Michigan coach Juwan Howard a possible candidate for LA Lakers
Whoa Nellie
Of course Juwan's name came up. Great clickbait. About the easiest take imaginable. That Juwan was on "lists" for the job was called by someone on this board the minute Frank Vogel was canned. Soooo predictable.
Next....
Oh yeah, Jim Harbaugh is in the running. A very strong candidate. Oh wait (shuffles papers) it's Harbaugh's brother in law who coaches basketball and he drove Georgia into a ditch. But all anyone will remember and obsess about is Harbaugh to LA.
Agree, I suppose technically it's completely true. Juwan is a 'possible candidate'.
Sometimes I forget clickbait doesn't necessarily means something is false.
I read up until the author wrote "all together" instead of "altogether."
I suppose that it is also true that all of the Lakers together missed the playoffs, but the lack of professional journalism reminded me that we shouldn't click Freep links.
All together now!
All! Together! Now!
This is a very exciting update of the post from yesterday. Much appreciated. /s
Edit: \s I always struggle with the forward/backward slash. Is this MSDOS? HTML?
"Possible candidate"
I am also in that pool.
Good lord reporting is worthless these days.
Possible, maybe, might be, all words to avoid articles by.
That means it's not even rumor, it just means the author is speculating for clicks.
If you click on those articles or even worse, re-post them, you are part of the problem in today's media environment.
I hate that I have only one upvote to place on this comment. It deserves 100.
re-post them, you are part of the problem in today's media environment.
I learned yesterday all you need to do is say is:
I tried to be as clear as possible in the subject, so don't click and then get mad. You knew what this was
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Congratulations, Mr./Ms. Middle! Good luck!
Interesting. Lakers coach is a big move.
Juwan likely one of the few candidates who would be respected by Lebron. Also, the payday would be huge. Not sure Lakers would pull Juwan up that far, more likely they want a retred.
Is Oakland still in play for Harbaugh?
This joke seems less effective after this past winter.
Other than there is no Oakland.
Only Zuul.
April 12th, 2022 at 12:01 AM ^
He meant the A's. Harbaugh is pulling a Jordan and moving to baseball.
No, but Minnesota is...
Missing a purple neck sharpie
April 11th, 2022 at 10:25 PM ^
vlady, you got awful big zelensky's to post a picture like that.
I actually think this is in the realm of possibility. Not saying it's happening or there is fire here, but it's certainly possible.
Juwan is well-respected in the NBA especially among players, was on short lists for head coaching gigs in the league before coming to Michigan, and would almost certainly be welcomed by NBA veterans immediately in the locker room.
In the NBA it's as much (if not more) about being able to manage egos and maintain players' respect as it is X's and O's, and right now the Lakers need a guy who can demand the kind of respect Howard (probably) can.
City of Klompton is correct I’m sure. I just want to point out to anyone reading this thread who is in management/leadership that it’s always about managing egos and maintaining respect from and for your people. Whoever you are, the best in your field may not be too fundamentally different than those in the NBA. Every place has its ecosystem of stars, role players, free agents etc. /end rant
100% this is possible. Juwan was one of the candidates before LA hired Vogel, and unless they hated him, it would be a pretty big surprise if they didn't want to give him a call and see what his interest was.
Lakers are notoriously stingy with coaching hires. They missed out on Ty Lue and Monty Williams during the last cycle because the team threw out lowball offers to both. You can read all about it here:
https://theathletic.com/3241509/2022/04/11/frank-vogel-lakers-replacements/ ($$)
Howard could end up there, of course; nothing is certain. But...it's not a given that the money would be astronomical.
Also, the Lakers have:
- A 37 year-old #1 player
- An injury-prone #2 player
- One of the oldest teams in the league
- No first round draft picks until 2027
- No salary cap flexibility or trade assets
- Six (legit) championship contenders in the West to battle
And that's before even bringing up the multiple issues with Westbrook.
Again, Howard might decide that all of that is manageable. There will be better NBA jobs available this offseason if he's looking for a change.
It would be a high-profile job for sure. But I think it's a pretty crappy setup. Frank Vogel isn't a bad coach. Maybe a different coach could get a bit more out of the team, but the Lakers' problem this year wasn't coaching, it was talent.
They have little around Lebron except AD who's often hurt. Westbrook is just a disaster at this point in his career, and it'll be extremely difficult to trade him for anyone much better. There isn't much else in terms of young talent, cap room or assets to upgrade the roster. AD getting healthy would help a lot, but even with him this team is a long way away from being a championship-caliber roster and those are the expectations.
Whoever takes the Lakers job is just getting set up for failure IMO.
Tough to turn down that job no matter how many of my kids are on my team. I do think there is genuine interest given Juwan's reputation in the NBA and his offensive mind.
I coach basketball and have for years. I’ve coached my kids. Literally nothing in my life has been so enjoyable. My dream jobs would be to coach the Knicks (I know, disaster franchise, terrible front office, dysfunctional, etc., but I grew up a die heard in the 80s and 90s) or M basketball. I would turn town either to coach high school and AAU with my kids on the team. Such a special thing to have the opportunity.
Oh I'm not saying he wouldn't turn it down. Just that it wouldn't be easy to pass on the Lakers job.
Pretty sure your kids would prefer you take the Michigan or Knicks job...
My kids would 100% prefer that I take the Knicks or Michigan job LOL.
Vogel WON A CHAMPIONSHIP two seasons ago and he’s probably getting fired today. It’s very easy to turn down that job if you are aware of the tire fire that is the Laker situation.
It's not just the Lakers. This is the reality of coaching in the NBA. If a team with pedigree has a bad year, the coach is the fall guy. There are probably less than 10 coaches in the NBA that are immune to this kind of treatment
I just saw that Vogel was fired, making him the 5th Laker coach since Phil Jackson left, none of which lasted more than 3 seasons. If the Lakers had a young roster, cap space, reasonable expectations and draft picks, maybe you roll the dice. They have none of those things.
They've been a dumpster fire, no argument there. Amazing that they found a way to win a title, but I guess that's the Lebron effect
As someone who lives in LA and has to hear about the Lakers year round, that is not a good job... That is Lebron's team... not the coach's... You also have to deal with an incredibly old and unathletic team with no considerable assets to trade except Anthony Davis, who plays MAYBE 50 games a year... They may want him, but that is a job with a poor management structure, no depth, and a team where it is more likely to come off the rails than to come together. Add the immense pressure of an unrealistic fan base. Does that sound like a tempting job?
They also have $100M coming off the books between LeBron and Westbrook the next 2 years. If they were to pair AD with 2 premier free agents (lets say Kevin Durant and Jokic, who are both upcoming UFAs). A team of AD, Jokic and KD could absolutely win a title. Or flip AD for an all star guard if that too many bigs for you.
EVERYONE wants to play in LA.
Possible and a good counterpoint... and LA would be a great place to play in for sure...
But who is going to flip an all star guard (whose performance you can generally predict out with relative confidence) for a big guy who can't stay healthy and has conclusively shown over his career to not be a 1. Anthony Davis is incredibly talented, but even Lakers fans kinda want to pull the plug on him bc he can't carry a team and is unable to stay on the court.
Wow. He’s a candidate for all jobs. He was definitely a coup, after the slap.
Again, these stories keep coming out and it's basically "someone mentioned his name and an NBA reporter tweeted it". Howard may well be considered for the Lakers job but it would be weird for him to bolt UM with his two kids on the team. And from what I've read there are guys like Nick Nurse (HC in Toronto) and Quinn Snyder (Utah HC) who are certainly on the radar as well.
Again the same article regurgitated by a freep,”artist!”
The LoLakers are so dysfunctional that Juwan would be stupid (sorry Coach) to even think about taking that job.
He'll be the University of Michigan Head Basketball Coach next year. I'd bet my last dollar on it.
Lebron is going to end up being a player/coach. And the Lakers will continue to finish 10 games under .500 or whatever.
As a heads up with some additional context, this Juwan mention is aggregated by the Freep from a Shams The Athletic article.
Shams writes a handful of paragraphs about how Toronto's Nick Nurse is the Laker's top target, and finishes one paragraph with the following sentence:
"Over the next several weeks, expect several other candidates to emerge, including University of Michigan coach Juwan Howard, who interviewed for the opening in 2019."
That is the extent of Sham's mention of Juwan for this position. I don't necessarily know what that means, but I don't think it means a whole lot right now. Other than, "everyone" is an option. And according to Shams, Nick Nurse is Top Target.
His former teammate being GM and his relationship with Lebron I would say put him ahead of "everyone". Not to mention his coaching ability.
GM and Lebron may both very well be gone after 2022, so yeah
Oh don't get me wrong... I dont disagree that there are ties there, but "everyone" isn't to be read as "anyone." Juwan is obv a very good coach, and the Lakers would be lucky to have him.
That said, the Lakers may not be interesting TO Juwan. Lebron is going on 38 years old. He's a highly performing version of himself, but he's not "Lebron" anymore, nor should he be expected to be. That said, he's won the scoring title this year for the first time in a while, so that's a positive. But this Lakers team is out of the playoffs, has no cap room, has no draft picks, has a "maybe" great whose nickname is "street clothes." Basically, there's more questions than answers here. This isn't Steve Kerr taking the Warriors type of 'slam dunk' job. (Steve Kerr known for his prolific slam dunks of course)
Lakers Coaches (and their tenure) since Phil Jackson
Mike Brown (1 season)
Mike D'Antoni (2 seasons)
Byron Scott (2 seasons)
Luke Walton (3 seasons)
Frank Vogel (3 seasons)
This isn't exactly a "warm" environment for building a team.
Additionally, as far as the former college teammate GM goes... there's talk that Rob's days may be numbered in LA. Many scapes for this GOAT, when things don't go as well as planned. Russ, Vogel... and possibly now Rob.
Pelinka was in a no-win situation. Either say no to LeBron’s demand to add Westbrook and get fired, or say yes, let the season unfold as dysfunctional as it has and then get fired.
Partial agree.
LeBron wanted another star player to shoulder some of the offensive load (understandable) and Westbrook was seen as the most gettable. They could maybe have done some other moves to maybe get in on Demar DeRozan.
The thing is, we'll never know exactly what went down - so a lot of the second-guessing is so much Monday morning quaterbacking. Obviously LeBron has a lot of influence and, frankly, he should - it's malpractice to not cater to your best player, especially one of his stature. That said, Pelinka and the front office could've and probably should've done better to push back and make moves that were better for the long haul, much the Pat Riley did to an extent in Miami.
The Laker's front office failed on many fronts this season and, this might sound crazy, but the Westbrook trade wasn't even the worst mistake, just the loudest one - it was the spare parts they assembled around the three stars. The identity of the 2019-2021 teams was built around size and defense - a style Frank Vogel could and did coach well - and they tore all of that way with one-way gunners and/or geezers who couldn't rotate on defense. Letting Alex Caruso walk because you were too cheap to sign him to a three-year deal was, to my mind, a far more fireable offense than the Westbrook trade because you could at least squint through purple-and-gold glasses and see Westbrook working if everyone had stayed healty.
Lakers Coaches (and their tenure) since Phil Jackson
Mike D'Antoni (2 seasons)
Mark Dantonio coaches basketball too?!