JAMIE SWEET’S ‘5 THINGS
Lakers’ Post Game Reports & Analysis
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Jamie Sweet wrote a new post
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Lakers 75th season begins on today, 10/22/2024. It’s Bronny James’ first season and Papa James’ 22nd. It’s Coach Reddick’s first year steering the team and he is the Lakers 29th head coach. I pick the Lakers to finish 7th in the Western Conference and 4th in the Pacific Division. I expect AD to win zero major awards despite his unique talents and skills. So it begins anew. A fresh, clean season!
- Every new season in every sport is defined as much by optimism and hope as it is reality. For the Lakers hope comes in two forms: the health of their 2 superstars and the quick growth of Coach Reddick. Getting AD and LBJ through preseason healthy was, for me, a huge priority. Even with them playing in the vast majority of games last season we were only good for the Playin spots. So it stands to reason that, if they’re not available, we’re looking at a lottery placement. The integration and ascension of J.J. Redick as coach I expect to take more than just preseason. I’ve hard a lot of wonderful thoughts and ideas, read a lot of super interesting articles regarding those thoughts and ideas and it still leads me to a “now we’ll see” place. With a healthy AD and LeBron and some questionable health on down the line after them we were good enough to get to the 1st round of the playoffs under Darvin Ham who made a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals in his first season, a success that likely created an over-inflated opinion of what this roster is really capable of. After he was fired the Lakers went in a not-all-that unexpected direction by picking someone close to LeBron James…who had never coached anyone in his life other than 4th graders. Much has been made of his acumen as a player and a podcaster but, for my part, those are traits best suited for lead videographer on a staff, not the head coach. What I’ve seen on the floor has left a lot to be desired, so far. None of what’s happened really matters since A) He is the current coach, B) Our first option turned us down, C) The candidates after that were not guaranteed success stories in the making. Things working against JJ are the shorter preseason, the fact we had to travel to Milwaukee for one whole game, and that LeBron and AD both played significant roles in the Olympics. So I’m giving him the year to work this out better than I thought Coach Ham did. Here’s hoping.
- Things I’m worried about. The defense and our rebounding. None of those have looked much better in preseason…but then again it’s preseason. Part of the problem is neither Reaves or DLo are organic glass crashers, they just don’t ball hunt off the shot very well. LeBron is old, doesn’t want to jump for a rebound and land on someone’s foot or worse. I get that. That basically leaves AD and Rui until Vando gets back or someone else off the bench distinguishes themselves as an active rebounder. On defense we have a similar issue in that Rui and DLo tend to lose focus on defense. Reaves competes but can be backed down with ease. LeBron is old and will put forth effort…when the moment demands it of him. That leaves AD until Vando gets back. Gabe has been OK, but I think he’s still under-sized and lacks the quickness he had as recently as his time in Miami. Not sure if it’s something he can get back with reps and playing more or if he’s aging out of the ball hawk role. Regardless, I haven’t loved our schemes, either. We’re awful in transition, we switch on screens too quickly rather than fighting which has a dual effect: we’re getting fewer fouls called on offensive players (which at a minimum helps et a tone and can help get key guys in foul trouble).
- Things I’m not worried about. Scoring, in general. The shot profile in preseason can get tossed out the window because LeBron played zero 4th quarter minutes in preseason and AD played like 5 or so. LeBron also passed up a lot of shots he should take, which I expect he will once the games matter. Other than that everyone looked about the way they have for the last year and change. On the topic of three pointers DLo, Rui and Reaves are streaky, AD can take and make threes but we’re so much better off when he operates in and around the paint there’s no real need to stash him out there, and the guys off the bench are just plain inconsistent. There isn’t an number of threes I want to see us taking/game. They can be literally any number…as long as they are quality shot attempts. This is where the myth of the “green light” is easily exposed. I want all of our players to feel comfortable taking open (defender is more than 5 feet away from you) shots from everywhere. That is going to be a quality shot. Time winding down, 3 seconds or less on the clock, let it fly and so with confidence, there isn’t time for the play to evolve further. But if we just got the ball across the line and you call for a screen and jack it up because you’re feeling it or whatever, that my friends is a bad shot attempt. Even if it goes in, not what you want to see from pros. Work the ball into AD, let the defense collapse around him, move to your sweet zone and set you feet with hands in the ready position. You are now prepared to take a good shot. That’s what we need a lot more of. I still expect to see us dominate the paint, I’d like to see our shooters shoot smart threes, as many as can be generated, and if we accomplish that I don’t think we need to worry all that much about putting points on the board.
- The rookies. Bronny and Dalton are the only two drafted but Quincy Olivari will find himself in the mix as quick as either of those two if he keeps bringing the hustle. All three have issues: Bronny can’t shoot, yet. Dalton has no lateral foot speed and gets blown by with ease. Quincy is raw but seems to be a blend of both Dalton and Bronny. I think Dalton can carve out a solid role for himself on this team, maybe even have some crunch time opportunities in actual games. But I’m not investing all that much in summer or preseason games. Some guys shine as brightly as the lights do, some guys wilt under that heat. All three will get tested this season and my hope is they can show the best versions of themselves when the moment comes. I am not expecting or hoping for much impact from any of them beyond that. Of the 3 Knecht likely has the most assured role off the bench, at this time.
- Two Way Contracts 101. I keep seeing posts and articles that seem to insinuate that Koloko or Olivari can have a huge impact on the season. If they do, they’ll only have 50 games in the regular season to do so. Two Way players CANNOT play in the playoffs. In order for Koloko or Olivari to be playoff-eligible we’d have remove one of our standard contracts and not take a player back. For that reason along with the fact that we don’t have any non or partially guaranteed deals on the roster, I expect them to stay two-ways. Could something shake loose in a trade? I guess so but that would mean trading out more players than we bring back and even then we would also need to bring in a lot less money than we sent out in order to get them under the 2nd apron. All second apron penalties apply once you cross over, there is no grace period. Can they be feel good development stories? Absolutely. Will they transform our season and alter the trajectory of the franchise? In short, no.
Go Lakers.
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I am not totally optimistic, cause I am not sure who will step up bigtime? AD will be AD and LBJ may slip a bit. Reaves and Dlo have been doing well for a few years, but how higher can they go? Perhaps Knect (SP) may arrive early?
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Jamie Sweet wrote a new post
Read MoreHonestly, that might be unfair to glaciers. I think they move faster than Rob does. If you’re like me and thought we’d basically run it back this summer has come as no surprise. If you were hoping for some whiz-bang trade action I think we color you disappointed right now…but maybe not in a few months. In the end, there are some clear methods to Rob’s madness and that’s what I want to get into today.
- My personal take on the methodology of Rob Pelinka specifically in-season trades. Rob’s been the GM since February 2017 and the President/GM since January 2020. So we have some empirical evidence to go on. In that time Rob has made exactly 3 in-season trades when Magic was his boss and 2 when he was his own boss. In February 2018 (when Magic was still the President and possibly pushed for this because it’s so obviously a very bad trade) for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr to the Cavaliers for Isaiah Thomas, Channing Fry, and a 2018 first-round pick (Moritz Wagner). The following season he traded Svi Mykhailiuk and a 2021 2nd rounder for Reggie Bullock, who signed elsewhere after the season when he was awful for us. He followed that one up by trading Zubac and the walking corpse of Michael Beasley to the Clippers for Mike Muscala who, like Bullock, simply walked. basically Russ for a good chunk of the current team. Those were all when Magic was his boss and so could, in theory, have been driven by Earvin and his desire to surround LeBron with better shooting and less young guys, we just always picked the wrong guys and/or under-valued superior talent in Zubac. As his own boss Rob waited until 2022 to make an in-season trade the first one being Kendrick Nunn and 3 second rounders (2023, 2028, & 2029) for Rui Hachimura. In hindsight, when placed against the backdrop of the new CBA, that’s a fair deal. Those 2nd rounders are more valuable in the modern era. He followed that up by erasing his summer trade 2 season prior for Westbrook in a 3 team deal that ultimately netted us 2 rotation players in Dlo and Vando, along with Malik Beasley who suffered the same fate as all shooting role-players and signed elsewhere the following summer.
- Rob and his off-season trades. There are quite a few more of these to analyze, but not as many as some probably hope. The first one of those was a fairly unremarkable deal, swapping the 2019 2nd rounder for the 2018+cash from us which turned out to be Bonga who is out of the league. The 2019 second rounder that was picked by Washington was the similarly unremarkable Bruno Fernando (also out of the league, I believe). What was interesting about that deal was that we also sent out money. This in and of itself isn’t awful; however, it does set the stage for the reality that nobody deals with Rob on the up and up, an issue that plagues us still to this day. The following summer he basically repeated that deal trading a 2020 second rounder (ended up being Paul Reed) plus cash for a 2019 second rounder which turned out to be THT. This trade viewed specifically at this moment isn’t a bad one. This trade when viewed through the lens of THT is now all but out of the league and we chose him over Caruso is one of the worst in Lakers history. That same summer we traded everyone for AD, a solid (if not surprising at all) move. You can nitpick about the inclusion of so many draft picks but this was one of those deals Rob saw the guy he wanted and het the ask to get it done. After we won it all with AD in The Bubble Rob started on his curious quest of Dismantling A Title Winning Team for Inferior Players Because…Well…Just Because. It’s a quest that continues to this day with trades for Danny Green AND the 2020 1st round pick that ended being Jaden McDaniels for Dennis Schroeder who twice was a Laker for a single season and never retained. That was followed by trading JaVale McGee for Alfonso McKinnie and Jordan Bell…and our 2026 second rounder. Bell was waived, McKinnie never played and so, yeah, awesome. The following summer was when traded everyone for Russ and we’re still digging ourselves out from that one, too. There was also the Gasol for Wang Zhelin trade which basically gave Marc his salary but put him back in Memphis where he belonged to end his career, the Rondo to the Cavs for a bunch of guys who never played in 2022 followed by trading THT scant months after choosing him over Caruso for Pat Bev…who is now out of the league…and we’re where we are now.
- Learning the hard lesson of what a pick’s true value is. Go back through those trades and we send out a lot of picks while only getting players back and the talent difference is generally minimal. The cost to pay to play for Rob as a GM/Pres seems like he starts at an overpay and then has to go even higher. So with this in mind, and seeing how many of the draft picks we sent out ended up being quality players we’d like to have now, it makes more sense to see Rob a little more hesitant to pull the trigger this summer. For all we know he may or may not have the greenlight to make a deal on his own. he himself has spoken on his preference to run the team in a parliamentary style that includes Jeannie, the Rambii, and some of the Buss kids. That’s a difficult environment to get anything done in, especially when free agency now moves so quickly. If anything were to change that doesn’t include Rob being fired it’s that I would like to see that process streamlined.
- Rob’s grades in trades past. Honestly, if it weren’t for the AD trade, I’d give Rob a D minus as a GM when it comes to making trades. Some will point to how we got out of the Russell Westbrook situation but that was of his own creation. A strong GM doesn’t cow to his players because they want something, they analyze the cost, look at how it could (or in this case couldn’t) work and move forward. The AD trade and the roster that he and Magic built leading up to that season won a title. Since then, on his own, Rob has done nothing but mostly choose the wrong players to retain or trade for. Keeping Dlo, Vando, Rui and Austin on decent, fairly tradeable deals might push it to a D+. It’s just that Rob seems overly concerned with keeping players paid and happy and less so in building an effective team.
- All quiet on the western front. I personally give Rob a C+ for dealing with this summer the way he did. Once Reddish, Hayes and Wood all opted in it meant we had to pay the cost of moving a player to add a player. That doesn’t make a ton of sense given how many picks of ours are still pending, especially second rounders over the next 5 years. I wish he had been able to somehow convince James to take a $10 million pay cut and open up the taxpayer MLE. That would have been available if any two of the player option dudes had opted out, as well, but that’s not something Rob has control over and we’re seeing better players than those guys taking a lot less on the open market so their agents did solid by them and gave them good advice. Nothing to be done there and LeBron sacrificing $10 million for Tyus Jones or Gary Trent Jr. always sounded like a long shot to me. There might be more action once the Jazz extend Markkanen in a week or so but I don’t think we’ll see much else going down. Guys like Jones, THT and other specialist or low-grade talent will likely have to play overseas if they don’t want to play for the vet minimum on a non-contender. Pat Bev already chose that route.
All in all, I have long considered Rob the weakest link. he gives bad rosters too long, good coaches too little and generally never accepts blame for the errors in judgement he’s made.
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Jamie Sweet wrote a new post
Read MoreMaybe not so much. Everyone just chill out for a sec. I did a couple podcasts and watched angry comment after angry comment along the lines of “Rob can’t close” and “Jeannie sucks” or “LeBron has ruined the Lakers…waaaaaah” and found it all, well, hilarious. They couldn’t play Salary Cap-A-G-Go because they had no-go. Here are some facts: the Lakers started free agency capped out if all of their player option players opted in. They all opted in, leaving LeBron James as the sole player with an option left to pick up or a deal to renegotiate. There was a rumor, not one started by LeBron I imagine, that he would take a pay cut in order to facilitate a small list of preferred players onto the Lakers. If true, that would have been interesting to see just how magnanimous the King was willing to be. Since most of the players on this infamous mystery list have signed onto other teams let’s take a moment to breathe and let reality work it’s magic.
- LeBron isn’t ruining jack. Honestly…just…just stop with this BS. The man plays harder at 39 than half the league that’s almost half his age. He was never going to leave. I doubt he was ever actually considering a pay cut given the cap gymnastics it would require of Rob who, frankly, simply isn’t up to the task or the job. Had such a thing happened it would have surprised me. I’m not too full of myself to admit that now, even if it does end up happening, in order to free up the full MLE LeBron would have to take something like a $20 million dollar pay cut (my apologies for being bad at math and not having a ton of time to work this out. As I understand it-and I could be wrong and welcome factual corrections-in order to use the NTPMLE we’d need to get below the 2nd apron line by the amount that we use, with LeBron’s $50 million cap hold we’re at $178 mil, the 1st apron stops at $170 mil which means we need to get down to $158 mil…I think???). You don’t like him hoping to play with his kid? Seems kinda heartless given how much of his time he’s given basketball and now he dares, DARES, to want to share that time with his eldest son?!?!?! The nerve of the man… Don’t like how the coaches he doesn’t respect get fired? Tell that to Magic fucking Johnson who got a head coach fired before it was en vogue, he’s the OG coach firing guy folks. Don’t like how it feels like we’ve handed the keys of the entire franchise over to one player? Tell that to Kobe Bryant (R.I.P) who basically got Shaq traded after a season he spent the majority of in a Colorado courthouse so he could settle out of court. If you don’t get that this is the Laker Way I honestly don’t know what team you have been watching.
- Rob Pelinka sucks at his job. Don’t believe me? Let’s count how many $8 million contracts are being lined up for THT who, if he’s lucky, will sign for a vet minimum but more likely end up playing for more money overseas with Dwight Howard or something. Stop blaming LeBron for a weak-kneed, jelly-brained GM. LeBron is doing what he can, he’s even working the phones trying to get a buddy to come play for cheap. No, no this entire team has the stain of ineptitude left by Rob all over it. From another rookie head coach (back-to-back baby!) to another strained salary cap situation and no discernable plan in sight these are the hallmarks of a Rob Pelinka team my friends. Now, in Rob’s defense, he didn’t have a lot to work with coming into the season. So if the plan was to hope that every single player option didn’t get picked up thus reducing the amount LeBron would need to donate back to the Lakers to zero if that list included Russell…well…that’s an incredibly shitty plan. If the plan, and I really have to assume there was one of some kind, was to hope that DLo, Cam, Wood and Jax all opted out and sought greener pastures so that we could open up the Non Tax Payer MLE (thus losing 4 players for one much cheaper player) the man should be fired. If the plan was to convince Chris Paul, Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan to take the vet minimum like he did Trevor Ariza (no other team wanted him) and Carmelo Anthony (no other team wanted him) and I forget what other NBA AARP member was on that ill-fated squad, he’s just not paying attention.
- Where’s AD? Just like the 4th quarter of a big game…AD is nowhere to be seen. I’m sure he’ll bounce back tomorrow. Argentina? Cape Town? Who knows. He’s locked in anyhow, he can’t renegotiate his deal, so not too sure what he’d do to help other than remind LeBron to eat his power shake made from the souls of NBA legends long since passed. “AD, the Jerry West shake is DELICIOUS!” (too soon?). I kid though, AD is the cornerstone and is doing his job as quietly as this modern world allows. I hope.
- It’s not that bad y’all. Seriously, it isn’t. At this point let’s assume that LeBron is going to end up taking the max for 1,2 or 3 years, hopefully with team and/or player options of some kind that make it so we’re not screwed if he gets seriously hurt. We have AD, for all his strengths and flaws, DLo who can be a difference-maker in the regular season and a couple good games in the playoffs (maybe), solid players on cheapish contracts and we’re getting younger. That’s the main thing I think is being influenced by Reddick in all honesty. There may be a conflict of interests in that I can’t imagine J.J. Reddick wants to spend his first few season butting heads with vets who are about his age and have done more in the league than he ever did. I think he would much rather coach a team with a vet he knows well (LeBron) a vet he’s hopefully apologized to for ranking him so poorly defensively (AD) some solid role-players still looking to make a serious mark (the rest of the starters and most of the bench) and young guys (Knecht and I dunno…JHS I guess, maybe Lewis and Castleton). Remember, we ended last season just 5 games out from being the 4th seed. That was with injuries to Vando and Vincent that sidelined them most of the regular season. If AD and LBJ can largely replicate their health from last season and some of the role guys improve or just play, that could be a big enough swing to take us out of the playin and into the playoff realm. One could also argue the west got a little weaker this summer with talent dispersing itself more equitably (by design and courtesy of the new CBA).
- So, in your opinion Jamie just why has this been such a quiet free agency for the Lakers? Glad you asked, here’s what I think: we had no cap space, not even the TPMLE to start free agency because we had to wait on players to opt in, not surprisingly they waited until basically the last second because they hoped something better would open up, when their agents told them that wasn’t likely they opted in thus removing all potential cap space from the equation. Simple logic. Concerning our draft picks 5 years out and the pick swaps and all that…they’re not as valuable as they used to be (or some people think they are) because nobody knows how bad the Lakers will be. If the Lakers are good, the picks will probably be mediocre, at best. The lottery system also dissuades teams from giving up the ghost for a potential rookie 5 years from now when GM X may or may not even have a job. The new CBA penalties are draconic and we’re seeing that play out in free agency. Max contracts for under-performing players are toxic. Injured players with gas left in the tank (their opinion, of course) are signing for pennies. My takeaway is that having 10-15 million in actual cap space every summer is going to be the new modus operandi for a lot of teams now. We’ll see more teams taking a hit by letting a guy walk to free up space so they can use all the spending tools a lot of teams absolutely rely on to fill out the margins. Otherwise you’ll be like the Knicks: watching a quality player walk for nothing to another team with money to pay him. Bird Rights in trades will be ESSENTIAL going forward because we saw Hartenstein walk and the Knicks had his Early Bird Rights…wasn’t enough. That second apron will be the death of super teams and the three super star model, by design, but it may also herald the end of the two superstar teams depending on which superstars are available at any given moment. We got 2 guys taking up over 50% (approaching 60%) of our 1st apron tax space.
One last point, on the pride of an elite athlete. It has been tossed about that a player of Chris Paul’s caliber and possibly even Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan could be had for the vet minimum. I’m not talking specifically here, just in general I see a lot of that stuff. I don’t think we factor in things like “personal pride” or “hard work” enough. Ask yourself a simple question: if someone who had never done your job before, who was also the owner manager of your work place, came up to you and said something along the lines of “I know you make $25/hour now…but about taking $15/hour so we can hire someone else? Oh, also and by the way, I’M not taking any kind of pay cut at all. So…whaddaya think!?” you would be pissed. You would be angry. You would do what Klay Thompson just did and find another job, maybe even for the amount the other guy asked you for because eff you pal. These are people who are elite, all of them, even JHS. They are the top 1% of the basketball world and it’s by a really large margin. It’s everyone’s choice how to view that and factor it into trades or contract offers but in this one area I actually think the Lakers lead the league and that is respecting the work. Getting off the soap box now, next man up.
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Also, think about this: next summer we’ll see AD’s extension kick in and if LBJ takes the max those 2 will cost $113 million in cap space, alone. Now toss in Reaves, Vincent, Vando and Hachimura (or at least the salaries they represent as they could be traded for someone(s) else making about the same and you’re already at roughly $164-165 mil in cap space. That would mean just letting JHS and Lewis walk and we haven’t factored in Knecht or Bronny so that figure is higher (we won’t have to worry about a FRP next summer, we don’t have one yet). We’ll basically be capped out next summer, too.
So get used to this. Or don’t. it’s entirely up to you lol.
CAP SPACE-A-GO-GO the new game sweeping the nation and leaving hoops fans disappointed and disillusioned with their team’s inability to print money and sign everyone! New from Parker Bros.
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Wow, Jamie! Your analysis is what I will call the brutal truth. Truth hurts a lot, and that’s why I am hurting right now. But it has to be said. What we Lakers fans are facing now is real, and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. The Lakers’ financial situation is like a triple-double gone wrong.
Through a combination of inept management and incompetence, the Lakers found themselves juggling a hefty payroll with LeBron James and Anthony Davis alone gobbling up more than half of the team’s salary cap.
Yes, LeBron’s willing to sacrifice to increase the team’s chances to bring in a quality player, and LeBron’s willing to take a pay cut. But that’s like asking a superstar to play with a blindfold – noble, but not enough. His $51 million cap hit still looms large, but the man had worked hard throughout his career, and deserves every penny that comes his way. Even if the Lakers have a mid-level exception (say around $12 million), it’s like finding pocket change in a couch – not enough for a star player.
One can only hope players like Gary Trent Jr. or Derozan might join, but it’s like hoping for rain during a drought. The Lakers need more firepower, and that’s why being financially handicapped makes me feel sad as a fan.
I am sure many of us agree the 2023/24 season has been a rollercoaster – injuries, disgruntled players (though not overt), and missed trade opportunities. Most of these problems point to gross mismanagement, if not lack of vision. It is like watching your favorite player airball a clutch shot.
In short, the Lakers have been playing chess with checkers money. The question that keeps burning inside of me is: How can the Lakers improve their situation? Well it seems there will be no answer to this question anytime soon.
Let’s hope they make a big splash soon!
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Jamie Sweet wrote a new post
Read MoreWell that’s over. Perhaps the worst kept secret in the NBA is now pretty much official news, save for an official Lakers press release. J.J. Reddick will be the next scapegoat, er head coach…heh, of the Los Angeles Lakers. Coach JJ will have a steep learning curve, a dysfunctional (and often cheap) front office, and the eldest statesman in the game to navigate so here’s hoping he’s up for the challenge. Let’s look at some of the challenges and what Reddick brings to the table.
- What does Reddick bring? Frankly…not much. We know he coached some 9 year old’s at one point, that he turned down other head coaching jobs in years prior, that he has a podcast with LeBron and was a role player in the NBA. That’s about it. Anything else you hear is projected supposition, at best. One positive that could be gleaned is that he also shows up without much baggage. There are no game 7 collapses to atone for, no time outs left in the pocket to explain, not really much at all. Good or bad. So if you’re of the opinion that a clean slate and an empty bucket are what the Lakers need from a head coach you got your man. There are zero interviews that I can find where he explicitly endorses any style of basketball, he seems to advocate a strong point of attack defense but that really doesn’t bring much to the table.
- Why am I not over the moon about this? I think that, because of the Lakers having a ton of expectations because of being both the Lakers and the team, on which LeBron will end his career, JJ has too steep of a mountain to climb. With the thinnest of resumes, a solid career as a role-player with some decent playoff experience and that’s it, there’s a lot of on-the-job learning coming his way. I don’t care that he and LeBron have a podcast because when there’s a 4-5 game losing streak you’re mired in none of that will matter. Hearing other unproven people, like Rajon Rondo, being considered for his staff doesn’t really fill me with confidence, either. You need someone who has done this before on that bench or I guarantee coaching will be the #1 issue we lose games next season.
- Don’t you think the Lakers did their due diligence? In short, no. I think that they had a #1, 2, & 3 options and they got rebuffed, again. Rob can’t close deals, this is fact now. So they took the sure “yes”. That is what I think. I think they, once again, imposed an artificial timeline of having a coach by the draft (like JJ will say “No! I’ve scouted and canvassed the ENTIRE field of draftees, take this guy!” lol). I think they, once again, couldn’t close the deal with their candidate of choice and had to look to a field of uninspiring…but knowledgeable…ex-coaches or highly regarded assistants. The Lakers had a list at the beginning of the offseason, two of the coaches (Ty Lue and Jason Kidd) on the list were/are still coaching their teams. Dan Hurley was #3. If you think due diligence and intense scrutiny led to this match I don’t know what to tell you.
- Are the Lakers set up in such a way for JJ to succeed right away? Now THAT my friends is the only question worth asking right now. Whether or not you agree with the hire it is now a moot point. What does JJ have to work with? A team that had a healthy LeBron and AD for the majority of the season, Reaves played in all 82 games and contributions from unexpected sources throughout the season and managed to get to the 8th seed and then lose in the 1st round. Not having Wood, Cam, Gabe and especially Vando definitely affected the defensive side of the equation. Wood was in and out and when he was in he was up and down. Cam was the same. Gabe looked OK at times in the playoffs when he finally got healthy but it came at the expense of a role Max Christie did well enough with and Max is a better scorer. DLo is a huge question mark, will he or won’t het stay and at what cost? The roster under=performed last season and Rob didn’t address any of it in-season. We’ll see how this one shakes out over the summer.
- So what do you think will happen, Mr. Smart Guy? Me, I dunno. I think Reddick is good for prep. Everything I’ve heard and read and based on his observations on Mind the Game lead me to believe he is thorough when it comes to studying the game. Observing X’s and O’s and creating them are two different things. Talking about what a guy should do and getting a locker room full of alpha personalities to actually do that are two very different things. Observing and coaching are two totally different realities. If JJ had been more of a locker room leader during his playing career I’d maybe have a little more optimism but everything I’ve seen or read on that indicates he was not. Which is fine when you’re a journeyman three point specialist. Will anything he’s learned on his professional and personal journey translate to success in coaching an NBA team? I truly have no clue.
I’m reminded of Jim Buss and his now infamously legendary quote: “Evaluating basketball talent is not too difficult. If you grabbed 10 fans out of a bar and asked them to rate prospects, their opinions would be pretty much identical to those of the pro scouts.” Sure, he kind of tried to walk it back years later but that quote revealed a truth about both his work ethic and his respect for the work that goes into the game of basketball. Work we do not watch on TV. Work we don’t put ourselves through. Scrutiny we don’t understand. Everything that goes into making 10 or so athletes look good, play well and accomplish the goal of winning it all. JJ is a gamble, a high risk one at that, not sure what the high reward people talk about seeing because the reward is the same for anyone who takes the job. He can’t succeed any better than Frank Vogel did, who won us a title in his first season under unprecedented and never toi be replicated conditions and was fired 183 days later. He can only hope to reach that something akin to that height or be considered a failure to some degree. The only silver lining there is that this has got to be Rob Pelinka’s last coach he hires.
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Jamie Sweet wrote a new post
Read MoreThis feels familiar. Oh yeah, because this happened oh so very recently. Like deja vu of the worst kind, if you’re a Lakers fan. With the news that UCONN head coach Dan Hurley has spurned the Lakers 6 year, $80 mil offer to stay in the NCAA the Lakers are, once again, forced to pivot from their very public first choice. Coach Hurley now joins the illustrious (and infamous) list of Tyronn Lue, Monty Williams, I honestly don’t recall the other 2 candidates in front of Vogel before we settled on Frank, and Juwan Howard as using the Lakers for leverage or looking at the behind the scenes chaos and feeblemindedness and thinking the job was better off in somebody else’s hands. There is no way to spin this well, this is a bad look for LA.
- Rob Can’t Close. This is the 3rd coaching search in a row where the #1 candidate has said no and the second when the coach chose to stay at the NCAA level. Numerous reports prior to the Ham announcement reveal that Darvin Ham was not the actual first choice but rather Juwan Howard. Rob seems to have a problem closing the deal and this magnified for no reason whatsoever by the leaks of information coming from within the Lakers organization when they decide on a choice before getting them to sign on the dotted line. This, above all behaviors, serves absolutely no purpose. It just makes everyone in the front office and ownership look like foolish, amateur morons.
- There is no plan, just constant, childish reactions followed by the carbon copy press conference for the poor sap who ends up with the job. Just for funsies I went back and watched some highlights from the Vogel and Ham introductory news conferences. Incredibly there is only a small amount of variance. Words like “first choice” and “we believe strongly” are used in a manner akin to a 12 year old writing a book report from passages in the encyclopedia without really being able to understand the task at hand. This is getting ridiculous now. If Jeannie could step away and see this from afar she would see that firing Rob is the only smart move at this juncture, the man is highly incompetent.
- What does this mean for LeBron? Honestly, who cares. At this point he’s staying or retiring and that’s not for any reason other than we need him as much as he needs us. No other contender has the $$$ to pay him what he feels is deserved (which, in my opinion, is valid) and the Lakers need him to stay relevant. No offense to AD but he’s just not “that guy” the fans want to love, the media wants to talk to and he’s not breaking/setting long-held records every other game.
- What does this mean for AD? To me this is the most pertinent question of all. Feels like we just lost the guy who understood development and spacing at an instinctual level. With LeBron trending out of his career at some point the onus of leading the Lakers will fall onto AD’s shoulders, if for no other reason that he’d be the highest paid player at that point. He certainly has never felt qualified to be “the man” on any NBA team. AD is a rock solid post player who can get hot from the outside but is best utilized in the paint. He’s at his best when he’s rebounding on the offensive end or finishing plays after the defense has been collapsed. While we’re likely to never know how Coach Hurley envisioned using him it stands to reason that the next man up in our coaching search will hopefully make that question their priority.
- Who’s the next best candidate? For my money I am now hoping we choose Borrego who has interviewed twice and, I believe, was the front runner despite all the J.J. Reddick smoke. We’ll see, he’s also rumored to be in the running for the Cavs job and they’re just as ready to compete for a title as we are, maybe more so if they can lock in Spyda for 3-4 seasons. If/when that falls through either due to the Lakers incompetence or…well, there really isn’t another reason at this point. The Lakers just don’t seem to get it. They function as if it’s 1989 and Kurt’s playing beach volleyball with Linda and Jeannie like a Tab advert. Wake. Up.
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Some of my favorite Rob quotes on his recent and multiple coaching hires, let’s see how many he regurgitates at his next presser when we announce Coach X!!!
General Manager Rob Pelinka on Darvin Ham:“When someone begins his NBA coaching career at the G League level and goes all the way through playing an integral role on the front bench of an NBA Championship team, it really speaks to a certain strength of character. Our players and fans will immediately identify with Darvin’s no-nonsense and hard-working approach, which we feel will bring toughness and a competitive edge to all we do,” said Pelinka. “When you add that to Darvin’s sophisticated grasp of in-game strategy and deep knowledge of the game of basketball, we have the ideal coach for this next chapter in Lakers history. We could not be more honored and proud to name Darvin Ham as our new head coach.”
Also: “This is an incredibly bright and promising day in Lakers history,”
Lastly: Rob Pelinka described Darvin Ham as “the ideal fit” for what the Lakers are looking for in a coach. Noted how Ham “earned his stripes” by starting out as a coach and GM at the G League level.
On Frank Vogel and all the “negative perceptions” out there: “I think that all we can do is do the work. And that’s what we’re going to stay committed to, is just doing excellent work. And I think if people take a look at where this franchise is, right now, we have a great coach. Again, we have a high draft pick, we have a great young core, maybe one of the best in the league. We have a superstar on our team and an open slot. So I think that people can look at this as an opportunity to come and win a championship possibly next year. And we’ve got to do the work.”
Also: “We all know in sports when you’re winning, great things are said. When a team loses, the naysayers and negativity comes out,” Pelinka said. “That’s just the nature of the business. Right now we’re coming off a season where we lost. Again, we’re not going to be caught up in the polls of public opinion or media polls. We’re going to keep our focus on doing good work and getting to a place where we win.”
Lastly: “I think the most important thing is that players look to who we really are and not what the impression is of what others are trying to create us to be. I think all of us know when we come to work every day that there is stability and strength and togetherness here.
“I think for any of us, we know who we are and ourselves, we know the characteristics and qualities we stand for. And we know as a staff and feel very strongly that if people judge and evaluate us for who we are as an organization and the vision and path we have going forward, we feel there’ll be a very, very strong appeal for the great players to come here.”
What a mind people, what a mind. Captain Teflon I sincerely and ardently hope this is the last coach you ever hire. Love, Jamie.
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All the focus on the size of the contract maybe miss guided. The Lakers as you pointed out have been a mess. They just aren’t a well run organization. I’m sure Hurley understands that.
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JAMIE SWEET
Associate Publisher
Jamie Sweet and his eagerly awaited ‘5 Things’ post after every Lakers game have become a staple feature of Lakerholics. Jamie’s the Laker fan who jumpstarts and drives conversations with his informed comments and insightful observations.
Another refugee from the LA Times Lakers Blog, Jamie’s a must read Lakerholics poster and commenter whose reputation as a savvy but objective fan is well deserved
You can always get in touch with Jamie on the Lakerholics blog. You can also check out his work with the Garage Theatre in Long Beach or with his band Gnarwhal.
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Great post, Jamie. Thanks for your honest take.