The Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick to be the franchise’s new head coach for the 2024-25 season. It ended a two-year stint for Darvin Ham, who went 90-74, making the postseason twice and getting to a Western Conference Finals. However, the stats don’t fully tell the story of his two years leading LeBron James and the Lakers.
Ham preached consistency while making routine changes to the starting lineup around James and Anthony Davis. He would frequently play multi-guard lineups that hemorrhaged points and wouldn’t be cohesive offensively. And while much of the blame could easily go to the higher-ups that built the roster, there were fairly simple lineup pairings that Ham refused to turn to.
And reportedly, this type of constant change and a lack of rotational organization led to James losing faith in Ham over the course of the 2023-24 season and may have ultimately led to the decision to part ways and hire Redick instead, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:
Those that know James best say he craves structure and accountability. He thrives in disciplined, highly organized systems. He does his best when everyone on the team understands their role. All are elements he had lost faith in under the Lakers’ previous regime, sources said.
The Lakers had 19 different starting lineups last season, with none playing more than 24 games together according to Basketball Reference. It took Ham until over halfway through the season to figure out that his best starting lineup was the same one that got to the conference finals the year prior with James, Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura.
That is not the type of consistency that usually comes from a James-led team, especially in a season where he and Davis stayed incredibly healthy.
Hopefully, Redick is the person to find something that works and stick to it for as much of the season as possible. If that’s what James is seeking in a head coach, he’ll buy in to what Redick is preaching if it involves that level of consistency.
LeBron James clarifies why he signed with Lakers
When LeBron James chose to sign with the Lakers in the summer of 2018, many people questioned why considering the franchise was in the middle of a rebuild and had young talent but no other stars in place.
As it turns out, there were indeed reasons beyond basketball for James to come to the Lakers. In fact, the organization’s treatment of Kobe Bryant, another inner circle Hall of Famer and franchise legend, in the final years of his career played a big factor for LeBron, according to reports.
However, James took to social media to clarify that coming to the Lakers was about wanting to help Jeanie Buss restore the franchise to greatness.
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