Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers Locked On Podcast Network

How unpopular is Darvin Ham among Lakers fans?

Well, for starters, at least according to a poll on the show's YouTube page, fans would rather see Phil Jackson return—nearly 79 year old projector of intense "these teenagers need to get off my lawn" energy and once insulter of LeBron James Phil Jackson—than give the keys to Mike Budenholzer, who isn't any of those things and has won an NBA title and 50 games in a season multiple times.

Why?

Ham comes from the Budenholzer tree. It would mean firing the student to hire the teacher. And by about 2-1, Lakers fans favor Jackson in this scenario.

Of course, in theory none of this matters. Who cares what fans think, right? Well, the Lakers for starters. And not without cause. After this much churn on the bench, perception is important. Honeymoon periods are going to be very short, and the energy fans project around the new coach will shape coverage and narratives. It's obviously not the only thing, or even the most important thing, for the Lakers to consider, but optics are surely some kind of a factor in their minds.

So if Bud is out, what about Mark Jackson, a still-popular option among many Lakers fans? Not a great idea. We explain why.



HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Phil beats Bud!

SEGMENT 2: Why fan sentiment around the new coach is at least a consideration in El Segundo.

SEGMENT 3: Why Mark Jackson is a bad idea.



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As the Lakers were losing (again) to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, it felt like they were far enough away from the defending champs that the deficit couldn't be placed entirely at the feet of Darvin Ham. Somewhere near his feet? Sure. A good chunk of that blame? Ok. But to the point where you'd say the Lakers would win if not for coaching?

It was tough sell.

That sales job, however, is looking a little easier now that Denver is down two games to none against Minnesota, including a 26-point pasting on Monday night. Even factoring in an injury to Jamal Murray (playing through a calf problem), the Nuggets are certainly looking a lot more vulnerable, and given that the series was tight (Denver won by a total of 22 points over four victories, and two games came down to the buzzer) maybe the question isn't so crazy.

So would the Lakers have pushed the series to six games? Seven? Would they have won? The question encompasses not only the work Ham did in the postseason and individual moves within the games, but also how good his team was relative to its ceiling.

And the answer matters. The Lakers need to have a good understanding of how far away they are, and in what areas, from the top teams in the conference. The more an upgrade at can address those shortcomings, the less they have to rely on potentially risky roster moves, or leaning harder into stars that are older and more pose a higher injury risk than those on the competition. So it's not just about piling on to Darvin Ham.

Meanwhile, Anthony Davis finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, in a near-tie for third (Bam Adebayo) and with a huge advantage over fifth place Herb Jones. Does that soften the blow a little, in terms of charges that Davis doesn't get nearly enough respect on that end of the floor? And finally, Christian Wood is reportedly picking up his $3 million option for next season. It's fair to say this season didn't quite work out as hoped, but is it a good thing he'll be back next year?



HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Would the Lakers still be playing if they had a better coach this season?

SEGMENT 2: Why the answer matters (beyond just piling on Darvin Ham)

SEGMENT 3: Anthony Davis finishes fourth, Christian Wood will return.



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The Lakers have to find a new head coach, meaning there are a lot of decisions in front of them, some small, some large. But even before it comes time to actually start the interviews and begin negotiations with a preferred candidate, the Lakers need to decide a couple things, themselves.

First, what do they really want in a coach? What qualities do they value? And then from there, what kind of basketball do they want to play? Different coaches have different strengths and styles. For the Lakers to know if they're getting the right guy, they need to have an idea of what type of team they're trying to assemble, anyway. If the ethos of the organization doesn't match the ethos of the coach, there will be problems.

Are those conversations happening?

How good are the Lakers at making choices like this when there isn't an obvious choice? Because if there isn't an obvious choice, chances are you'll need to do a nice bit of work to match your team's strengths to your coach's.

Finally, the Lakers have basically three categories of coach to choose from. The Budenholzer, Stotts, Atkinson type (i.e. former head coaches), a category of well-respected assistants most people think will make good head coaches (Adelman, Modi, Lee) ... which is basically like hiring from the same category as Darvin. Shouldn't be the reason they don't hire if the Lakers find themselves enamored with a rookie head coach. But what about the Never Coaches Anywhere crowd? That's a leap of faith to say the least.



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Defenders of Darvin Ham—and while Lakers Nation isn't exactly full of them, there are some whether among fans or in the (generally national) media—have pointed out since the Lakers canned Ham (ha!) Friday afternoon that it's not fair to blame him for everything that went wrong this year.

Darvin wasn't "the" problem. The "real" problem was something else.

The problem there, of course, is that the framing is too reductive. In any season like this one, responsibility for success and failure is spread around. So yeah, Darvin wasn't "the" problem, but he was "a" problem, and the easiest one to fix at the moment. The time will come for players to be held accountable, as the franchise chooses who they'll try to keep, who they let walk, and who they might use to try and upgrade the roster. But the final question is who holds the decision-makers accountable? Is Rob Pelinka going through a process of introspection similar to the one that led to his evaluation of Ham, and the need for his dismissal? How does that process work in the basketball ops department?

And what about Jeanie Buss? Is she holding Pelinka responsible? Who does she talk with to get a feel for whether Pelinka is doing the job as well as he should?

What happens if the answers to the questions that aren't about Ham's accountability aren't very good? Or aren't really being addressed at all? What does that mean for the capacity for success for the next guy?



HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: Darvin got fired because he wasn't successful enough in his responsibilities this season...that doesn't mean he was the only issue.

SEGMENT 2: Multiple things can be true at once. SEGMENT 3: Is Pelinka holding himself accountable? Is Jeanine holding Pelinka accountable?



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The inevitable just became reality. On Friday, the Lakers announced that Darvin Ham has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Lakers. It's no surprise that Ham is out because all signs pointed in this direction, but it's actually pretty shocking that Ham, after doing such a good job building buy-in as a rookie coach with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, saw it all go to pot during his second year. Increasingly, Ham found his decisions being questioned by players, to say nothing of fans and, reportedly, the front office, and kept refusing to take public accountability for whatever struggles. You can't do that in a season that didn't live up to expectations, which explains in part why Ham is out.Still, nobody can honestly say ALL of the problems were the coach. The roster isn't perfect, even if the oodles of supporting players who were injured stayed healthy. LeBron requires season-long maintenance. And there aren't many obvious choices to replace Ham. Lot of pressure on Rob Pelinka to get this right. We shall see what comes next.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers haven't canned Ham yet. Why?

SEGMENT 2: What should the Lakers be doing with this time?

SEGMENT 3: Is Pelinka escaping criticism?



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WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?

While not exactly the sentiment of every Lakers fan... it's the sentiment of many when it comes to the expected dismissal of Darvin Ham from his gig with the Lakers. After all, reports following LA's Game 5 loss to the Nuggets earlier in the week suggested Ham's job was all but gone. Subsequent reports say the Lakers are still moving down that path, potentially as early as the end of the week. Which, to be clear, is basically today. So if they know they want to do it, and are continuing to leak that they're going to do it... why haven't they done it?

Well, one reason might be the fallout from the last time they fired a coach. You may remember the Lakers received some flak, and lost out on opportunities to interview desired candidates, after they leaked that Frank Vogel was out and it was reported basically at the buzzer of their final game, before Frank Vogel even reached the podium. So, hey, don't do that again! But is this way any better, whether to be respectful to Ham or to burnish the team's reputation?

What could they be doing, beyond PR and news cycle management? Certainly the Lakers ought to be doing due diligence, making sure they like potential candidates out there more than they like the idea of trying to make it work with Ham. After all, the guy did have a reasonably promising first season before things went south this year, and isn't far off from being one of the more sought after head coaching candidates out there.

Maybe they're double checking with all the critical stakeholders not only about whether they're ok with Darvin going, but also what type of coach would make sense to replace him, and whether that hypothetical coach would be available. So maybe all of these things are happening, but if the Lakers have their minds made up, they ought to get it done sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, is all of this attention on Ham fair? Some hoops minds think he's getting too much criticism for how the team's season turned out. And does all of this distract from criticism Rob Pelinka should be getting?



HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers haven't canned Ham yet. Why?

SEGMENT 2: What should the Lakers be doing with this time?

SEGMENT 3: Is Pelinka escaping criticism?



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eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.

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