With Darvin Ham out as Lakers head coach, the organization has to quickly pivot from focusing on continuity to finding a new leader.
Several names have been rumored to be in the running for the head coaching chair, including Kenny Atkinson, Micah Nori, David Adelman, Mike Budenholzer and JJ Redick.
So, for our latest SB Nation Reacts poll, we asked Lakers fans who were the best coaching candidates from this pool. Two names, Buddenholzer and Redick, got the most votes.
Budenholzer’s getting 36% of the vote is interesting since that’s the coaching tree Darvin Ham grew out of. Organizations tend to go the opposite direction of the person who was let go, so I’m surprised fans want the person who helped mold many of Ham’s ideologies. Sure, they are two completely different people and Budenholzer is a champion, but I was surprised nonetheless.
won’t matter much at this point, as Shams Charania of The Athletic has reported that Budenholzer will be the new head coach of the Phoenix Suns. Given that Vogel was reportedly fired just a day before, this process seems to have taken no time at all.
With Budenholzer out of the picture, Redick is the clear favorite amongst fans, getting 33% of the vote.
Redick is a fascinating coaching prospect. He has tremendous NBA knowledge as a former player and an elite shooter in his day. On the media front, he has experience in broadcasting and has displayed his basketball acumen on his podcast “Mind The Game” with his co-host, Lakers star LeBron James.
Still, he’s never coached at a high school, college, or professional level. Does that sound like someone who should be in charge of a historic franchise looking for one last chance to get a ring with the duo of LeBron and Anthony Davis?
