Head Coach Discussion: Canned Ham, Who Is Our New Coach?

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They've going to play a lot more Kennard I suspect to open the floor for JA as well

 

What more is Ja going to do than what he did last night? Plus is he going to be out of his mind from deep again?

 

I think folks in the game chat were mad when I said Lebron wasn't going to close out on JA till he proved he could hit a 3. I think this is further evidence for this: the Lakers are closing out hard on Bane and Kennard (DLo remember the game plan dude) and letting the rest of the Grizz shoot

 

Give Lonnie a try out there please, see if he can contribute more than Troy/Beasley.

And for the love of all things holy, can we play another center out there?

 

We won and that is great but it doesn't make a lot of questionable decisions go away and I think it okay to point them out. We can learn and adjust after wins so we avoid losses. I would add to the list that Austin needs the ball in his hands more. Lebron did a lot of good things through out the game but down the stretch he was struggling and our offense again became to one dimensional and predictable. Let AR make things happen.

 

Slick where is all the movement and cutting (more often) and plays to run Malik around to get him open …. from a guy that has ALL these plays …. and too often it’s just trading off players going ISO like you always kill Vogel about for his lack of offensive chops?

 

Well, *we* can learn and adjust, the question is, can Ham? So far he has on some things, but not on others, with the balance leaning towards not learning.

Like, he did something smart by having AD roam help D in Game 1, and we won the game...so he switches that up in Game 2 and we lose? (Due to more than this, but still dumb.) Then he re-adjusts to doing it in Game 3 and we win. But he still hasn't learned after multiple games about resting LeBron in the 4th Q, not playing Center-less lineups, not overdoing 3 guard sets, when to sub Rui for Vando, etc. And at this point, him learning these things seems questionable. I'm hopeful but don't expect it.

And all those things have lost us points and would lose us games where we don't play it perfect and build up a 25+ pt lead. Kenzo nailed most of these things too, it's something I'm sure an assistant coach or someone somewhere must realize, and Ham must be actively deciding against these obvious actions, and I really wonder why.

 

Ham is 12-3 in our last 15 games played. There seems to be a method to his madness IMO.

 

He seems to be doing a good locker room job with the guys between games, it's his lineups and in-game decisions that have us criticizing. Some similarities to a Dave Roberts situation.

 

Or Vogel's I guess. Frank got the same type of complaints all the way to a chip.

 

Vogel had terrible offense. It was unwatchable most of the time, and when the defense went South (Westbrook played a huge role in that and poor chemistry), he lost his stars and the locker room. We pretty much had to make a change. Our leaders weren't strong enough and didn't have his back.

Insert Ham

Questionable rotations without proper talent, and questionable rotations with more talent. Makes you wonder what he's looking at. But overall, he's winning. Even if it seems much more difficult than it should be.

 

Let's get those Troy numbers lower and instead get a backup C in there in the non-AD minutes. I want to see Bamba, Cranjis prefers Gabriel, but I'll take either, just don't want to see LeBron and Rui at C.

 

Thanks for posting this JSM. For all the people complaining about Ham’s rotations and how much he is playing specific guys… I mean he is doing what you want him to, isn’t he?

Reaves is at 35 mins, Rui at 28. I don’t understand the complaints? We can’t just cut out Beasley or Troy and go with a 7 man rotation so early in the playoffs, our guys would break down. And if Beasley and DLO break out, our offence becomes almost unstoppable.

Ham isn’t doing a perfect job but he is doing well enough.

 

Yeah, he's getting there. It's just taking longer than we'd like because he is a rookie coach and is learning on the job. I'm pretty happy with those minute adjustments. My only minute distribution complaint still is with Beas. I talked about it in the Beas thread, we either need to involve him or pull him sooner (or all together) and hand some of those minutes out elsewhere -- more for Rui and AR and maybe a few TT's way.

 

It's not just about minutes, it's the lineups that drive a lot of us crazy. Things like the LeBron at C lineup, weird Vando/Rui/LeBron/AD lineups, not giving LeBron a rest in the entire 4th quarter when he's clearly gassed, etc. If he fixes those things, I'd be relatively happy. He's clearly doing some good things between games, just needs to not make so many mistakes in-game.

 

I think these things are nitpicking because every fan base complains about their coach’s rotations. The reason for this is because the NBA is hard and not every rotation is going to be successful all the time - and sometimes some rotations are just gonna give points up because of the makeup of the team.

Although I do agree about the no centre rotations. They’re frustrating as hell.

 

I have never seen a team being handicapped by a coach like that before. It's bonkers to watch.

 

Handicapped all the way to a 3-1 lead

 

You have no idea on WTF you are talking about. Yet you constantly flap off with this nonsense.