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Speaker 1: and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to tonight. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all you guys

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Speaker 1: are having a great end to your week. So obviously

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Speaker 1: we're working on some series preview stuff. We're gonna have

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Speaker 1: a Nuggets Timberwolves film session coming out later today. I'm

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Speaker 1: all so working on a PACER's Knicks preview that's gonna

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Speaker 1: come out tomorrow morning. So lots of that kind of

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Speaker 1: content coming out over the next couple of days. But

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Speaker 1: Darvin Ham just got fired, and so what I want

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Speaker 1: to do in this video is just break down the

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Speaker 1: reasons why, because obviously it's a common thing that we

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Speaker 1: see from fan bases. The team starts to struggle and

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Speaker 1: you start going after the head coach, right, it's kind

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Speaker 1: of an easy target, not attached to the salary cap

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Speaker 1: in any way. So it's someone you can fire whenever

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Speaker 1: you want, hire another coach, whenever you want their franchises

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Speaker 1: out there paying two or three coaches at a time

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Speaker 1: sometimes because of this type of turnover, right, And in

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Speaker 1: this particular case, as you guys know, I'm generally not

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Speaker 1: much of a coach critic, but in this particular case,

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Speaker 1: I think the Lakers kind of had to do this.

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Speaker 1: And so what I want to do is I want

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Speaker 1: to break down the basketball reasons why Darvinham is not

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Speaker 1: the right coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. You guys

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Speaker 1: know the drove before we get started. Subscribe to a

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Speaker 1: brand of YouTube channel so you don't miss any more

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Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonlt

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Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss any show announcements. Don't forget

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Speaker 1: about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under

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Speaker 1: Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping back questions in the

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Speaker 1: YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the

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Speaker 1: rest of the postseason. So to be clear upfront, Darvin

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Speaker 1: Ham is not the reason why the Lakers lost to

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Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets. If there are a bunch of reasons,

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Speaker 1: but if I had to kind of parse it down

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Speaker 1: to one particular thing, they didn't have the personnel specifically

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Speaker 1: to guard Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Junior. They had

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Speaker 1: guys that were trying, Like Austin Reeves did a hell

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Speaker 1: of a job, but he is a in terms of

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Speaker 1: NBA two guards, he is a below average athlete, right,

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Speaker 1: and so you're asking him to do a job that

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Speaker 1: physically is kind of beyond his capability. And so while

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Speaker 1: he actually did play Jamal into some lower percentages, which

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Speaker 1: was part of the team scheme, but also Austin did

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Speaker 1: his job within the game plan, the bottom line was

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Speaker 1: is at the end of games, in particular, they couldn't

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Speaker 1: get stops on Jamal Murray and then Michael Porter Junior.

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Speaker 1: Ruey Hatch Murra obviously by virtue of the roster imbalances,

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Speaker 1: was playing the three. And when you play the three

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Speaker 1: and you have a movement shooter that's playing the three

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Speaker 1: for the other team, you have to run around screens

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Speaker 1: and you have to have a great amount of attentiveness

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Speaker 1: to make sure that shooter doesn't get open. And Ruey

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Speaker 1: Hachi Mura is a top heavy, big strong athlete that's

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Speaker 1: not very laterally quick and is not good at navigating screens,

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Speaker 1: and so throughout the entire series, the Michael Porter Junior

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Speaker 1: and Jamal Murray problem never went away. And so yeah, like,

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Speaker 1: maybe if you have a better coach in there, maybe

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Speaker 1: you'll lose in six instead of five. But the bottom

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Speaker 1: line is, whenever it came down to crunch time, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers could not guard Jamal Murray and could not guard

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior. Obviously, they struggled with Yokich too, That's

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Speaker 1: to be expected, he's best player in the world. But

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Speaker 1: other teams around the league can do a better job

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Speaker 1: on those other two guys, and that was the main issue.

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Speaker 1: They played nine minutes of clutch time basketball, again within

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Speaker 1: five points, within five minutes. They played nine minutes of

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Speaker 1: clutch time basketball against Denver and allowed one hundred and

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Speaker 1: sixty three points per one hundred possessions. That's not like, oh,

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Speaker 1: they shot well, that's you can't guard them. It was

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Speaker 1: a one to ninety three in the regular season, so

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Speaker 1: it was even worse in the two clutch games they

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Speaker 1: played in the regular season. Routinely, anytime Denver locked in.

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Speaker 1: They could score far more easily in the half court

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Speaker 1: than the Lakers. That was the main difference. That's why

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Speaker 1: you weren't beating them four straight times to get out

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Speaker 1: of that series. Just in fourth quarters, the Nuggets outscored

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Speaker 1: the Lakers by ten point three points per one hundred possessions.

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Speaker 1: So Darvin is not the reason the Lakers lost to Denver.

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Speaker 1: They lost to Denver because of personnel shortcomings. That said,

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Speaker 1: Darvin's first two years as an NBA head coach did

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Speaker 1: not go well, and compared to his peers in the league,

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Speaker 1: he is not a good NBA coach. So if you're

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Speaker 1: serious about contending for a title, you have to move

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Speaker 1: on from him. You can't go into a playoff series. Again,

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Speaker 1: all these playoffs series, they're typically determined by pretty small margins.

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Speaker 1: The look at Nick Sixers, it was this close. Even

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Speaker 1: in the Lakers Nuggets series, there were a bunch of

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Speaker 1: games that hinged on a few possessions. Right, So, like,

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Speaker 1: these margins are tight, and you don't want to go

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Speaker 1: on to try to win four series in four series

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Speaker 1: and you know, two months at a substantial coaching disadvantage. Now,

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Speaker 1: before we get into the specifics with Darvin. I want

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Speaker 1: to emphasize this is very different than the Frank Vogel situation.

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Speaker 1: I was listening to Colin Coward yesterday and he went

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Speaker 1: on a rant that I mostly agreed with as it

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Speaker 1: pertains to blaming the head coach when things go wrong.

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Speaker 1: He was talking about the Charles Barkley bit that he did,

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Speaker 1: talking about how the Lakers and Sons suck because of

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Speaker 1: the players and not the coach. And I agree for

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Speaker 1: the record, the Son's lost to the Timberwolves because of

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Speaker 1: the players, and the Lakers lost to the Nuggets because

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Speaker 1: of the players. And it is true in terms of Collins,

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Speaker 1: you know, take in the sense that like, yeah, coaches

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Speaker 1: tend to be the scapegoat, and I definitely agree with that,

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Speaker 1: But that is separate from the fact that Darvin is

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Speaker 1: not a good NBA coach and he needed to go.

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Speaker 1: So the Frank Vogel thing is a perfect example of this.

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Speaker 1: Frank Vogel is a good NBA coach in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: and I said this as I talked about him getting

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Speaker 1: fired at the end of the season two years ago.

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Speaker 1: He's an excellent defensive strategist, so if you get him

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Speaker 1: a high level offensive assistant, and you have that competent

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Speaker 1: staff around him, you have a good coaching staff who

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Speaker 1: knows what they're doing. He just struggles to get by

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Speaker 1: in that's his problem. The Lakers completely tuned him out

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Speaker 1: towards the end for whatever reason. It's the exact same

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Speaker 1: thing that happened in Phoenix. You saw the hit piece.

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Speaker 1: The Stars just don't listen to him for whatever reason.

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Speaker 1: So that is like a personality thing with Frank Vogel, right,

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Speaker 1: And again I think that's a strong indicator his issues

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Speaker 1: in Phoenix and his issue his issues in Los Angeles

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Speaker 1: are basically the same, right, So Frank Vogel probably needs

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Speaker 1: to coach a younger and more impressionable team right like that,

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Speaker 1: so that he doesn't have to worry about some of

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Speaker 1: the personality dynamics. So if you guys remember around that time,

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Speaker 1: we had some other coaches around the league that were

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Speaker 1: having success. Right We had Ima Udoka in Boston who

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Speaker 1: like came in as this like former NBA player who

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Speaker 1: was like a Ford who could kind of look eyed

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Speaker 1: I with these guys and he'd like talk shit to

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Speaker 1: their face and talk shit to the press, and like

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Speaker 1: it was very much like a a he held them accountable, right,

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Speaker 1: And then we saw tylu as another former player, do

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Speaker 1: similar things with the Clippers and the Cavs, right, And

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Speaker 1: so there was this kind of like idea that Darvin

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Speaker 1: Ham was the next guy in that line, right. And

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Speaker 1: the reasoning was, you know Lebron and Ad and these guys,

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Speaker 1: they don't listen to Frank, So how about Darvin. Darvin

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Speaker 1: can come in and be our emai Udoka And I

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Speaker 1: think a lot of times when this kind of thing happens,

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Speaker 1: when you're talking about a first time head coach, you

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Speaker 1: don't really have a lot of evidence to go on

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Speaker 1: in terms of what kind of coach he's going to be.

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Speaker 1: That's the risk in hire, in hiring a first time

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Speaker 1: head coach. And by the way, that's something that there's

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Speaker 1: if there's something to be critical of in terms of

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Speaker 1: the Lakers and the Bucks hiring Adrian Griffin hiring Darvin Ham.

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Speaker 1: There's a certain risk involved with hiring a first year

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Speaker 1: head coach. But I understood the reasoning, they're not listening

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Speaker 1: to Frank. You need to bring in somebody that can

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Speaker 1: really motivate them, right. I totally understood that. I think

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Speaker 1: the part that we missed at that point was Darvin

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Speaker 1: doesn't have the mean streak and the audacity that Emi

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Speaker 1: Udoka had to really hold the guys accountable beyond like

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Speaker 1: more benevolent motivational tactics, right, and so the first year,

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Speaker 1: the urgency was immediately there by virtue of their predicament

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Speaker 1: in the standings. They started two to ten, so there

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Speaker 1: was immediate urgency. And then we had injuries to Lebron

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Speaker 1: and Ad that continued that urgency. They were fighting uphill

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Speaker 1: all season. They actually overachieved last year relative to their

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Speaker 1: talent level because Lebron and Ad were rarely available at

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Speaker 1: the same time. They survived they got the seven seed

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Speaker 1: their playoff run. I actually thought Darvin managed the Grizzlies

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Speaker 1: series well. He shrunk the rotation to the right guys,

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Speaker 1: He had a good game plan. Same in the Warriors series.

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Speaker 1: He pivoted off of Ruey who was struggling to guard

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Speaker 1: klay Tom. He trusted Lonnie Walker. I thought that was

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Speaker 1: a smart adjustment. Lonnie Walker actually won them a game

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Speaker 1: in Game four. Nice adjustments in the Steph pick and

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Speaker 1: roll problem and they won that chess match. Right now.

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Speaker 1: In the Denver series, I thought he made some mistakes.

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Speaker 1: He started Dennis Schroeder in three guards against Denver in

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Speaker 1: Game one and they just got completely demolished on the glass.

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Speaker 1: That was a bad idea. He waited until game four

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Speaker 1: to bench D'Angelo Russell, who clearly was out of it mentally,

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Speaker 1: and to start Ruey Hachimura. Right, but it was like

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Speaker 1: a weird situation because it was a deadline roster, right,

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Speaker 1: Like they built the roster at the deadline, So everyone

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Speaker 1: was willing to kind of cut Darvin some slack for

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Speaker 1: what happened in the Denver series. Right. This season from

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Speaker 1: the start has been an absolute disaster of mistakes. Immediately

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Speaker 1: out the gates, Darvin like just lost trust in Ruy

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Speaker 1: Hachimura for whatever reason. Dead giveaway was in the first

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Speaker 1: three games of the season, Ruy played just forty three minutes.

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Speaker 1: Tori and Prince in the same span played ninety minutes

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Speaker 1: in three games. Now, Ruey had just come off of

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Speaker 1: an awesome playoff frount and had just signed a long

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Speaker 1: term deal. He is on fifty one million dollars guaranteed.

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Speaker 1: Torrian Prince was on the bi annual exception for four

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Speaker 1: and a half million. He was signed to be a

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Speaker 1: bench wing. I actually liked the Torrian signing. I thought

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Speaker 1: he made perfect sense as a bench wing. And there

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Speaker 1: were some moments early in the season when Ruey got

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Speaker 1: hurt and Jared was hurt where I was like, this

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Speaker 1: makes sense. You're playing Torrian. You gotta do what you

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Speaker 1: gotta do, right, But it was obvious that Ruey was

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Speaker 1: a much bigger and better athlete who was a better player. Now,

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Speaker 1: as we know, Ruey had a really rough series against

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets this year, and Torrian actually was a more

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Speaker 1: like a safer option for them, especially in a certain

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Speaker 1: portions of the game. But that's new information. We didn't

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Speaker 1: know that at the time. Ruey was awesome in the

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Speaker 1: playoffs last year, and no doubt Ruey over the eighty

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Speaker 1: two is a much better basketball player right size and

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Speaker 1: athleticism next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis. But for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason, it got weird because even when Jared Vanderbilt

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Speaker 1: came back, it seemed like Darvin trusted Cam Reddish more,

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Speaker 1: which is super bizarre. Jared Vanderbilt was one of the

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Speaker 1: driving forces behind your Western Conference finals run and you

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Speaker 1: had just signed him to a long term deal. Vanderbilt's

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Speaker 1: on thirty nine million dollars guaranteed. Cam Reddish is a

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Speaker 1: draft bust on his fourth team in five years. He's

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Speaker 1: a bad NBA player. Max Christy, who's a second year guy,

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Speaker 1: is just better than Cam Reddish on both ends of

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Speaker 1: the floor. It made absolutely no sense, and so that

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Speaker 1: ended up being the driving force, the primary driving force

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Speaker 1: behind the Lakers struggles in the regular season. Darvin didn't

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Speaker 1: understand on a basic level who his good basketball players

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Speaker 1: were on the roster, what was crazy and what hit

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Speaker 1: it from everybody. The Lakers won the nd Season Tournament

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Speaker 1: on the strength of Lebron James and Anthony Davis, who

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Speaker 1: were both playing at a top five level at that point,

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Speaker 1: kind of similar to what we saw in the Nuggets

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Speaker 1: series this year. But as soon as Lebron and Ad

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Speaker 1: relaxed a little bit after winning the Nason Tournament, the

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Speaker 1: issues in the rotation they rose to the surface. The

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Speaker 1: Lakers went three to ten in their next thirteen games

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Speaker 1: after the Ncason Tournament and dug themselves a massive hole

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Speaker 1: in the standings in that span. These are crazy numbers.

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Speaker 1: Tory and Prints and Cam Briddish in the three and

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Speaker 1: ten stretch mind you, those guys combine for nine million

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Speaker 1: dollars in guaranteed salary. They played fifty nine point two

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Speaker 1: minutes per game and attempted sixteen shots per game. Ruey

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Speaker 1: Hatchamura and Jared Vanderbilt a combined ninety million dollars in

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Speaker 1: salary guaranteed. We're playing just forty two point five minutes

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Speaker 1: per game. D'Angelo Russell, who was clearly their third or

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Speaker 1: fourth best player. He had the same amount of playing

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Speaker 1: time as Cam Reddish, in the same amount of shot

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Speaker 1: attempts per game as Toryan Prints explain that to me,

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Speaker 1: it was like playing with one arm tied, like tied

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Speaker 1: behind your back for no reason at all. And again

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Speaker 1: we saw Darvin's reasoning right. He leaked it to the

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Speaker 1: press right after the Nuggets series. He goes, what do

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Speaker 1: you expect me to do? I had a starter shitting

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Speaker 1: the bed ten games in a row, and he's right,

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Speaker 1: like Ruy and excuse me, Dlo and Austin in particular,

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Speaker 1: especially through the first half of the season, they were

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Speaker 1: really up and down and they struggled in a lot

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Speaker 1: of different ways. Why brand new offense and it's hard

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Speaker 1: to win in the NBA when you have two skill

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Speaker 1: guards in the back court, and it wasn't until the

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Speaker 1: end of the season that Austin really embraced being that

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Speaker 1: primary point of attack defender and doing it really well.

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Speaker 1: Here's the problem. I'd get it if you had a

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Speaker 1: really high level player behind him, Like let's say Gabe

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Speaker 1: Vincent was healthy, which he wasn't. But let's say Gabe

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Speaker 1: Vincent was healthy, and you're like, man, getting a lot

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Speaker 1: of struggles out of these two guys, I'm gonna bench

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Speaker 1: d lo or Austin and I'm gonna play Gabe Vincent.

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Speaker 1: Totally would get it. That's why you spent the money

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Speaker 1: on Gabe Vincent this summer. But that's not what happened.

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Speaker 1: He played Cam Reddish and torying Prince cam Reddish was

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Speaker 1: starting all of that stretch. So, like, again, I get it.

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Speaker 1: If you were benching an Austin or a d Loo

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Speaker 1: in favor of a high level player that you have

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Speaker 1: in your rotation, that's not what was happening. You were

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Speaker 1: playing a draft bust. You're starting a draft bust on

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Speaker 1: his fourth team in five years, who is a bad

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Speaker 1: NBA player. There was absolutely no case for it. Again,

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Speaker 1: even if you wanted to play that type of player.

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Speaker 1: It made more sense to play Max Christy or to

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Speaker 1: slide Tornying Prince to the two and to play Ruy

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Speaker 1: Hachamurre at the three. It was it was unconscionable at

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Speaker 1: the time. This is actually a crazy stat to kind

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Speaker 1: of demonstrate this. In February, after relentless pressure from Lakers

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Speaker 1: fans and media and the front office, Darbenham finally starts

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Speaker 1: leaning into Ruiy. Before February, Ruy played just twenty two

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Speaker 1: point eight minutes per game. Torrian played thirty minutes per

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Speaker 1: game and basically started the whole time. The Lakers were

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Speaker 1: twenty four and twenty five. After February first, Ruey played.

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Speaker 1: Ruey played thirty one point one minutes per game, and

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Speaker 1: Torreon went down to twenty two minutes per game and

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Speaker 1: he prim primarily played against bench players. Ruey started all

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Speaker 1: games except for the February first game, and the Lakers

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Speaker 1: go twenty three to ten, have the fifth best record

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Speaker 1: in the NBA in the third best offense in basketball.

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Speaker 1: That's what happened when Darvin finally started playing his better players.

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Speaker 1: Darvin's not responsible for the Lakers losing to Denver, but

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Speaker 1: He is responsible for them having to play Denver in

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Speaker 1: the first round because he handcuffed his best players and

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Speaker 1: he overused bench journeyman. The strength of the roster was

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Speaker 1: abundantly clear early on in the season. It was size

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Speaker 1: and athleticism in the front court. All of their lineup

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Speaker 1: data early in the season was showing Lebron and Ad

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Speaker 1: with a bigger player like a Jared Vanderbilt or Ruey

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Speaker 1: Hatchamura really successful, or like a Christian Wood for instance,

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Speaker 1: when he was healthy in the early part of the season,

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Speaker 1: whenever they went big, they had success. When they played

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Speaker 1: Torrian Prince at the three next to Lebron and Ad,

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Speaker 1: it was a huge problem in the early part of

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Speaker 1: the season that the numbers were clear, But like that

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Speaker 1: was the main issue. Darvin thought the strength of the

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Speaker 1: roster was on the perimeter, when actually it was on

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Speaker 1: the front line. Even in Game four against Nver this year,

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Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting Darvin benched Jackson Hayes and

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Speaker 1: leaned into a bunch of three guard lineups. That tells

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Speaker 1: you what he thought of this roster. And that goes

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Speaker 1: back to one of my biggest beefs with an NBA coach,

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Speaker 1: with any coach at any level, if you inflict your

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Speaker 1: ideology on your roster rather than building an ideology around

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Speaker 1: the strengths of your roster, that's where you go off

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Speaker 1: the rails. That's why Darvin trusted Torrian and Cam so much.

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Speaker 1: He believes in perimeter speed and ball pressure and he

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Speaker 1: saw them as the path. But what he missed is

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Speaker 1: Cam is a bad NBA player and Torrian Prince is

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Speaker 1: a bench player, so they were underqualified for what he

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Speaker 1: actually needed from them. And I understand the roster in balance,

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Speaker 1: like when you build a roster around two skill guards,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna run into some issues. That's why all season

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Speaker 1: long I was talking about a D'Angelo Russell trade. But

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Speaker 1: even when it was even when it was talked about

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Speaker 1: in terms of benching one of the guards, which at

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Speaker 1: the time I understood at the early part of the season,

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Speaker 1: the problem was going to Cam and going to him

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Speaker 1: in such big minutes. Like I get it if you

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Speaker 1: played him for like the first shift and then pulled

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Speaker 1: him and then had one of the skill guards on

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Speaker 1: the court with a better athlete the rest of the game,

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Speaker 1: that's one thing, But like leaning into him as much

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Speaker 1: as you did, especially as a starter. Didn't make any

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Speaker 1: sense to me, and there were better options on the roster.

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Speaker 1: Cam was like your twelfth best player and he was

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Speaker 1: one of your most utilized players during the majority of

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Speaker 1: the season. It made no sense. And the reality is

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Speaker 1: they didn't make a trade, right We were expecting them

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Speaker 1: to make a trade to address that issue. They did not.

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Speaker 1: But once they didn't make a trade, we knew what

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Speaker 1: the actual strength of the roster was defensive skill, frontline size,

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Speaker 1: and then as soon as Darvin lean into that, they

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Speaker 1: immediately took off and started winning. The second big thing

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Speaker 1: that I want to hit on, and this is probably

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Speaker 1: the biggest one, and this is the one that Darvin's

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Speaker 1: going to have to address moving forward if he wants

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Speaker 1: to have success at the NBA level in the future.

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Speaker 1: Active versus passive coaching. So the other big knack I had.

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Speaker 1: Darvin was far too willing to just sit back and

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Speaker 1: watch the team make mistakes. On the sideline. He would

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Speaker 1: often take a passive role where he basically just stand

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Speaker 1: and watch, and then during the timeouts he would just

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Speaker 1: yell meaningless platitudes, motivational platitudes about effort to the team.

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Speaker 1: And so as a result, the Lakers took on an

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Speaker 1: unseerious attitude in terms of their possession by possession focus.

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Speaker 1: That lack of urgency started from the head coach. They'd

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Speaker 1: have a bad game where they'd get sloppy, they'd play

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Speaker 1: bad basketball for a half dozen or a dozen possessions

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Speaker 1: in a row, and they toast a game off, or

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Speaker 1: they'd lose control of a game. And then afterwards, darvinham

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Speaker 1: would go to the press and he'd be like, it's

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Speaker 1: a marathon, not a sprint. We're gonna be all right,

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Speaker 1: this is a long journey. No it's not. It was

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Speaker 1: a huge deal. That unseerious attitude and lack of attention

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Speaker 1: to detail ended up being the biggest thing that hurt

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Speaker 1: them against Denver. Two runs killed them in Game one.

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Speaker 1: It was like a it was either a ten oh

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Speaker 1: and a thirteen. It was a ten oh and a

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Speaker 1: thirteen oh. One of them was in the second quarter,

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Speaker 1: one was in the thirteen the third quarter. I can't

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Speaker 1: remember exactly which one was which, but two massive deadly runs.

395
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Speaker 1: And in those runs, they played unseerious basketball, not running

396
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Speaker 1: their offense, turning the basketball over, not running back in transition,

397
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Speaker 1: picked sixes like it was they were toasting the game

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Speaker 1: off in a matter of minutes. One of the runs,

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Speaker 1: the ten oh run, was like less than two minutes.

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Speaker 1: The thirteen to oh run was like three and a

401
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Speaker 1: half minutes. It happened so fast, and you completely lose

402
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 1: control of the game in that span that was allowed

403
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Speaker 1: all season long. In Game two, you blow a twenty

404
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Speaker 1: point lead at the end of the third quarter. Spencer

405
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,159
Speaker 1: Dinwoodie hijacking possessions and trying to drive and finish on

406
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Speaker 1: Peyton Watson. One of the best shot blocking bench players

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Speaker 1: in the league, Torrian Prince. He made a step back

408
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,920
Speaker 1: three in a late clock situation as a rescue possession.

409
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Speaker 1: A few possessions later, he took another one early in

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Speaker 1: the shot clock. That doesn't happen on other teams, serious

411
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Speaker 1: basketball teams. They don't have players that go off script,

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Speaker 1: go outside of their role in freelance. That doesn't happen.

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Speaker 1: You don't see that with Denver. You don't see Christian

414
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Speaker 1: Brown just go like fuck it, I'm taking a pull

415
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,199
Speaker 1: up three here. That doesn't happen. That is a Laker

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Speaker 1: specific problem. Even the Gordon on Ad adjustment. This is

417
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 1: less about active coaching and more about just missing what's

418
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:54,439
Speaker 1: happening on the court. So KCP is a perimeter player

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Speaker 1: who's chasing Lebron around screens. Now AD can't shoot. Aaron

420
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Speaker 1: Gordan's on the back line because Aaron Gordon's guarding AD. Now,

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Speaker 1: so Lebron starts bringing Jokich up to ball screens, and

422
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Speaker 1: immediately it's clear that Gordon's bothering Lebron at the rim

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Speaker 1: and Lebron's struggling to finish. Instead of adjusting and attacking

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Speaker 1: in a different way, like I don't know, have Lebron

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Speaker 1: James post up KCP instead of trying to attack him

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Speaker 1: from the perimeter. Have Anthony Davis post up Aaron Gordon,

427
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Speaker 1: he had made fourteen straight shots earlier in the game. Instead,

428
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 1: they had a bad approach and they cut the lead

429
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,240
Speaker 1: from twenty to eleven, which led into that fourth quarter run.

430
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,959
Speaker 1: That was an example of failing to identify something that

431
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,679
Speaker 1: was happening on the court as it was happening. In

432
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,560
Speaker 1: Game three, Lebron just chilling on the back line in

433
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 1: a must win game. He was the reason why Aaron

434
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:45,280
Speaker 1: Gordon got going in that game. Tylu in Game seven

435
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,480
Speaker 1: of the NBA Finals was ripping Lebron a new one

436
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:52,240
Speaker 1: at halftime because he wasn't bringing enough urgency. Darvin let

437
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:57,639
Speaker 1: it slide all season, never held those guys accountable. In

438
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,040
Speaker 1: Game five, that third quarter run, it was so clear

439
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:03,720
Speaker 1: as the Lakers went up sixty nine to sixty, it

440
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 1: was clear that Lebron was getting tired, the execution was dipping,

441
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 1: the Nuggets were taking control. We were all begging for

442
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,439
Speaker 1: a time out in the middle of that run. No

443
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 1: timeout was called until the Nuggets had literally turned that

444
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,200
Speaker 1: nine point deficit into a three point lead. That was

445
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,919
Speaker 1: when Darvin finally relented. And at that point it was

446
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,400
Speaker 1: so damn close to the end of the fourth quarter.

447
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: It was almost worthless end of the third quarter that

448
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,760
Speaker 1: like Ruyan Michael Porter Junior, at the end of the game.

449
00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:34,359
Speaker 1: It was like a little over five minutes left in

450
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 1: Game five, the Lakers were up by two and Ruy

451
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 1: just literally took a possession off, was not paying attention

452
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 1: and Michael Porter Junior just ran off of a simple

453
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: screen and caught a wide open three and knocked it down.

454
00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 1: That is the type of lack of attention to detail

455
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 1: on a possession by possession basis that was freely allowed

456
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,800
Speaker 1: by Darvin all year long because he sat on the

457
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,440
Speaker 1: sidelines with his hands in his pockets instead of actively

458
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: coaching his team. Juxtapose that with Mike Malone. That's active coaching.

459
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 1: He's up and yelling at players the whole game. Bad

460
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: basketball is simply not allowed. If he saw two or

461
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,880
Speaker 1: three bad possessions in a row, he was on their

462
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: ass immediately about it. What happened after Game four, he

463
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:22,400
Speaker 1: went to the press conference and was like, we are

464
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,400
Speaker 1: doing a terrible job of protecting the paint. We have

465
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:30,400
Speaker 1: to do better. He was getting on the players. That's

466
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: the sense of the sense of accountability that you breed

467
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,440
Speaker 1: from day one of training camp all the way through

468
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: to the end of the season. And so as a result,

469
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 1: you don't see random players for Denver, leaving the scope

470
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 1: of their role to hijack possessions. You don't see laps

471
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: as an execution that lasts more than a possession or

472
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 1: two between before Mike Malone has a meltdown. Championship teams

473
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,440
Speaker 1: always have approached the season with urgency from day one.

474
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:01,920
Speaker 1: It's never been a team in NBA history except for

475
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,640
Speaker 1: a defending champion that chilled through the regular season. It's

476
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 1: a marathon, not a sprint, and work their way up

477
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,119
Speaker 1: from a lower seed through a playoff run to win

478
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 1: the title. It has literally never happened. If the Lakers

479
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 1: would have done it, it would have been the first time.

480
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,159
Speaker 1: Only defending champions have had that type of leeway. The

481
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:24,640
Speaker 1: team that wins almost always dominates from day one. There

482
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: is an attention to detail. There's a level of urgency

483
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 1: that never waivers over the eighty two They go two

484
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 1: or three bad games and they get together and like,

485
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 1: we got to figure this shit out. The Lakers have

486
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: won a title with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. You

487
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: want to know how they started that season twenty four

488
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:48,240
Speaker 1: and three. Twenty four and three, there was no marathon,

489
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: not a sprint. It was like, no, this is not okay.

490
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 1: We have to get this figured out right now. That

491
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,320
Speaker 1: is the level of accountability that active coaching provides that

492
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: passive coaching does not provide. Even in Game two, I

493
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: put this in my notes and I was irritated, just

494
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: like not being on top of it enough to challenge

495
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 1: that Jamal Murray bump in the final minute that tied

496
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 1: the game. Literally you identified at the beginning of that series. Wait,

497
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: everything's allowed. Mike Malone and his staff were on top

498
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,320
Speaker 1: of that. Anybody if their man fouled the guy and

499
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 1: they were looking at the ipop pat and they were like, oh, yeah,

500
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: he raked him across the face. Challenge it marginal contact.

501
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: Delo got punched in the face on a layup and

502
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,359
Speaker 1: Mike Malone challenged it and got it overturned. It was

503
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: obvious that if you challenged a call with some marginal contact,

504
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 1: you were gonna get away with it. And there was

505
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 1: a huge bump foul and the final minute of Game

506
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:48,640
Speaker 1: two where Jamal Murray went to the line and tied

507
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: the game at the foul line, and everyone's screaming for

508
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,919
Speaker 1: a challenge and Darvin just sat there and let it laps.

509
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: He's he has again. If Darvin's gonna get another chance someday,

510
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,479
Speaker 1: there has to be a more active approach to coaching

511
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,639
Speaker 1: on a possession by possession basis throughout the regular season,

512
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 1: not just holding his players accountable, but doing his job

513
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,160
Speaker 1: as a staff to take advantage of every advantage available.

514
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,360
Speaker 1: I think he left that game with two timeouts and

515
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 1: a challenge. You couldn't. It doesn't transfer over to Game

516
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: four or to Game three, and so I thought, honestly,

517
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 1: I honestly thought that that series was just a really

518
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 1: interesting juxtaposition and the difference between the two coaching styles,

519
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: and it just kind of shine a big light on it. Right. So,

520
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 1: to make a long story short, Darvin isn't the reason

521
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,879
Speaker 1: you lost to Denver. But to proceed with Darvin is

522
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,959
Speaker 1: to proceed with a coaching disadvantage, and playoff series are

523
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,879
Speaker 1: determined by the slightest of margins, So firing Darvin and

524
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 1: hiring a more competent coach improves your chances to win

525
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: the title. End of story. So moving on. I don't

526
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 1: love any of the establishment guys except for Kenny Atkinson.

527
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 1: He's the one guy I like. But he has a

528
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,399
Speaker 1: similar issue to Frank Vogel in the sense that he's

529
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 1: in the past struggle to get buy in from older veterans.

530
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,399
Speaker 1: That's famously what happened in twenty twenty. The NETS guys

531
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: just kind of tuned him out and basically punted him

532
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,199
Speaker 1: from the locker room. But I do think he's a

533
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,720
Speaker 1: good coach. Tylou would be ideal. He has an excellent

534
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,879
Speaker 1: feel for what works in modern basketball on both ends

535
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: of the floor. Spacing concepts. He's big on matchup, attacking,

536
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,199
Speaker 1: big on ball pressure, and physicality on the defensive end

537
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,479
Speaker 1: of the floor. He would definitely get buy in from

538
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: the Stars. But I just don't see universe where Balmer

539
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: lets him go. I think Tyler's one of the five

540
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:32,960
Speaker 1: best coaches in the league, so like if I'm Steve Balmer,

541
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: I'm clearly aware of that. So even if I did

542
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 1: punt and move on from the Kawhi Paul George James

543
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,040
Speaker 1: harden Era, I want Tylu as my coach. So I

544
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 1: just doubt they give him up. But if they do

545
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, if Tyler works out some sort of

546
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: deal with Balmber where he walks away from the last

547
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 1: year of his deal and the Lakers can get him,

548
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,760
Speaker 1: that would literally be a home run. Could not do

549
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: better than that, right, JJ Reddick, This is an interesting idea.

550
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 1: JJ's a really smart basket said this before in the show.

551
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: I think he's the best at what I do for

552
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 1: a living in terms of analyzing basketball games. Obviously we

553
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 1: see him do so many interviews, but if you actually

554
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: watch him break games down, not just in the broadcast booth,

555
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: but also also when he does when he actually does

556
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 1: sit down and like do playoff series breakdowns and starts

557
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: talking about adjustments. Super smart basketball mind. I think he

558
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: particularly has a great feel for offensive concepts, which I

559
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: think would be useful on a team like this that

560
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 1: runs five out and has a lot offensive skill. You

561
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 1: could also kind of see it as a collaborative kind

562
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,479
Speaker 1: of thing with Lebron, where Lebron is like kind of

563
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,520
Speaker 1: pseudo operating as like a de facto member of the staff,

564
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 1: like an assistant basically, then you bring in experienced assistants,

565
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: especially to help on the defensive side of things. So

566
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: I kind of like that's an interesting idea, But another

567
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,960
Speaker 1: first time head coach comes with a certain amount of risk, right,

568
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 1: and this is a season with a great amount of urgency,

569
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,040
Speaker 1: could very well be the last season Lebron plays at

570
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 1: a superstar level with his age, So I kind of

571
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 1: lean towards the guy like a Kenny Atkinson who has

572
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 1: a certain high floor. But that has risk as well

573
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: if you can't get the guys to buy in. But

574
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 1: at least if the season takes a turn for the worst,

575
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 1: next year probably wouldn't have anything to do with Kenny Atkinson.

576
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: It would probably have more to do with personnel. Right, Like,

577
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: here's the bottom line. Lebron and ad can carry you

578
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 1: home in the playoffs. They've shown that they're two top

579
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: ten playoff players by like for sure, right, that goes

580
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: without saying, but you do need some marginal improvements on

581
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 1: the roster and you need a baseline level of competence

582
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,240
Speaker 1: at the head coach position that Darvinges did not provide,

583
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: and so that's where they have to go from here.

584
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: So like Tyler would be by number one, i'd probably

585
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 1: go Kenny Atkinson two, and then I would take JJ

586
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 1: over any of the other establishment guys. And then I

587
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,880
Speaker 1: don't think you can get some young hot shot assistant

588
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: type of thing in there, because it's the same kind

589
00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: of deal where you're gonna have trouble getting the stars

590
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: to buy in. But again, my order of operations would

591
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: be TYLERU, Kenny Atkinson than JJ Reddick. All right, guys,

592
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today in this particular video.

593
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be back in a little bit with some

594
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 1: film on the on the Nuggets Timberwolve series. I'll see

595
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 1: you guys. Then the volume