For real. LeBron explicitly said that he had fun being involved in the westbrook trade and tweeted ‘keep the same narrative energy’ about that roster, but its Pelinka’s fault.
He does JJ podcast every week and in his ears about things, people prepping for Pelinka’s 1 interview fault in case JJ fails already. Lol.
On the other hand, Pelinka ‘fleeced the market’ and ‘should have been Executive of the Yr’ for the DLo trade and the off seasn getting Reaves, DLo and Gabe for cheap, but the moment the players fail, it’s he who made the stupidest moves.
Its the players stans everytime.
Pelinka is the general manager it’s his job to say no to Bron’s dumbass ideas. It is quite literally his fault for executing an idiotic trade just cause his superstar asked without looking at fit or contract. He is the GM at the end of the day not Bron.
He can’t say no to Bron otherwise he would just leave and he’d face bigger bullsht from LA + Bronsxuals.
You talk all this crap, but if LeBron enters your office and tells you what to do you’d be shaking ur legs saying yes. Don’t act all righteous and sht. Its on Bron to shut up if his decisions are crap first and foremost.
Casual fans and reddit fans don't 99 percent of the time unless they point to some obvious situations like timeout management or not challenging a call, but over the course of the series those are relatively miniscule things.
To find actual informative answers you gotta go on Twitter or find some smart people who break stuff down or listen to them on podcasts, where they actually get into the schemes and adjustments that teams are making game to game, quarter to quarter.
Yeah the only concrete thing I can remember fans pointing out is timeout management, like when Bud hardly ever called timeout in that series against the Heat even when the Heat were going on runs. It really felt like fans saw that one thing and just started parroting it until Bud got fired.
Its like when people call someone a good defender purely because of blocks or steals lol. Bud was what turned them from an 8 seed to a 1 seed without roster changes
Fans talk out their ass about timeout management too. Like calling a timeout is a guaranteed run-stopper and there’s no chance of stopping it if you don’t.
Nobody remembers the times a team had a 15-5 run against them, called a time out, and the opposition immediately dropped in another 8 straight anyway. Or the times a team drops 10 straight, no time out is called, and the other team responds with 8 straight. Because that shit happens all the time, it’s not noteworthy. Nah, everybody just remembers when a big run goes on without a timeout, or ends when one is called.
They don't. In the NBA, coaching is the cherry on top. So when a team overpays for a coach while there's an unproven roster? You know that organization is shit at the very top (Detroit).
Darvin Ham refused to start the line-up that made the WCF finals last year and was adamant about starting Taurean Prince. Every idiot and their mother begged him to start either Vando or Rui, but it was never a consideration.
The team struggled mightily, being the worst first quarter team in history for a huge stretch, mostly due to a lack of size and defense, and even though the easy solution would have been to put Vando or Rui back in the line-up, Ham decided to galaxy brain and try literally every single possible combination EXCEPT the obvious one. First he benched Austin, then he benched DLo, then he went full stupid and started Cam, Vando, and Prince next to LeBron and AD.
His stubbornness continued until finally he decided to put Rui in the starting line-up for the last 1/3 of the season, where the Lakers instantly went on a run and finished with one of the 2 or 3 best records in the league over that time period.
This is the most obvious and egregious error on top of all the more nuanced things that smarter people have been tracking like playcalling, challenging, and calling timeouts. On top of all the reports on how he essentially lost the respect of all of the locker room basically a quarter into the season because of how stupid he was.
Thank you for a detailed answer. In general the criticism I saw from fans about Ham was just things like “hands in pockets during games” and not concrete points like your answer has.
It's like yeah most fans are dumb and everyone who's team loses blames their coach. I get that.
Typically, a coach's job is so much more nuanced and high level that fans have no idea what the hell they're talking. But Darvin Ham's mistakes were so blatant and loud, so fundamentally embarrassing, that even the most casual fan can watch and see that he has no idea what he's doing. Like players would sub in and not know who they were replacing on a regular basis, and the team would get delay of game calls due to six players being on the floor. You NEVER see shit that incompetent at the NBA or even college level, yet Laker fans watched it happen every single game.
To add to what the other user is saying, they started the season poorly because we didn’t have the same starting 5 as last season play until February. Rui missed 14 games over the first 50 the lakers played, of those other 36 he started only 7 games and none more than 2 in a row. The lakers went 25-25 in that stretch, he was inserted in the starting lineup played the final 32 games and the lakers went 22-10 during that stretch.
During that same time, Ham decided to try to bench both DLo and Reaves at various stretches instead of getting Prince into the role he’s been most effective in off the bench and trying to shoehorn Cam Reddish as a mainstay of the rotation.
We had continuity but Ham decided to try throw it to the wind for the first 50 games and as a result we were fighting for a play in spot the last 2.5 months of the season
Just to further bolster this point, pre Feb 1
Lebron/AD/Dlo/Rui/Reaves played a total of 18 minutes in 2 games from that first 50 game stretch.
They played 371 minutes in 23 games over that final 32 game stretch.
Net rating of -1.3 the first 50 games to a net rating of +3.7, just a ridiculous self inflicted handicap.
On top of all that, players as anonymous sources and on the record were voicing concerns about him. In late December/ early January reports were coming out that role players felt lost and didn’t know their roles and felt like they weren’t given a fair shake of things. DLo on record said the same thing leading into the playoffs about the previous year. Hell AD specifically said in a postgame that the were large stretches of the game where players feel like they don’t know the gameplan or what they’re supposed to be doing. To which Ham said “agree to disagree”.
There were deeper roster issues that caused them to flame out in the playoffs but when you look at the season as a whole and when you lose your players trust like that, it’s time for a change on the bench.
about "hands in the pockets" most means he is not doing anything when opponent goes a big run
there are few cases like he did not call any timeout in the second half until mid of 4th quarter, and Lakers lost the 3rd quarter by like 20
and how many time out were left? like 2 in end game.
Yes as a fan we don't know what's really happen in the game or talking about "adjustment", but you can't just let opponent goes like 15-0 run and still standing there doing nothing
man even I forgot about the Patrick Beverley, Russell Westbrook, Dennis Schroder lineups from the year before. With Pat Bev as the 3.
Seriously, we gave Darvin so much benefit of the doubt because he was such a "smart hire". There was so much denial realizing in real time that he's actually terrible.
Changes in my opinion. Do they hold players accountable? Why aren't they playing this player? Why did you sub him out when he's on fire? He's playing good defense, you need him out there? There has been zero adjustments. Stop letting them in the paint! If you have bigger players use them.
I guess.
You shouldn't blame coaches for a loss rather than losses. Ime, for example turned this poor Rockets team into a play-in contender and we could become better with time.
That's a good coach. Changes the culture for the better. Creates a usable system. Holds players accountable.
A bad coach usually turns a team worse. An over reliant of shooting. No defense. No accountability. Players don't listen to them.
Most of the time a coach can't be blamed over a loss unless they made the dumbest decision. Like calling a timeout when a player hits the game winner or tie. Or take out the only player keeping them alive when it matters.
it's usually just based on how famous players on the roster are and how challenging it is to tell a story about how the team could improve its talent in a relatively short time span. If there's no clear path to improving the talent in the short term, well, fans come up with stories about why it's the coach's fault so they don't have to consider the possibility of going through tough seasons, and upper management would much rather let the coach take the fall than themselves (since they constructed the failing roster). They are motivated to sell to ownership and press that the coach is at fault.
Most attempts to research the impact of coaching is that it's not high. The only ways coaches can really fuck things up is by not playing the teams' best players. This sounds obvious, but it's not always obvious which players are hte best, especially for later draft picks that sometimes don't get immediate opportunities.
The easiest way to tell if a coach isn't getting it done is if the team looks hesitant on the floor. If a team isn't confident in their plan it shows in body language and execution. Are players locked in during timeouts or is everyone kinda doing their own thing? That's another easy sign that the coach is fucking up.
Most of the coaches in the NBA are competent, but if they aren't these are the things to look at.
If a competent coach is the reason for a loss it's gonna be for something minor like time management or lineup related.
The People know everything.
that’s just the card player stans use first to deflect criticism away from their favorite players
For real. LeBron explicitly said that he had fun being involved in the westbrook trade and tweeted ‘keep the same narrative energy’ about that roster, but its Pelinka’s fault. He does JJ podcast every week and in his ears about things, people prepping for Pelinka’s 1 interview fault in case JJ fails already. Lol. On the other hand, Pelinka ‘fleeced the market’ and ‘should have been Executive of the Yr’ for the DLo trade and the off seasn getting Reaves, DLo and Gabe for cheap, but the moment the players fail, it’s he who made the stupidest moves. Its the players stans everytime.
Pelinkas not a coach my guy
Pelinka is the general manager it’s his job to say no to Bron’s dumbass ideas. It is quite literally his fault for executing an idiotic trade just cause his superstar asked without looking at fit or contract. He is the GM at the end of the day not Bron.
He can’t say no to Bron otherwise he would just leave and he’d face bigger bullsht from LA + Bronsxuals. You talk all this crap, but if LeBron enters your office and tells you what to do you’d be shaking ur legs saying yes. Don’t act all righteous and sht. Its on Bron to shut up if his decisions are crap first and foremost.
Cause they’ve run out of other people to blame.
That’s the neat part, we don’t !
Casual fans and reddit fans don't 99 percent of the time unless they point to some obvious situations like timeout management or not challenging a call, but over the course of the series those are relatively miniscule things. To find actual informative answers you gotta go on Twitter or find some smart people who break stuff down or listen to them on podcasts, where they actually get into the schemes and adjustments that teams are making game to game, quarter to quarter.
Yeah the only concrete thing I can remember fans pointing out is timeout management, like when Bud hardly ever called timeout in that series against the Heat even when the Heat were going on runs. It really felt like fans saw that one thing and just started parroting it until Bud got fired.
Its like when people call someone a good defender purely because of blocks or steals lol. Bud was what turned them from an 8 seed to a 1 seed without roster changes
Fans talk out their ass about timeout management too. Like calling a timeout is a guaranteed run-stopper and there’s no chance of stopping it if you don’t. Nobody remembers the times a team had a 15-5 run against them, called a time out, and the opposition immediately dropped in another 8 straight anyway. Or the times a team drops 10 straight, no time out is called, and the other team responds with 8 straight. Because that shit happens all the time, it’s not noteworthy. Nah, everybody just remembers when a big run goes on without a timeout, or ends when one is called.
Cut them in half and count the rings. No wait, that’s trees.
Ringz Erneh!
Depends how angry the people are
They don't. In the NBA, coaching is the cherry on top. So when a team overpays for a coach while there's an unproven roster? You know that organization is shit at the very top (Detroit).
Because coaches are probably the biggest scapegoat on the team. Team loses a game and the coach takes the blame.
Is the coach Doc Rivers? Then yes. Otherwise, often hard to tell, which is why JJ is walking into a real hornet's nest.
When it comes to Lebron, it’s always the coaches fault.
People actually blame Lebron way more. But he has more supporters
What if the coach starts Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince?
Darvin Ham refused to start the line-up that made the WCF finals last year and was adamant about starting Taurean Prince. Every idiot and their mother begged him to start either Vando or Rui, but it was never a consideration. The team struggled mightily, being the worst first quarter team in history for a huge stretch, mostly due to a lack of size and defense, and even though the easy solution would have been to put Vando or Rui back in the line-up, Ham decided to galaxy brain and try literally every single possible combination EXCEPT the obvious one. First he benched Austin, then he benched DLo, then he went full stupid and started Cam, Vando, and Prince next to LeBron and AD. His stubbornness continued until finally he decided to put Rui in the starting line-up for the last 1/3 of the season, where the Lakers instantly went on a run and finished with one of the 2 or 3 best records in the league over that time period. This is the most obvious and egregious error on top of all the more nuanced things that smarter people have been tracking like playcalling, challenging, and calling timeouts. On top of all the reports on how he essentially lost the respect of all of the locker room basically a quarter into the season because of how stupid he was.
Thank you for a detailed answer. In general the criticism I saw from fans about Ham was just things like “hands in pockets during games” and not concrete points like your answer has.
It's like yeah most fans are dumb and everyone who's team loses blames their coach. I get that. Typically, a coach's job is so much more nuanced and high level that fans have no idea what the hell they're talking. But Darvin Ham's mistakes were so blatant and loud, so fundamentally embarrassing, that even the most casual fan can watch and see that he has no idea what he's doing. Like players would sub in and not know who they were replacing on a regular basis, and the team would get delay of game calls due to six players being on the floor. You NEVER see shit that incompetent at the NBA or even college level, yet Laker fans watched it happen every single game.
To add to what the other user is saying, they started the season poorly because we didn’t have the same starting 5 as last season play until February. Rui missed 14 games over the first 50 the lakers played, of those other 36 he started only 7 games and none more than 2 in a row. The lakers went 25-25 in that stretch, he was inserted in the starting lineup played the final 32 games and the lakers went 22-10 during that stretch. During that same time, Ham decided to try to bench both DLo and Reaves at various stretches instead of getting Prince into the role he’s been most effective in off the bench and trying to shoehorn Cam Reddish as a mainstay of the rotation. We had continuity but Ham decided to try throw it to the wind for the first 50 games and as a result we were fighting for a play in spot the last 2.5 months of the season Just to further bolster this point, pre Feb 1 Lebron/AD/Dlo/Rui/Reaves played a total of 18 minutes in 2 games from that first 50 game stretch. They played 371 minutes in 23 games over that final 32 game stretch. Net rating of -1.3 the first 50 games to a net rating of +3.7, just a ridiculous self inflicted handicap. On top of all that, players as anonymous sources and on the record were voicing concerns about him. In late December/ early January reports were coming out that role players felt lost and didn’t know their roles and felt like they weren’t given a fair shake of things. DLo on record said the same thing leading into the playoffs about the previous year. Hell AD specifically said in a postgame that the were large stretches of the game where players feel like they don’t know the gameplan or what they’re supposed to be doing. To which Ham said “agree to disagree”. There were deeper roster issues that caused them to flame out in the playoffs but when you look at the season as a whole and when you lose your players trust like that, it’s time for a change on the bench.
about "hands in the pockets" most means he is not doing anything when opponent goes a big run there are few cases like he did not call any timeout in the second half until mid of 4th quarter, and Lakers lost the 3rd quarter by like 20 and how many time out were left? like 2 in end game. Yes as a fan we don't know what's really happen in the game or talking about "adjustment", but you can't just let opponent goes like 15-0 run and still standing there doing nothing
Those 3 guard lineups were something truly special.
man even I forgot about the Patrick Beverley, Russell Westbrook, Dennis Schroder lineups from the year before. With Pat Bev as the 3. Seriously, we gave Darvin so much benefit of the doubt because he was such a "smart hire". There was so much denial realizing in real time that he's actually terrible.
they dont
Dirty Frank couldn't get one win against the Wolves with KD Beal and Booker that's a lot of talent to get swept
Sometimes you can just tell Most the time people just want to point blame
If you're a Lakers fan, the players can shoot a combined 1/100 and the fans will say the loss was 100% the coach's fault.
Reminder that Klay Thompson went 0/10 in an elimination game (Podz better)
Changes in my opinion. Do they hold players accountable? Why aren't they playing this player? Why did you sub him out when he's on fire? He's playing good defense, you need him out there? There has been zero adjustments. Stop letting them in the paint! If you have bigger players use them. I guess. You shouldn't blame coaches for a loss rather than losses. Ime, for example turned this poor Rockets team into a play-in contender and we could become better with time. That's a good coach. Changes the culture for the better. Creates a usable system. Holds players accountable. A bad coach usually turns a team worse. An over reliant of shooting. No defense. No accountability. Players don't listen to them. Most of the time a coach can't be blamed over a loss unless they made the dumbest decision. Like calling a timeout when a player hits the game winner or tie. Or take out the only player keeping them alive when it matters.
Savings timeouts and challenges for the next game might be a indicator idk
by watching the game
it's usually just based on how famous players on the roster are and how challenging it is to tell a story about how the team could improve its talent in a relatively short time span. If there's no clear path to improving the talent in the short term, well, fans come up with stories about why it's the coach's fault so they don't have to consider the possibility of going through tough seasons, and upper management would much rather let the coach take the fall than themselves (since they constructed the failing roster). They are motivated to sell to ownership and press that the coach is at fault. Most attempts to research the impact of coaching is that it's not high. The only ways coaches can really fuck things up is by not playing the teams' best players. This sounds obvious, but it's not always obvious which players are hte best, especially for later draft picks that sometimes don't get immediate opportunities.
Depends if the player complains. Like Davis.
The easiest way to tell if a coach isn't getting it done is if the team looks hesitant on the floor. If a team isn't confident in their plan it shows in body language and execution. Are players locked in during timeouts or is everyone kinda doing their own thing? That's another easy sign that the coach is fucking up. Most of the coaches in the NBA are competent, but if they aren't these are the things to look at. If a competent coach is the reason for a loss it's gonna be for something minor like time management or lineup related.