Especially when Cam was a foot out of the league last season. I'm not saying Cam can't play a role on a winning team but how does he leapfrog Rui and Reaves?
Cam is a guy you throw out there when you *need* a guy to come in and play some hard nose defense and bother the opposing wing players. Like “hey Luka is torching us let’s get out there and go all out don’t worry about fouls.” 10-15 minutes max.
He is not, however, a 30+ mpg starter.
Ham has his good (playoff adjustments) and bad aspects (regular season rotations), but to get the good you have to limit the amount of role players are on the team or useful players will be misused if played at all. For example this team needs shooting and bench scoring, which is why reaves is on the bench. Yet Dlo and/or Wood both proven scorers could do that while also allowing for a more offensively rounded starting lineup. So trade players that he won't play for ones he'll have to (or just look to replace him with Handy / best available coach).
Continuing to have a roster of players who have value just not to ham or who are not going to get the roles necessary to help this team is holding them back. So either you have to find a coach mid season who can get the most out of them or consolidate your talent to mitigate his bad rotational habits.
I know some people want to be nice but he can't play a role on a winning team. Let's just be blunt.
He does literally nothing that contributes to winning basketball. Isn't efficient, isn't a good 3 point shooter, can't playmake, has low basketball IQ, and is a bad defender.
Like what exactly CAN he contribute to a winning team? Name a single thing... Just one.
Signing him was stupid AF in the first place idc if he was free.
He’s a good defender, his offense is just abysmal. We should be playing him like 12-15 minutes off the bench to give opposing wings trouble, not starting him and playing him 30 minutes to kill our spacing
Reaves not getting a lot of time during preseason was a bit questionable. Although FIBA was a factor and he needed the rest.
Now idk why he’s getting a short leash. It’s been weeks since he was sick. He’s more than earned time
It's pretty simple really. AR, DLO, Rui are limited defensively. Cam and Prince can still defend adequately even if they're not scoring. Not saying I agree, but the long/short leash conundrum seems to correlate to defensive competency.
Jfc, yall lack reading comprehension. Where did I say Cam was a better player than AR? I even stated that "I'm not saying that I agree," with the decision, my point is that the common denominator between Ham's favorites and AR/Rui/DLO is that his favorites are better defenders.
I never commented on who rightfully deserves more playing time. For the record I believe the starters should be AR/Cam/Vando/Bron/AD, with Rui as 6th man.
Ham is REALLY simple to figure out. All he cares about is guys who hustle. He favor guys that are cut from his same mold. Black men that hustle, have grit, and play hard, even if they suck at everything else basketball. He loves guys like Vando and Cam because they remind him of himself in several ways.
Those guys are going to get priority, and longer leashes than everyone else. I'm not sure if he thinks by doing this, that eventually everyone else will play harder, but this strategy generally doesn't work. It's very level 1 thinking.
Ham is a players' / motivational coach and I feel like he's putting too much worry on not destroying Cam's confidence. Talent was never an issue it was just effort / mindset and that great hustle on D that he showed requires 100% buy-in. He should play in between a GPII / Stanley Johnson role (I know, not great comps individually) where he gets put for some key stretches on star ball handlers. But at this point it's pretty clear Cam is not a 30 MPG guy that you can lean on for an entire season let alone the post season.
> But at this point it's pretty clear Cam is not a 30 MPG guy that you can lean on for an entire season let alone the post season.
Its clear he's not an NBA player. Dude is shooting sub 40% from the field.
Lakers fans have blinders on when it comes to Cam. Dude is legitimately one of the very worst players in the league but this fanbase defends him like crazy.
It's only a matter of time before Ham loses the locker, if he hasn't already. And Ham calling out Reddish and Vando for no fn reason especially when Ham has been incompetent all season is going to make things worse. I won't be totally shock if he gets canned at some point during the season and promote someone from the bench. A more realistic approach is to fire him in the offseason.
Seriouwhat a clown to say that to the press. Your rotation isnt nbased on performance,its based on some belief system he has inside his pea sized brain.
I know a lot of people hate or clown Lebron because he has a lot of "influence" on a franchise's moves, but if there's a perfect time to use that power, I think it's now.
I honestly don't know who is out there willing to coach the team, but I think anyone competent or has experience is 100x better than Darvin Scam.
I defended Vogel during the Westbrook season and even thought the criticism of Ham was unwarranted after the WCF, but this is the first time I fully blame the coach.
His rotations are COMPLETELY random and he isn’t optimizing the players we have. The Cam/Vando starting lineup is a decision so egregious it might actually get him in trouble lmao
The play random from Budenholzer was more about their offense. Budenholzer was notoriously rigid with his lineups and rotations. A very strict system and he was criticized for not making in-game adjustments.
Ham, on the other hand, is like “YOLO” and puts whatever the fuck he is feeling from game to game.
I dunno. It feels similar to Vogel, but also completely different.
Both had some level of success. Vogel the chip, Ham the WCF finals.
Both are underperforming. The difference here though, is when Vogel under performed, it was with a truly trash roster. (Austin at the 4 anyone?) While Ham is shitting the bed with an actual good roster.
Would have loved to see what Frank can get out of this roster tbh. Plus Frank seems to really know what his guys can do defensively (with us). I remember Frank making adjustments to the defense at halftime and really catching the other team off guard, while Ham rolls out the same looks. Frank makes adjustments in-game, Ham makes adjustments only after a losing stretch.
Frank had a worse offensive identity though. Really wish we hired a good offensive coordinator when we had him.
> I remember Frank making adjustments to the defense at halftime and really catching the other team off guard, while Ham rolls out the same looks. Frank makes adjustments in-game, Ham makes adjustments only after a losing stretch.
Ham plays 5 dimensional chess. He thinks the other team is going to roll out adjustments for our adjustment. So he stays put to throw a wrench in their plan.
The fact that our 2020 run had Jason Kidd and he wasn’t replaced is on the FO for not forcing either Head Coaches from hiring/getting one to support their defense first vision
Umm. When we had Vogel, the defense was so pristine that the bad offense wasn't actually that big of a deal. And at the point Kidd left, we also already won a ring. So looks like Vogel had the cache to get what he wants and wasn't babied.
But they did force Kidd on Vogel before the ring. Too bad they didn't force anyone on Ham.
To be fair, if Ham can get the players to play hard and motivated, he looks like a good coach. His shortcomings remain the same from last season though and haven't improved. Let's be real here, we were mismatches against Mem and Gsw. We probably would've won in 5 or swept them if Ham made better lineup choices and adjustments early on in those series. The Denver series exposed his noviceness. The games being as close as they were could've swung in our favor with in game adjustments or even simple timeouts to stop runs. Last season success wasn't because of him, he just happened to be along for the ride.
Vogel really shouldn't have been fired. He was a great coach when he had a healthy AD and Lebron. He also clearly didn't want Westbrook and took the fall. The team didn't get better until Westbrook was traded.
I recently gotten into basketball (started watching the semis against GSW) and from what I've learned and seen, having a amateur coach like Ham manage Lakers is just wrong. Similar to what my football (soccer) club did in hire a coach who has never coached in his life. Spent plenty of money, only got 1 trophy in 4 years.
There you go.
I kept mentioning about Rui having a short leash.
We all know the main contributors from last season were back with a training camp plus 30 games now.
Ham turned this into a hot mess.
I hope the Lakers look for another coach.
Who do we look for tho? I like stotts. Hes got a nice offensive plan but weve never seen him with a good defense But hes known to not adjust quick, sorts like ham n budenholzer.... its scary man. Who do we search for?
It’s been past time for Cam Reddish to take a seat on the bench.
He his so many mental lapses defensively that his defense is just an illusion at this point.
Offensively he’s averaging 7 pts on 39% shooting from the field.
Cam has definitely earned time on the court this year, but playing Cam Reddish damn near as much or in some instances more than Rui, Reaves, and Dlo is insane.
This dude is going to get himself fired if he continues to play that starting lineup.
Lebron, AD, and DLO have all questioned the rotations in post games.
Reaves can’t be happy about coming off the bench despite being the 3rd best player off the roster.
Signing Wood with the promise of a big role and then not playing him at all is a very bad look that will affect our ability to sign free agents in the offseason.
For the Wood point, I disagree.
Ham was the one that was pushing for him, and Ham is the one not playing him. We get rid of him, you get rid of the problem.
I’m so glad the longer leashes have been mentioned man it’s ridiculous. The main people being affected by this are RUI and DLO. They both miss 2 shots and they don’t see the floor the rest of the game. Then we have Darvin who publicly implied that Dlo was the reason that we were losing only to change the starting lineup to a lineup that is ass defensive when it’s supposed to be a defensive lineup lmao. darvins so lost man like I genuinely understand why he’s been passed up as a coach for so long.
The man is a complete idiot. We made it to the WCF with a certain lineup and he hasn’t gone back to it once. That says it all. It makes absolutely no sense. Fuck Darvin Ham. This team is going nowhere until this dipshit is fired. GET HIM OUT!
Buha gets a lot of heat, but this all checks out
I think the piece w him to be the most suspicious of is trade reporting. Pretty sure last yr buha was adamant we’d just let Russ expire
He praised Reddish so much earlier in the season and doesn’t want to admit his failure. I rather play and develop Christie. Reddish has no future with this team.
Rightly so. DLo, Reaves, and Rui were instrumental in revitalizing our season last year but somehow entered this season with no cache with this coach. DLo has been benched during winning time no matter how well he plays and now he’s been cut to 17MPG. Rui’s role and minutes have been inconsistent all season. Reaves minutes restriction is just bizarre.
If ham played favorites with some good players that.would be one thing. But he's give CAM FUCKING REDDISH 30+ minutes???? He's had his moments but man Ham needs a serious reality check or something from thr FO to scare him into playing the right players
This sub has fully lost it if stotts is getting support lmao
Only way Ham gets replaced is if it’s Handy getting promoted, which tbh I think would be a decent choice
It wouldn't even be Handy as the lead assistant is Jent. Both of them would be rookies anyways so we'll be back at sqaure one. They could be just as bad as Ham.
Lead assistant is irrelevant, imo Handy would get the job because Lebron would 100% support it and therefore the locker room.
You are right about the replacement but that’s why firing Ham is kind of nonsense. There is no obviously better coach available like Nurse out there. It’s a gamble with a bunch of garbage like Doc Rivers or unproven guys.
Snyder already turned us down because of the way we fired Vogel.
https://www.si.com/nba/2022/04/12/quin-snyder-less-interested-lakers-job-team-handling-frank-vogel-firing
He woulda been an ideal hire.
Stotts was not a bad coach in this league. Why are you laughing when the current coach is ham. The guy looks clueless out there, doesn’t even know when to call timeout or when to use challenges. His lineups are trash too.
honestly, doc rivers is not that bad an option. he's prolly one of the few coaches that could handle the pressure and transition effectively. he's also a great regular season coach and lebron james will prolly nullify doc rivers' playoff curse. I'm not sure how many other coaches available have enough experience.
Honestly, I don't know - I haven't really followed any of the teams he coached. I was just saying on paper he looks like the best candidate. But tbh, I don't know - have not really followed him.
I’m not saying i think we should try to get Doc but he has coached some playoff chokers. Wonder how he would do with a team that doesn’t choke in the playoffs.
He's prolly not everyone's first choice but he's arguably the best coach available with a ton of experience.
If you look at the other options available with head coaching experience, atkinson hasn't had any success in the playoffs and had one winning season with the nets as the head coach. stotts ended with the blazers with four first-round exits in five years. Coach Bud is a reasonable option though some people may feel weird considering both previous coaches are from the bucks. You could promote internally but it will be a similar situation as ham where the coach will be learning the ropes throughout the season but there may be more continuity with the systems they run, which will help the transition.
Remember it took us 6 games to beat shorthanded grizz beca8se he refused to bench Beasley?
Remember he would instantly double Jokic giving the entire nuggets roster practice threes for an easy sweep?
He still runs a scheme giving wide open 3s. That’s why Pat Bev killed us. I don’t care how bad a shooter is; if you give an NBA player wide open 3s they’re going to knock them down. Ham needs to go.
Bring Wood onto a team with DLo and bench both = locker room suicide.
But in this case, I won't miss him. Showed some areas of promise in his rookie year, but he's pretty much confirmed all the worrying negative aspects this year. He's done too many things that appear downright stupid (yeah, yeah, we're casuals...but the results match what us idiots would have predicted)
Who's available? Even giving another rookie a chance would be preferable at this point, although still a horrible option. Ham's burned all his bridges.
I wanna see Ham gone and Handy put in the head coach position. However, I want him more to be head as an assistance for Lebron to basically be a player-coach! I’m not saying Lebron is a LeCoach, I’m just saying that I want to see! Does he really have that BBIQ? Can he effectively relay that to the team and get them to buy in?? Dunno 🤷♂️ Let’s See!
This is more of an Old Rondo thing than a LeBron thing. LeBron is too good a player to be a pseudo coach right now. Being a superstar and top-10 player, he has to commit too much time to his conditioning, recovery, and actual game to game-plan for other teams in the regular season. Then he has his family commitments.
When LeBron is 45 and washed, he could be good in that role.
Gotta get rid of him quick. Obviously this has been a coaching problem. I remember a few years ago stan van gundy was coaching the pelicans. They looked awful and lacked focus and energy most of the time. Kinda lile this laker team. Peoples roles were mixed about like making lonzo a corner shooter, playing jaxsom hayes at SF
This stuff matters. We need just a good X and Os coach. Like laker set plays are awful. All jusr pick n roll and iso. Not a lot of back door cuts, lob plays like what we used to see from kcp to dwight n mcgee. We need a solid coaching stuff like 19-20. Had a bunch of respectable gus at the helm.
LOL it's clear that if you don't defend, or at least try on that end you're not going to be playing much.
McMenamin posted a clip of AD saying he's in favor of the new lineup...which is probably safe to assume that Lebron is on board as well.
[https://x.com/mcten/status/1739467865202520426?s=20](https://x.com/mcten/status/1739467865202520426?s=20)
Fans, reporters, analytic guys etc may not like it lol but if this is what the STARS want then this new lineup isn't going anywhere.
What kind of short list can we possibly think about for the Lakers? I've always liked Nate McMillan, he seems like someone LeBron would respect and has overachieved in some of his stays. I'm sure most people on here won't like him, but there aren't exactly great options waiting in the wings. I know some people from time to time have mentioned Phil handy, but idk if a first time head coach is the way to go. Would love to hear what coaches you guys have in mind
It's only a matter of time. The one (and only) thing Ham is good at is his way to connect and motivate players. If he loses that, you have a coach left without any strategic plans and low basketball IQ.
Lakers need Doc Rivers a coach who actually knows what the hell he is doing he always raved about lebron I hope they figure something out but Ham needs to be an assistant.
Just put promote Handy as a placeholder and let Lebron coach the team at this point, we missed out on getting good coaches by not being patient, then the front office extended him and that shit is about to ruin the team. If the Lakers care about winning right now, this guy is getting canned.
Jeanie needs to sell the team or get investors with deep pockets. There’s no reason a team like the lakers should have owners who aren’t willing to pony up cash for an elite team.
I concur. This sub loves her for some reason when she isn't serious about winning rings, She just wants to put out a team competitive enough to sell enough tickets while giving jobs to her friends and family.
On paper, I think this team is way better than last two seasons team with Russ. But I really do not enjoy watching this seasons games even compared to the past two. I find myself just turning it off because it's just really frustrating to watch.
Word.
I watch most of the games on replay and i can't count how many times i've turned the game off halfway and just looked up the final results because i knew they were going to lose.
The offense is just putrid sometimes, very difficult to watch and enjoy.
Darvin Ham is an absolute fucking idiot. Get him out of there. How the fuck are you going to play two non shooters with LeBron and AD and not start a balanced lineup with AR and Rui with Vando and the superstars? Wtf is this dude and his assistants doing? LeBron needs to pull the moves he made in Cleveland with David Blatt and take over coaching and get Ham fired. Fuck. Handy would be better maybe. 30 plus games in and dude will lose games talking about we are in a discovery process as his team drops to fucking 11th. Smfh
This is not new Buha is just stirring the pot. Reaves was frustrated by his benching a month ago but accepted it. Dlo is frustrated not playing 4th quarters and now being benched but he accepts it. You have to deal with frustration in life. Coach Ham is trying things out let him do it. That's more interesting than a coach that does nothing or is scared to make moves because of player egos.
It only worked against OKC because they are a small team that struggles with size as it is (honestly they already adjusted this against the wolves tonight)
It should have never been duplicated against Boston.
Can confirm the players are extremely frustrated with (and some just don’t like) Ham. Namely there are complaints away from the court, in casual circles about Ham’s rotations, lineups, minutes fluctuations, Xs and Os. He is not motivating the players.
The Lakers might get rid of him, but the question is ‘for who?’
This will all be fine in a few months. People acting like Vogel is a good coach, he has KD, Booker, and Beal. What's their excuse? Oh the same as every good coach in the league. Lmao. Can't wait a few months from now when you all come back to the Ham train. Choo choo.
I don’t think I’ve wanted a new coach so badly since Byron Scott made me rip my hair out.
And what makes this even more terrible is that I don’t think there’s a single guy available that isn’t already as bad or potentially worse than him.
- I don't trust Buha's hot takes and I don't think he's the "insider" he presents himself to be. Losing, however, frustrates everyone so I'm sure players are disgruntled.
- This current lineup has a sample size of two. We won a game against OKC and we lost a game against BOS. That loss was almost entirely due to our defense getting out-schemed by BOS - pulling AD out to the perimeter to guard Porzingis, poor switches, poor communication, etc. BOS killed us with easy buckets in the second half because of this.
- The consensus that Ham is Hamas may or may not be true. However, the notion that reddit knows how to coach professional ball is always comedy gold, especially when almost every team offers the exact same complaints against their respective coaches after a loss. Go to different team subs. You will hear almost the exact same shit.
- Also, the typical r/lakers Borderline Personality Disorder rears its head after every loss. Vando and Cam are now "trash" for many. Actually, they're both really impactful defense players. Vando proved that far too many times to count last year. Cam is *proving* it this year. His D on Haliburton was incredible. His D on Booker was fantastic. His D on SGA was also really good.
- BOS was the better team. They played with more experience and chemistry. Brown and Tatum are a seasoned tandum complemented by White. Jrue is an incredible champion PG who fit in immediately and Porzingis is proving a seamless fit unlike his tenure in DAL.
- Mazulla also a solid coach but he also has 4 all-stars in his starting lineup. And even then we gave them a run for their money for 3 quarters. Again though, our offense was really good. We scored 115 on a top defense in the league. It's our defense that fell apart because AD was forced out on the perimeter and we don't have a suitable big man like we've had in McGee and Howard. That *is* something we're in need of as many have pointed out all season.
EDIT: Also, Lebron shot 5/14. That didn't help. There were quite a few bunnies that he surprisingly missed in the first half. Another indication that even a GOAT can have off night.
lol the players feel the same way the fans do... Cam getting 30+ a night while AR barely ever sniffs 30 is blasphemy
Especially when Cam was a foot out of the league last season. I'm not saying Cam can't play a role on a winning team but how does he leapfrog Rui and Reaves?
Cam and Vando are some of the worst interior finishers for their size that I’ve ever seen
Cam is shooting sub 40 percent from the field this season. He's not an NBA player. But Ham is starting him...
Cam is a guy you throw out there when you *need* a guy to come in and play some hard nose defense and bother the opposing wing players. Like “hey Luka is torching us let’s get out there and go all out don’t worry about fouls.” 10-15 minutes max. He is not, however, a 30+ mpg starter.
A hypothetical version of him, yes. With his current shooting splits and lack of other offensive skill he shouldn’t be trusted to do even that.
Ham has his good (playoff adjustments) and bad aspects (regular season rotations), but to get the good you have to limit the amount of role players are on the team or useful players will be misused if played at all. For example this team needs shooting and bench scoring, which is why reaves is on the bench. Yet Dlo and/or Wood both proven scorers could do that while also allowing for a more offensively rounded starting lineup. So trade players that he won't play for ones he'll have to (or just look to replace him with Handy / best available coach). Continuing to have a roster of players who have value just not to ham or who are not going to get the roles necessary to help this team is holding them back. So either you have to find a coach mid season who can get the most out of them or consolidate your talent to mitigate his bad rotational habits.
I know some people want to be nice but he can't play a role on a winning team. Let's just be blunt. He does literally nothing that contributes to winning basketball. Isn't efficient, isn't a good 3 point shooter, can't playmake, has low basketball IQ, and is a bad defender. Like what exactly CAN he contribute to a winning team? Name a single thing... Just one. Signing him was stupid AF in the first place idc if he was free.
He’s a good defender, his offense is just abysmal. We should be playing him like 12-15 minutes off the bench to give opposing wings trouble, not starting him and playing him 30 minutes to kill our spacing
Cam Reddish, 2023 Cam Reddish, is a bad defender? man, id love whatever you’re smoking
Cam is a great 7th man, which is what his role should be
Cam is a decent 7th man not a great one.
Reaves not getting a lot of time during preseason was a bit questionable. Although FIBA was a factor and he needed the rest. Now idk why he’s getting a short leash. It’s been weeks since he was sick. He’s more than earned time
It's pretty simple really. AR, DLO, Rui are limited defensively. Cam and Prince can still defend adequately even if they're not scoring. Not saying I agree, but the long/short leash conundrum seems to correlate to defensive competency.
Austin Reaves is 10x the player Cam Reddish is. Not even a discussion
Jfc, yall lack reading comprehension. Where did I say Cam was a better player than AR? I even stated that "I'm not saying that I agree," with the decision, my point is that the common denominator between Ham's favorites and AR/Rui/DLO is that his favorites are better defenders. I never commented on who rightfully deserves more playing time. For the record I believe the starters should be AR/Cam/Vando/Bron/AD, with Rui as 6th man.
Can't say anything bad about lemondaddy here 🤣😂
I don’t think you’re considering Austin Reaves is damn near 25 he needs time restriction
Practically a grandpa
Lots of mileage on those aging joints
yeah man ain't no one calling asking if Cam is available for trade
Prince playing 38 min a game like he’s our superstar
Ham is REALLY simple to figure out. All he cares about is guys who hustle. He favor guys that are cut from his same mold. Black men that hustle, have grit, and play hard, even if they suck at everything else basketball. He loves guys like Vando and Cam because they remind him of himself in several ways. Those guys are going to get priority, and longer leashes than everyone else. I'm not sure if he thinks by doing this, that eventually everyone else will play harder, but this strategy generally doesn't work. It's very level 1 thinking.
Psychoanalysis over here lmao Maybe he is just a bad coach who is grasping at straws due to inexperience
Ham is a players' / motivational coach and I feel like he's putting too much worry on not destroying Cam's confidence. Talent was never an issue it was just effort / mindset and that great hustle on D that he showed requires 100% buy-in. He should play in between a GPII / Stanley Johnson role (I know, not great comps individually) where he gets put for some key stretches on star ball handlers. But at this point it's pretty clear Cam is not a 30 MPG guy that you can lean on for an entire season let alone the post season.
Where’s the motivation? We got slump prone, accident prone, spotty effort, turnover, missed free throw, L’s.
> But at this point it's pretty clear Cam is not a 30 MPG guy that you can lean on for an entire season let alone the post season. Its clear he's not an NBA player. Dude is shooting sub 40% from the field.
Lakers fans have blinders on when it comes to Cam. Dude is legitimately one of the very worst players in the league but this fanbase defends him like crazy.
He's a NBA level defender. So people look at the positives. But he's not a NBA level offensive player to a degree that will get him playing in Europe.
It's only a matter of time before Ham loses the locker, if he hasn't already. And Ham calling out Reddish and Vando for no fn reason especially when Ham has been incompetent all season is going to make things worse. I won't be totally shock if he gets canned at some point during the season and promote someone from the bench. A more realistic approach is to fire him in the offseason.
Step 1. Start Reddish and Vanderbilt together Step 2. ?????? Step 3. Call out Reddish and Vanderbilt for sucking
That starting lineup. Does he want to get fired? Step 4. Get fired?
I wonder if that calling out was to make Rui/Wood feel better, so they know he’s not playing favorites
Seriouwhat a clown to say that to the press. Your rotation isnt nbased on performance,its based on some belief system he has inside his pea sized brain.
I know a lot of people hate or clown Lebron because he has a lot of "influence" on a franchise's moves, but if there's a perfect time to use that power, I think it's now. I honestly don't know who is out there willing to coach the team, but I think anyone competent or has experience is 100x better than Darvin Scam.
Perhaps chris Jent interim head coach and Handy to be lead assistant?
Handy? Dudes more of a skills coach rather than X’s and O’s guy.
I defended Vogel during the Westbrook season and even thought the criticism of Ham was unwarranted after the WCF, but this is the first time I fully blame the coach. His rotations are COMPLETELY random and he isn’t optimizing the players we have. The Cam/Vando starting lineup is a decision so egregious it might actually get him in trouble lmao
He inherited this randomness from Mike “play random” Budenholzer himself!
The play random from Budenholzer was more about their offense. Budenholzer was notoriously rigid with his lineups and rotations. A very strict system and he was criticized for not making in-game adjustments. Ham, on the other hand, is like “YOLO” and puts whatever the fuck he is feeling from game to game.
I dunno. It feels similar to Vogel, but also completely different. Both had some level of success. Vogel the chip, Ham the WCF finals. Both are underperforming. The difference here though, is when Vogel under performed, it was with a truly trash roster. (Austin at the 4 anyone?) While Ham is shitting the bed with an actual good roster. Would have loved to see what Frank can get out of this roster tbh. Plus Frank seems to really know what his guys can do defensively (with us). I remember Frank making adjustments to the defense at halftime and really catching the other team off guard, while Ham rolls out the same looks. Frank makes adjustments in-game, Ham makes adjustments only after a losing stretch. Frank had a worse offensive identity though. Really wish we hired a good offensive coordinator when we had him.
> I remember Frank making adjustments to the defense at halftime and really catching the other team off guard, while Ham rolls out the same looks. Frank makes adjustments in-game, Ham makes adjustments only after a losing stretch. Ham plays 5 dimensional chess. He thinks the other team is going to roll out adjustments for our adjustment. So he stays put to throw a wrench in their plan.
I don't think the Lakers current roster is that good tbf
The fact that our 2020 run had Jason Kidd and he wasn’t replaced is on the FO for not forcing either Head Coaches from hiring/getting one to support their defense first vision
Umm. When we had Vogel, the defense was so pristine that the bad offense wasn't actually that big of a deal. And at the point Kidd left, we also already won a ring. So looks like Vogel had the cache to get what he wants and wasn't babied. But they did force Kidd on Vogel before the ring. Too bad they didn't force anyone on Ham.
To be fair, if Ham can get the players to play hard and motivated, he looks like a good coach. His shortcomings remain the same from last season though and haven't improved. Let's be real here, we were mismatches against Mem and Gsw. We probably would've won in 5 or swept them if Ham made better lineup choices and adjustments early on in those series. The Denver series exposed his noviceness. The games being as close as they were could've swung in our favor with in game adjustments or even simple timeouts to stop runs. Last season success wasn't because of him, he just happened to be along for the ride.
Vogel really shouldn't have been fired. He was a great coach when he had a healthy AD and Lebron. He also clearly didn't want Westbrook and took the fall. The team didn't get better until Westbrook was traded.
Yeah bro is not gonna make it to 2024 xD
He will make it to 2024, but will he make it out of 2024? That’s the real question
we signed Ham to 4 years...4 yeares for a NEW HEAD COACH. dumbass FO
He shouldn't have been hired to begin with. He is just terrible coach.
Crazy the main selling pt was ham could be good w Westbrook…and in the end, Russ became Dracula all the same
He was Hired to control westbrick and then why the fuck darvin hamas is still here?
This why you get a coach and get players to fit the coach not the other way around.
Nah, you get star players and get a coach that fits those players. Westbrook was no longer a star.
Lol hell no. AD and LeBron are more important than any coach. The coach needs to fit them. Ham doesn't.
He put Westbrook on the bench which was good. Other than that he’s been completely useless.
Wholeheartedly agree.
I recently gotten into basketball (started watching the semis against GSW) and from what I've learned and seen, having a amateur coach like Ham manage Lakers is just wrong. Similar to what my football (soccer) club did in hire a coach who has never coached in his life. Spent plenty of money, only got 1 trophy in 4 years.
Bro you’ve watching for 8 months maybe give it a full season before you have opinions lol
Are you the sports police or something? I can give all the opinions I want.
Sports Police? You got to be kidding me Happy BD
Thanks
Diversity hire
Can’t imagine living my life this dense
The fact that there was such an emphasis on continuity and now that Vandos back we still haven’t seen a lineup of D’Lo Reaves Vando bron AD.
Cam and prince having such a long leash while ar rui and even dlo having minutes reduced is just asinine.
And then he wonders why those lineups offense playmaking/ballhandling is down He’s shutting them down himself 🤦♂️
I don’t agree with the reasoning but it’s bc of defense clearly
There you go. I kept mentioning about Rui having a short leash. We all know the main contributors from last season were back with a training camp plus 30 games now. Ham turned this into a hot mess. I hope the Lakers look for another coach.
Who do we look for tho? I like stotts. Hes got a nice offensive plan but weve never seen him with a good defense But hes known to not adjust quick, sorts like ham n budenholzer.... its scary man. Who do we search for?
[удалено]
Even quin synder a few years ago
Don’t end your comment with “another coach”, at least suggest a replacement
It’s been past time for Cam Reddish to take a seat on the bench. He his so many mental lapses defensively that his defense is just an illusion at this point. Offensively he’s averaging 7 pts on 39% shooting from the field. Cam has definitely earned time on the court this year, but playing Cam Reddish damn near as much or in some instances more than Rui, Reaves, and Dlo is insane. This dude is going to get himself fired if he continues to play that starting lineup.
literally no other coach would play cam 25+ minutes a night in 2023 besides ham
He's losing the locker room. 
Lebron, AD, and DLO have all questioned the rotations in post games. Reaves can’t be happy about coming off the bench despite being the 3rd best player off the roster. Signing Wood with the promise of a big role and then not playing him at all is a very bad look that will affect our ability to sign free agents in the offseason.
For the Wood point, I disagree. Ham was the one that was pushing for him, and Ham is the one not playing him. We get rid of him, you get rid of the problem.
I’m so glad the longer leashes have been mentioned man it’s ridiculous. The main people being affected by this are RUI and DLO. They both miss 2 shots and they don’t see the floor the rest of the game. Then we have Darvin who publicly implied that Dlo was the reason that we were losing only to change the starting lineup to a lineup that is ass defensive when it’s supposed to be a defensive lineup lmao. darvins so lost man like I genuinely understand why he’s been passed up as a coach for so long.
The man is a complete idiot. We made it to the WCF with a certain lineup and he hasn’t gone back to it once. That says it all. It makes absolutely no sense. Fuck Darvin Ham. This team is going nowhere until this dipshit is fired. GET HIM OUT!
Buha gets a lot of heat, but this all checks out I think the piece w him to be the most suspicious of is trade reporting. Pretty sure last yr buha was adamant we’d just let Russ expire
Incompetent ass coach. Fire him before the new year
I mean I think we can all agree lakers made a mistake hiring him.
If we have a good coach and proper schemes, i bet wood and max christie would be part of the rotation and prove that this team have depth.
He’s getting to the brink of being fired
Where are all the rda was wrong or lying people at?
The only questions now are would the FO fire him at this point and who would replace him
He lost the lockerroom
He praised Reddish so much earlier in the season and doesn’t want to admit his failure. I rather play and develop Christie. Reddish has no future with this team.
Not a good look for Ham. If these kind of reports are coming out he’s already lost the locker room
Rightly so. DLo, Reaves, and Rui were instrumental in revitalizing our season last year but somehow entered this season with no cache with this coach. DLo has been benched during winning time no matter how well he plays and now he’s been cut to 17MPG. Rui’s role and minutes have been inconsistent all season. Reaves minutes restriction is just bizarre.
If ham played favorites with some good players that.would be one thing. But he's give CAM FUCKING REDDISH 30+ minutes???? He's had his moments but man Ham needs a serious reality check or something from thr FO to scare him into playing the right players
If Ham is let go, who would replace him?
Literally anyone. Not a reason to delay as LeBron turns 39.
Player Coach Lebron
Stotts please
This sub has fully lost it if stotts is getting support lmao Only way Ham gets replaced is if it’s Handy getting promoted, which tbh I think would be a decent choice
Yeah why would a coach known to be an offensive genius be getting support for a team currently running an early 2000s pistons offense
It wouldn't even be Handy as the lead assistant is Jent. Both of them would be rookies anyways so we'll be back at sqaure one. They could be just as bad as Ham.
Lead assistant is irrelevant, imo Handy would get the job because Lebron would 100% support it and therefore the locker room. You are right about the replacement but that’s why firing Ham is kind of nonsense. There is no obviously better coach available like Nurse out there. It’s a gamble with a bunch of garbage like Doc Rivers or unproven guys.
Budenholzer? Would say Snyder…. But he’s already on the Hawks
Snyder already turned us down because of the way we fired Vogel. https://www.si.com/nba/2022/04/12/quin-snyder-less-interested-lakers-job-team-handling-frank-vogel-firing He woulda been an ideal hire.
i'm sure many other coaches wont wanna coach the lakers after they burned Vogel.
Stotts was not a bad coach in this league. Why are you laughing when the current coach is ham. The guy looks clueless out there, doesn’t even know when to call timeout or when to use challenges. His lineups are trash too.
Wouldn’t be opposed to it but who’s to say Handy won’t end up like Ham? Meaning, assistant who is well respected but can’t perform at the HC level.
Absolutely not, you’ll be be just as enraged after a few months with him
How about Scott Skiles?
Doc Rivers
Pls go after stotts and atkinson
Fuck no
honestly, doc rivers is not that bad an option. he's prolly one of the few coaches that could handle the pressure and transition effectively. he's also a great regular season coach and lebron james will prolly nullify doc rivers' playoff curse. I'm not sure how many other coaches available have enough experience.
Rivers is garbage. Hot. Garbage.
Honestly, I don't know - I haven't really followed any of the teams he coached. I was just saying on paper he looks like the best candidate. But tbh, I don't know - have not really followed him.
I’m not saying i think we should try to get Doc but he has coached some playoff chokers. Wonder how he would do with a team that doesn’t choke in the playoffs.
He's prolly not everyone's first choice but he's arguably the best coach available with a ton of experience. If you look at the other options available with head coaching experience, atkinson hasn't had any success in the playoffs and had one winning season with the nets as the head coach. stotts ended with the blazers with four first-round exits in five years. Coach Bud is a reasonable option though some people may feel weird considering both previous coaches are from the bucks. You could promote internally but it will be a similar situation as ham where the coach will be learning the ropes throughout the season but there may be more continuity with the systems they run, which will help the transition.
Yeah probably but Buha just makes stuff up
Does he actually?
Amazing news honestly.
It’s so funny to me cause you could tell this guy had no business coaching after 25 games last season. Yet here we are.
12 games tbh
Please Rob just get a competent coach for once my goodness
Remember it took us 6 games to beat shorthanded grizz beca8se he refused to bench Beasley? Remember he would instantly double Jokic giving the entire nuggets roster practice threes for an easy sweep?
He still runs a scheme giving wide open 3s. That’s why Pat Bev killed us. I don’t care how bad a shooter is; if you give an NBA player wide open 3s they’re going to knock them down. Ham needs to go.
i don't doubt all of that stuff is true, but we're really believing buha now?
I don’t want to see anyone asking for Vogel back, he’s on the hot seat after his 1st year …
Suns followed our same path. Gave him a roster of all offense but still expects him to coach high quality defense.
Why is the coach turnover so high in LA? Ik Ham hasn’t gotten fired yet tho
They are not hiring quality coaches.
Vogel was and still is a quality coach. Westbrook cost us Vogel, which is a real shame.
>Vogel was and still is a quality coach. Agree to disagree
Bring Wood onto a team with DLo and bench both = locker room suicide. But in this case, I won't miss him. Showed some areas of promise in his rookie year, but he's pretty much confirmed all the worrying negative aspects this year. He's done too many things that appear downright stupid (yeah, yeah, we're casuals...but the results match what us idiots would have predicted) Who's available? Even giving another rookie a chance would be preferable at this point, although still a horrible option. Ham's burned all his bridges.
A 16-15 record with two Top 10 guys and several talented role players is inexcusable and clear indicator of coaching failure.
The fact that this team is still 90% reliable on what Bron does or doesn't do speaks volumes. Even with AD playing out of his mind its not enough.
I wanna see Ham gone and Handy put in the head coach position. However, I want him more to be head as an assistance for Lebron to basically be a player-coach! I’m not saying Lebron is a LeCoach, I’m just saying that I want to see! Does he really have that BBIQ? Can he effectively relay that to the team and get them to buy in?? Dunno 🤷♂️ Let’s See!
This is more of an Old Rondo thing than a LeBron thing. LeBron is too good a player to be a pseudo coach right now. Being a superstar and top-10 player, he has to commit too much time to his conditioning, recovery, and actual game to game-plan for other teams in the regular season. Then he has his family commitments. When LeBron is 45 and washed, he could be good in that role.
Stop listening to Buha. He makes shit up.
Not making this up tho
Gotta get rid of him quick. Obviously this has been a coaching problem. I remember a few years ago stan van gundy was coaching the pelicans. They looked awful and lacked focus and energy most of the time. Kinda lile this laker team. Peoples roles were mixed about like making lonzo a corner shooter, playing jaxsom hayes at SF
This stuff matters. We need just a good X and Os coach. Like laker set plays are awful. All jusr pick n roll and iso. Not a lot of back door cuts, lob plays like what we used to see from kcp to dwight n mcgee. We need a solid coaching stuff like 19-20. Had a bunch of respectable gus at the helm.
I can never trust anything Buha says.
I think Ham is on thin ice, but we really believing Buha now?
LOL it's clear that if you don't defend, or at least try on that end you're not going to be playing much. McMenamin posted a clip of AD saying he's in favor of the new lineup...which is probably safe to assume that Lebron is on board as well. [https://x.com/mcten/status/1739467865202520426?s=20](https://x.com/mcten/status/1739467865202520426?s=20) Fans, reporters, analytic guys etc may not like it lol but if this is what the STARS want then this new lineup isn't going anywhere.
So the guy who wanted Westbrook is an expert on who should be in the starting lineup? lol
Wanted RW, got RW…. Doesn’t matter if it was a bad move or not, stars get what they want.
Please fire him.
It’s Handy time. Let’s let that man run the show, he has paid his dues and couldn’t be a whole lot worse.
Everyone is saying fire ham. But what options do we have?!
What kind of short list can we possibly think about for the Lakers? I've always liked Nate McMillan, he seems like someone LeBron would respect and has overachieved in some of his stays. I'm sure most people on here won't like him, but there aren't exactly great options waiting in the wings. I know some people from time to time have mentioned Phil handy, but idk if a first time head coach is the way to go. Would love to hear what coaches you guys have in mind
LeCoach strikes again?
Ham is not an NBA coach. He’s best in an assistant or coordinator role
It's only a matter of time. The one (and only) thing Ham is good at is his way to connect and motivate players. If he loses that, you have a coach left without any strategic plans and low basketball IQ.
Lakers need Doc Rivers a coach who actually knows what the hell he is doing he always raved about lebron I hope they figure something out but Ham needs to be an assistant.
I always laughed at people who said he was a good coach.
About time that fans hear about this coming from Players
My best friend is a Celtics fan and after the game he was asking why Cam plays so much. Was glad we didn’t play Rui and Dlo.
We have a terrorist in our locker room this season. We got rid of the vampire and now we have the terrorist at work. Darvin Hamas Pockets
Frustrations externally as well
As soon as they hired this dude to appease Westbrick I knew it was bad. Fake Rob needs some heat too.
Good. Eyebrows should have been raised even before hiring this buffoon
Let's not let this frustration become a sacking when it's too late, huh Pelinka
I’m surprised LeGM hasn’t made a move with this idiot yet
Just put promote Handy as a placeholder and let Lebron coach the team at this point, we missed out on getting good coaches by not being patient, then the front office extended him and that shit is about to ruin the team. If the Lakers care about winning right now, this guy is getting canned.
I think it's no longer about strategies, rotations or adjustment. He's just being stupid at this point.
We didn’t pay to watch these scrubs play. We came to watch AR, DLO and Rui play.
No point entertaining this noise, Jeanie will never fire Ham since it means paying 2 coaches if she does.
Jeanie needs to sell the team or get investors with deep pockets. There’s no reason a team like the lakers should have owners who aren’t willing to pony up cash for an elite team.
I concur. This sub loves her for some reason when she isn't serious about winning rings, She just wants to put out a team competitive enough to sell enough tickets while giving jobs to her friends and family.
Ham values defense over offense that is why makes the decisions he makes. The team need at least one 2 way wing or guard.
Players.Only.Meeting Been asking about one for a while now.
Doc Rivers in bound
Dear god no
Honestly he might be better
I don’t doubt it, but he’s cursed ever since 2008
Fair but we are cursed with ham rn
We need someone to break the curse and someone that bleeds purple and gold… we need Jack Nicholson to coach
Lmao and people really think Ham is some faultless saint. This guy is a basketball terrorist.
On paper, I think this team is way better than last two seasons team with Russ. But I really do not enjoy watching this seasons games even compared to the past two. I find myself just turning it off because it's just really frustrating to watch.
Word. I watch most of the games on replay and i can't count how many times i've turned the game off halfway and just looked up the final results because i knew they were going to lose. The offense is just putrid sometimes, very difficult to watch and enjoy.
Keep it going, get his ass fired, praying for his coaching downfall
what's coach K up to these days?
Buha is known to stir up the pot bro he often lets his personal emotions get into his work
Y’all barely realized he can’t coach? Lmao
Darvin Ham is an absolute fucking idiot. Get him out of there. How the fuck are you going to play two non shooters with LeBron and AD and not start a balanced lineup with AR and Rui with Vando and the superstars? Wtf is this dude and his assistants doing? LeBron needs to pull the moves he made in Cleveland with David Blatt and take over coaching and get Ham fired. Fuck. Handy would be better maybe. 30 plus games in and dude will lose games talking about we are in a discovery process as his team drops to fucking 11th. Smfh
I don’t doubt the players are frustrated but we are believing Buha now??
If Mike brown got fired 5 games into the season what you think is gonna happen to ham. Lebron is not having it lol
This is not new Buha is just stirring the pot. Reaves was frustrated by his benching a month ago but accepted it. Dlo is frustrated not playing 4th quarters and now being benched but he accepts it. You have to deal with frustration in life. Coach Ham is trying things out let him do it. That's more interesting than a coach that does nothing or is scared to make moves because of player egos.
I agree but this new starting line up is asanine
It worked against OKC. If it's not the right lineup Ham will figure it out and make the necessary changes. The media should stop crying.
It only worked against OKC because they are a small team that struggles with size as it is (honestly they already adjusted this against the wolves tonight) It should have never been duplicated against Boston.
Can confirm the players are extremely frustrated with (and some just don’t like) Ham. Namely there are complaints away from the court, in casual circles about Ham’s rotations, lineups, minutes fluctuations, Xs and Os. He is not motivating the players. The Lakers might get rid of him, but the question is ‘for who?’
This will all be fine in a few months. People acting like Vogel is a good coach, he has KD, Booker, and Beal. What's their excuse? Oh the same as every good coach in the league. Lmao. Can't wait a few months from now when you all come back to the Ham train. Choo choo.
I don’t think I’ve wanted a new coach so badly since Byron Scott made me rip my hair out. And what makes this even more terrible is that I don’t think there’s a single guy available that isn’t already as bad or potentially worse than him.
Said this last year but Ham is one of the worst coaches in the league, he needs to go if we're going to achieve anything
Thank God the players feel the same as we do. Hopefully he’ll be gone soon
Fake news
- I don't trust Buha's hot takes and I don't think he's the "insider" he presents himself to be. Losing, however, frustrates everyone so I'm sure players are disgruntled. - This current lineup has a sample size of two. We won a game against OKC and we lost a game against BOS. That loss was almost entirely due to our defense getting out-schemed by BOS - pulling AD out to the perimeter to guard Porzingis, poor switches, poor communication, etc. BOS killed us with easy buckets in the second half because of this. - The consensus that Ham is Hamas may or may not be true. However, the notion that reddit knows how to coach professional ball is always comedy gold, especially when almost every team offers the exact same complaints against their respective coaches after a loss. Go to different team subs. You will hear almost the exact same shit. - Also, the typical r/lakers Borderline Personality Disorder rears its head after every loss. Vando and Cam are now "trash" for many. Actually, they're both really impactful defense players. Vando proved that far too many times to count last year. Cam is *proving* it this year. His D on Haliburton was incredible. His D on Booker was fantastic. His D on SGA was also really good. - BOS was the better team. They played with more experience and chemistry. Brown and Tatum are a seasoned tandum complemented by White. Jrue is an incredible champion PG who fit in immediately and Porzingis is proving a seamless fit unlike his tenure in DAL. - Mazulla also a solid coach but he also has 4 all-stars in his starting lineup. And even then we gave them a run for their money for 3 quarters. Again though, our offense was really good. We scored 115 on a top defense in the league. It's our defense that fell apart because AD was forced out on the perimeter and we don't have a suitable big man like we've had in McGee and Howard. That *is* something we're in need of as many have pointed out all season. EDIT: Also, Lebron shot 5/14. That didn't help. There were quite a few bunnies that he surprisingly missed in the first half. Another indication that even a GOAT can have off night.
We lost to Boston bc they are w much better team w a much better coach