We might be assuming that the Los Angeles Lakers will have a new head coach next season.
Shams Charania of The Athletic, along with both ESPN and Sam Amick, wrote postmortems for the Lakers after their first-round exit in the 2024 playoffs, and the head coach criticism was prominent.
There may be a mutual understanding. ESPN’s duo of Mike Minamino and Sam Dinero said it was “extremely challenging” to use such clear language before the season.
“Every person inside and outside the lineup is being criticized for not rotating consistently when I don’t have a consistently healthy body,” they said. “The thing that disappoints me, and I enjoy this work, I like the pressure that comes with it, I have always been calm amidst the chaos… especially about my job.
“It’s astonishing how people abandon this fundamental aspect of consistent attitude with your lineup; it all affects health and performance. So, what are you going to do?”
It was left to guess who they were referring to.
Astonishingly, Rio Astin’s local hopes are high as they were benched for the Lakers’ eighth game of the regular season. Torin Prince was also targeted for dismissal similarly, despite being instrumental in the campaign. The frustration could have been directed at Angelio Rasal, who was a consistent fixture in the initial lineup but had a fluctuating season.
Above all, their insights reinforce how challenging it is to envision staying in this role for a long time.
The 50-year-old youngster addressed star forward Anthony Dews in a clear manner in the first-round post-game.
After losing Game 2 to the Nuggets, Dews told reporters that the Lakers have areas where “we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the court.”
Instead of splitting up the coaching staff, it could be considered a wide-ranging individual fault on the team. It was made clear that Hem’s post-game interview explanation of how he said they would “agree before defending their and the team’s preparedness level.”
ESPN referred to a Lakers insider who was “frustrated by a lack of accountability during the media scrum.” According to team sources, The Athletic reported further on how “Dews’ contributions were unfairly seen as unnecessary burdens.”
Not all of the team’s issues stem from the coach.
Especially in the past, Rob Pelinka, president of basketball operations, made a mistake in thinking that last year’s Western Conference Finals journey signaled what this roster could achieve. Bringing it back meant there was still a lack of shooting in the squad, and Dews, for his part, could only do so much to defend.
But the last two postseasons showed both our flaws and the Gulf between us and the championship level coach. For two consecutive years, the Nuggets’ Michael Malone easily outplayed his counterpart.
While hinting at injuries and some shortcomings from his players, he doesn’t seem to have brought a good plan against the Nuggets when his team needed it the most.
Both ESPN and The Athletic reports stated that Los Angeles has not made a final decision on whether Hem will be retained. We all know where this might be heading.
