The Los Angeles Lakers HC Job Is A Death Wish
Any person who is actively wanting to become the next Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers is asking to be fired within three years. That’s the long and short of it. They botched the Dan Hurley situation and are left scrambling. This might be one of the least desirable jobs in the NBA at the moment, but the majority of people won’t see it. All people will focus on is becoming the Lakers coach, and being able to work with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But there are a number of factors that should drive people away from wanting to work in LA with this roster as it stands, and we will talk about it.
First, if you accept the position of Head Coach for the Los Angeles Lakers, you must know two things: you are simply a fall guy, and you are not *actually* the coach, that role belongs to LeBron. If things go right, you might get some of the credit but the majority will go to LeBron and AD. However, the minute things go wrong (losing streak, falling out of the playoff race, losing in the first round) you are immediately on the hot seat.
This is part of the reason why the answer is no to whether the Los Angeles Lakers should hire JJ Redick or not. This is an impossible job for anyone to take on, let alone a first-time Head Coach. To be fair, maybe they do need to try and switch things up because we all know Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham were huge failures (Ham at least had assistant experience, Redick has none).
Second, you have to look at how this roster is built at the moment. This roster is bad. Sure, LeBron can still be the old LeBron when he wants to be. Anthony Davis is made of glass and will end up missing four games if he sneezes wrong. Austin Reaves is exceptionally overrated. D’Angelo Russell is a shell of the player he had the potential to become. Then there’s just a bunch of middling role players who have no true ceiling to become a solid player.
So you would have to do some roster gymnastics to make this team any good for the future when LeBron James eventually leaves. Please spare me the argument “Well, if they Draft Bronny, he’s for sure staying”. Well he’s already said that it isn’t a priority to play with his son, but more importantly Bronny James is undraftable. Nothing about his game makes it worth spending a pick on him, sorry about it.
Getting back on track, if I were the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, I would be telling the front office James and Davis are on the trade block, and both are likely out the door within 72 hours. There’s no clear path for this franchise where they are set up for success with these two on the roster, especially with how competitive the Western Conference is.
Which leads me to my last point. This team is not a real contender in the West. You’ve got the defending champion Denver Nuggets (who they lost eight of nine postseason games against the last two seasons), the budding powerhouse Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Dallas Mavericks who made it out of the West this year just to start. Let’s not forget the defensive juggernaut Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix still has Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and arguably the scariest of them all (in maybe two years) is the Ailen in San Antonio. At BEST this roster is vying for a play-in spot but that’s the ceiling. The floor for this team is .500 at season’s end.
The Los Angeles Lakers job is a death wish. I promise you, whoever they hire will be gone within three seasons. This is far too big of a market to settle for first-round exits every single year, and that is how this roster is built. I do not envy the poor soul who says yes to this job, because they will be looking elsewhere for a job in the near future. Avoid at all costs.
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