In an appearance on a recent ESPN broadcast, new Lakers head coach JJ Redick made some comments about the process of adjusting to his new role. Interestingly, he exposed his predecessor (Darvin Ham) for not really having a set plan on offense.
“One thing we worked on was an early on system. One thing last year was they played random,” said coach Redick. “When they played sets, they had a higher efficiency. We have LeBron/AD, but we are gonna play with more movement and cutting.”
The Lakers had many ups and downs under Darvin Ham, from the ugly breakup with Russell Westbrook to last year’s run to the Western Conference Finals. But after another failed stint for the Lake Show,
JJ, a former NBA veteran, was named as the team’s new head coach this summer after a dramatic hiring process. With the Lakers in such a weird place as a team, the franchise couldn’t afford to mess this up and after being spurned by UConn coach Dan Hurley, they finally settled on Redick as their guy.
Since taking over, JJ has hinted at many changes within the organization and it seems he’s calling into question the legitimacy of Darvin Ham. While the former NBA veteran JJ did not mention Ham by name, revealing that the Lakers had no set offense is an obvious slight at the former head coach.
Ham, while widely respected by his peers, was a pretty controversial voice in the locker room. He was brought in to help incorporate Russell Westbrook but it wasn’t long before his schemes and playbook were under scrutiny from the fans.
At one point, even the players turned against Ham in the end and Anthony Davis himself admitted to the media that the Lakers had “no idea” what they were doing at times. Between questionable rotations, poor preparation, and a lack of adaptation throughout his tenure,
While Coach Ham did have some highlights with the Lakers, he was never able to get the team to play consistently great basketball. From one game to the next, their play fluctuated with wild inconsistency.
Now that Redick is in charge, the Lakers have a better chance to avoid losing their game plan on the court. The former NBA sharpshooter has already flexed his extensive basketball knowledge on his podcast with LeBron and now that he is surrounded by veteran assistant coaches, there is reason to believe he’ll have the team in much better shape.
For LeBron James, who turns 40 in December, it’s more important than ever that he’s in a situation where he can compete for a title and while the roster has not improved since last season, the hope is that coach Redick can bring out the best in his team and start to build something toward the future.
As for Ham, he has since taken on a new job as an assistant for the Bucks and they seem genuinely happy to have him back. With Doc Rivers in charge, Ham will not be making the plays anymore but it sounds like that was never really his strong suit to begin with.