job.

[stan francisco]

Read on Twitter

If the sheed news is real russ might get beat up at practice a few times

I know it's fun to say stuff like this, but Russ will tell Sheed to go F** himself right to his face. And there ain't a damn think Sheed can do, because if he touches a player.....that career path is over. He's making whatever....2-3 mil, while Russ is making 47. You think CP3 takes nonsense? He didn't get through. Nobody gets through, because in Russ' little world, he's the best out there.

No rings, despite playing with some of the best players in the world for many years. Horrible shooting percentages. 4 teams in 4 seasons. Fanbase booing him. 35 win season (whatever we had...I don't even care). Any of that impinge? Nope....he's indignant on whether he wants to come back or not. "We'll see what this new team/coach looks like, and if they are gonna let me do the things that I know will help the team win" <------ more or less what he said at his exit interview.

Nah.....Russ is a bum. Ham ain't fixin it. Rasheed ain't gonna "beat it into him".

Agreed. I’ve said from day one he needs to go or no rings. He doesn’t play defense. It ends there. If they can convince him to, he sure has the physical gifts needed. Edit: nobody expects him to suddenly get interested in playing defense. He won’t. That’s why he needs to go by the trade deadline, preferably now.

[tamaraw08]

Without having the necessary budget to bring in top-notch assistants, aren't Jeanie and Rob hindering Ham, instead of empowering him?

Do you know what Ham's budget is? To my knowledge, there is no evidence that Ham has contacted, or asked to speak with Snyder about being an assistant. It's definitely not Jeanie or Rob's job to go hunt Snyder down and offer him a job.

No one really knows the budget. How much are the Lakers paying Ham? They announced the extended Vogel before....then we found out it was a token ONE YEAR extension.
Yes, there is No evidence of anything and I don't expect a rookie coach to go the media and expose the team that is taking a chance on him, that his employers have set a very low budget to recruit his assistants.
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2022/3/5/22963177/nba-rumors-frank-vogel-wanted-scott-brooks-coaching-staff-lakers-got-outbid-by-trail-blazers

Reports: Frank Vogel wanted Scott Brooks on staff, but Lakers got outbid by Trail Blazers

Per Ramona Shellburne, Lakers actually offered LESS THAN HALF of what Portland was offering.

Would Brooks have fixed all of that? It’s kind of doubtful, but it seems unlikely that having him around could have hurt. And as Lakers insider Dave McMenamin of ESPN pointed out in the same “The Woj Pod” referenced above, the larger theme from all these reports and missteps is the Lakers not being committed to spending everything it takes to give themselves the best chance to win.

Coming from the only NBA team to request a loan meant to help small business during the early days of the pandemic (they returned it after ESPN reported they got one) and a majority governor who has the same reported net worth as the team’s top player ($500 million, which for context, would rank in the bottom five among NBA team owners), maybe this thriftiness shouldn’t be surprising.

[sonnyhill]

https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2022/3/5/22963177/nba-rumors-frank-vogel-wanted-scott-brooks-coaching-staff-lakers-got-outbid-by-trail-blazers

Reports: Frank Vogel wanted Scott Brooks on staff, but Lakers got outbid by Trail Blazers

Per Ramona Shellburne, Lakers actually offered LESS THAN HALF of what Portland was offering.

Would Brooks have fixed all of that? It’s kind of doubtful, but it seems unlikely that having him around could have hurt. And as Lakers insider Dave McMenamin of ESPN pointed out in the same “The Woj Pod” referenced above, the larger theme from all these reports and missteps is the Lakers not being committed to spending everything it takes to give themselves the best chance to win.

Along with only offering Vogel a 1-year extension after coaching the team to win its bubble championship just two seasons prior, we now learn that Jeanie and the front office made a low-ball offer to a potential assistant coaching hire. Of course the players tuned out Vogel; they saw how he had no authority nor budget to make coaching staff hires.

Coming from the only NBA team to request a loan meant to help small business during the early days of the pandemic (they returned it after ESPN reported they got one) and a majority governor who has the same reported net worth as the team’s top player ($500 million, which for context, would rank in the bottom five among NBA team owners), maybe this thriftiness shouldn’t be surprising.

So, if ESPN had not reported that the Lakers had gotten a loan from a pandemic program which was set up to assist struggling small businesses, Jeanie would have pocketed a low-interest $500 million loan? Jeanie Buss is not only cheap, but she is shady and cheap.

It is absolutely shameful how Frank Vogel was the scapegoat for a cheap and inept ownership and front office.

Davin Ham needs to be empowered to hire whomever he wants/needs to fill out his coaching staff and not be constrained by an arbitrary and below-market salary budget.

[LAL1947]

Per Ramona Shellburne, Lakers actually offered LESS THAN HALF of what Portland was offering.

I'd take whatever Ramona says with a fat pinch of salt. She's been frozen out by the Lakers and is sucking up to Ballmer. Besides, the very same SilverScreenAndRoll article that you quoted says this...

"They wanted to have a staff with Scott Brooks and David Fizdale, but Portland offered a little more money to go be the top assistant there, and Fiz already had the top assistant job (with the Lakers), so financially it kind of drops down."

[tamaraw08]

Per Ramona Shellburne, Lakers actually offered LESS THAN HALF of what Portland was offering.

I'd take whatever Ramona says with a fat pinch of salt. She's been frozen out by the Lakers and is sucking up to Ballmer. Besides, the very same SilverScreenAndRoll article that you quoted says this...

"They wanted to have a staff with Scott Brooks and David Fizdale, but Portland offered a little more money to go be the top assistant there, and Fiz already had the top assistant job (with the Lakers), so financially it kind of drops down."

whether it was actually "less than half or a little less" of what they offered, the insinuation was that

“The Woj Pod” referenced above, the larger theme from all these reports and missteps is the Lakers not being committed to spending everything it takes to give themselves the best chance to win.

They chose not to resign Caruso even though Alex was willing to give them some kind of discount because of luxury tax implications.
then again from silverscreenandroll.
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2022/2/15/22935065/lakers-christian-wood-john-wall-russell-westbrook-trade-deadline-rumors-report-rob-pelinka

Lakers reportedly turned down John Wall, Christian Wood trade because of increased luxury tax

ok Jeannie is drowning with this luxury taxes, fine, coaches salary don't count in salary cap so no luxury tax implications. They lose their expensive veteran assistants Kidd AND Lionel Hollins and you replace them with Fizdale... and......Mike Freaking Penberthy? His main experience? Hired as a shooting coach. But hey I said it before, it's not my money, easy for me to say, go ahead and spend an extra $20 million for all I care... but then again I've been to other arenas, I don't recall seeing 2 decks of expensive luxury boxes when last visited the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, paid like $110 about 20 seats from the court so.

[Landsberger]

RashWEED Wallace?!.... sounds about right...

[Ball so hard]

We hired Chris Jent as our top assistant… he has coaching experience. Not sure if this is due to a budget constraint as some of you have mentioned, but I expected a former head coach on his staff. It appears this staff is better suited for an up and coming team and not a team that is expected to win now. I’m not a fan of much of what I’ve seen so far. I hope I’m wrong.

[tamaraw08]

We hired Chris Jent as our top assistant… he has coaching experience. Not sure if this is due to a budget constraint as some of you have mentioned, but I expected a former head coach on his staff. It appears this staff is better suited for an up and coming team and not a team that is expected to win now. I’m not a fan of much of what I’ve seen so far. I hope I’m wrong.

It's extremely difficult for me not to assume that the main reason why there have been ZERO head coaching experience on the bench so far is because of budget constraints. Some would say, well Ham was promised autonomy in hiring his assistants, that is true, but just made so much sense for him for him to get some veteran presence on how to navigate when your plan A and B are not working. How to deal with difficult players, frustrations, when and how to adjust etc etc. I look at Bob Myers who quickly hired a vet like Mike Brown to replace Luke Walton. Then they didn't just say oh well we won 3 rings, we have Brown and Kerr, that's enough, they then hired another veteran Kenny Atkinson to help out....I would have been so happy if they acquired Steve Clifford, the guy who cleaned up Vogel's mess in Orlando or Stotts and if Darvin truly thinks he doesn't need these guys for wisdom and experience, then it's on him, the same guy who thinks he can truly work with Russ....But what is he supposed to say, if he actually approached these guys and the Lakers said, we can't afford him, will he rat his employers out, the team that took a chance on him?
Like you, I hope and pray I am wrong about this.

[Ball so hard]

We hired Chris Jent as our top assistant… he has coaching experience. Not sure if this is due to a budget constraint as some of you have mentioned, but I expected a former head coach on his staff. It appears this staff is better suited for an up and coming team and not a team that is expected to win now. I’m not a fan of much of what I’ve seen so far. I hope I’m wrong.

It's extremely difficult for me not to assume that the main reason why there have been ZERO head coaching experience on the bench so far is because of budget constraints. Some would say, well Ham was promised autonomy in hiring his assistants, that is true, but just made so much sense for him for him to get some veteran presence on how to navigate when your plan A and B are not working. How to deal with difficult players, frustrations, when and how to adjust etc etc. I look at Bob Myers who quickly hired a vet like Mike Brown to replace Luke Walton. Then they didn't just say oh well we won 3 rings, we have Brown and Kerr, that's enough, they then hired another veteran Kenny Atkinson to help out....I would have been so happy if they acquired Steve Clifford, the guy who cleaned up Vogel's mess in Orlando or Stotts and if Darvin truly thinks he doesn't need these guys for wisdom and experience, then it's on him, the same guy who thinks he can truly work with Russ....But what is he supposed to say, if he actually approached these guys and the Lakers said, we can't afford him, will he rat his employers out, the team that took a chance on him?
Like you, I hope and pray I am wrong about this.

Yeah, not really sure where this is headed. Nothing that has happened and is happening suggests this franchise is ran well and is on the path to success. I wish coach Ham well. I really do. However, I just can’t get myself to the point where I’m looking forward to next year and possibly the year after.

[Danny Darko]

[tweet]

Read on Twitter

?s=20&t=HSF-iVdKoWImFE-qQypL5A
[/tweet]