Talking points, analysis, LA Lakers locker room drama, Darvin Ham, LeBron James, Golden State Warriors struggles, Jonathan Kuminga, Milwaukee Bucks defensive issues, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks

Despite finally snapping their losing streak, there’s drama in the Lakers’ locker room as pressure mounts on Darvin Ham.

Plus the Warriors’ identity crisis and Milwaukee’s big issue it needs to solve amid the championship race.

That and more in our latest NBA Talking Points!

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‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’: STARK REALITY AMID LAKERS’ LOCKER ROOM DISCONNECT

While Darvin Ham remains calm – at least on the surface – a storm is brewing in the background and, if you believe multiple reports, it could result in the Los Angeles Lakers coach losing his job.

The Lakers did what they needed to by making a statement against the Clippers – and a few more wins will do a whole lot of good when it comes to silencing the noise surrounding Ham’s future.

For it seems like an eternity ago the Lakers were crowned the inaugural winners of the NBA’s in-season tournament (IST), when Anthony Davis made a statement in a 41-point, 20-rebound performance against the Indiana Pacers.

Funnily enough, it was only a fortnight prior to that win that the Lakers had suffered a 44-point blowout loss to the 76ers, which prompted LeBron James to declare “a lot” needs to change.

The way the Lakers quickly turned things around before the IST could lend some weight to Ham’s argument that Los Angeles may not be too far away from looking like Western Conference contenders once more.

There is a difference though. The Lakers had won eight of their last 10 games before that match-up with the Pacers.

Right now, L.A. has lost 10 of its last 14 games.

“I’m tired of people living and dying with every single game we play… it’s ludicrous… this is a marathon,” Ham said after the Lakers’ latest loss to the Grizzlies.

He has a point. People can be too reactionary, too quick to overreact to one loss or one bad play. But this isn’t that.

This is a losing skid that has the Lakers 10th in the Western Conference. A losing skid that had a clearly frustrated James admitting “we suck right now” after the 127-113 defeat to Memphis.

On the other hand, Ham said it “seems to be” a “pattern” of rival players “stepping their game up when they come into our building”.

Or maybe the real pattern is there for everyone to see in the numbers, with the Lakers allowing more wide-open 3-point attempts a game (22.5) than any other team in the league.

That is despite having a defensive stopper like Davis that should naturally allow the Lakers to more heavily crowd the 3-point line and force opponents to beat them in the paint.

Whereas Ham has consistently called for patience and pointed towards the team’s injuries to explain their recent string of losses, the messaging from the Lakers’ players has been very different.

“We’ve got to do better as players to affect them to miss shots,” Austin Reaves said after the Memphis loss.

“They shot 51 per cent from three tonight. That’s not acceptable. We have to take it upon ourselves to do better.”

The Lakers were supposed to be in a strong position to take a swing for the title this season after making shrewd moves in the summer while also finding a way to keep five key players in James, Davis, Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura together.

They added some much-needed outside shooting while maintaining enough continuity to set up the offence for a smooth transition from the 2022-23 season.

Injuries have played their part, with the loss of Gabe Vincent (knee) in particular proving a tough blow, but more important than anything else in recent years has been the health of James and Davis.

That has been hard to rely on in the past but so far this season the superstar duo have only combined to miss five games.

It is part of the reason why Ham needs a greater sense of urgency and understanding of why people are “living and dying with every game we play”, as he put it.

If multiple reports are to be believed Ham himself could be “living and dying with every game” he coaches too, with The Athletic claiming there is a “deepening disconnect” between the Lakers coach and the locker room.

That is according to six different sources, who “described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting line-up adjustments recently from Ham”, according to The Athletic.

That is consistent with reporting from Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, who said on a recent episode of the No Cap Room podcast that player agents have even started voicing their concerns about Ham.

“I think this is the tip of the iceberg of this guy being legitimately on the hot seat right now,” Fischer said.

“There’s just a lot of chatter from people around the organisation that he’s not the guy that’s going to be able to get this thing over the hump. Now, look, they were able to overcome a 2-10 start last season to make the Western Conference Finals so he’s proven the ability to right a ship and steer them out of stormy waters to some beautiful island somewhere else in the postseason picture.

“But the noise is very loud. There’s a lot of people very frustrated. A lot of agents calling the front office frustrated about their guys not getting the right opportunities.”

If there is anything working in Ham’s favour it is his relationship with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, with The Athletic revealing she sent the Lakers coach a “lengthy text message of support” in the wake of the publication’s report detailing the team’s locker room disconnect.

IDENTITY CRISIS AT THE HEART OF WARRIORS’ WOES

Speaking of coaches under pressure, while Steve Kerr isn’t in the hot seat just yet he is certainly seeing plenty of criticism for his role in Golden State’s slow start to the season.

Most notable has been Kerr’s misuse of young forward Jonathan Kuminga, with a report from The Athletic last week claiming he had “lost faith” in the veteran coach allowing him to “reach his full potential”.

“(Thursday night) was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” one of the sources told The Athletic.

Thursday night, in that instance, referred to Kuminga spending the final 18 minutes of Golden State’s 130-127 defeat to Denver on the bench despite having scored a productive 16 points to go with four rebounds and four assists in 19 minutes of action.

Kuminga was not the only one to be frustrated with a lack of consistent playing time, with Jason Dumas of KRON4 also reporting that people around Moses Moody are “frustrated with the lack of having a role and the lack of consistency”.

The issue for Kerr is the fact that Kuminga and Moody’s reported frustration speaks to a broader problem for the Warriors, who for a few years now have been trying to delicately balance their championship ambitions while also looking forward towards the future.

A two-timeline strategy is always hard to pull off and while the Warriors did win a championship that was largely on the back of their already established superstar trio Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.

Plus, Jordan Poole also had a breakout year while Andrew Wiggins was a hero in the NBA Finals.

Now Poole is no longer on the team while Wiggins struggled earlier in the season. Then you have the ticking time bomb that has been Green and the reality that Thompson is not the player he once was.

And that is at the root of Golden State, and specifically, Kerr’s dilemma right now. He does not seem completely willing to accept that this Warriors team as a whole is not what it once was.

Younger players like Kuminga aren’t just pieces for the future, they are the team’s best options right now and need to be given more minutes to reflect that.

There was an interesting contrast in the loss to Denver which spoke to just where Kerr is going wrong and where a Western Conference contender like the Nuggets are going right.

Whereas Kerr opted to leave Kuminga on the bench, Denver coach Michael Malone showed no hesitation in pulling the more experienced Michael Porter Jr. from the line-up to play second-year wing Peyton Watson.

It proved the right call too as the 21-year-old made a clutch 3-pointer and then grabbed an important defensive rebound before Nikola Jokic tied up the game down the stretch.

Malone had the confidence in Watson and even if it didn’t pay off the Nuggets have shown a willingness to give their young guys opportunities, with Christian Braun repaying them for it in the NBA Finals after seeing consistent minutes off the bench throughout the regular season.

To his credit, Kerr has leaned more heavily on impressive rookies Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski, rewarding them for strong early season form with more minutes.

It may take time for Kerr and the Warriors to tighten up their rotations and given the competitive nature of the Western Conference, time isn’t something that is on Golden State’s side at the moment.

Perhaps the Warriors will make a big swing before the trade deadline in a desperate attempt to stay in the championship hunt.

Or maybe they will move some veteran pieces to further plan for the future in an admission that this indeed is the end of Golden State’s dynasty and start of a new chapter.

As Curry said himself last week, more than anything else the Warriors need to figure out who they are before anything else.

“It’s the nature of this team,” Curry said.

“It’s kind of materialised throughout the year. We’ve experimented a lot. Some for forced reasons. Some for us searching for an identity of what are our strengths and playing into that, and we haven’t found that.

“It’s frustrating for sure – we’re 32 games in and any team that is a seriously competitive contender, a good team, can usually answer that question. So, we have to get to that point for sure, before it’s too late.”

Maybe it already is for the old version of the Warriors. But it doesn’t have to be that way for the next one.

ISSUE BUCKS ‘NEED TO SOLVE’

Defence was a key question mark hanging over the Bucks after their big off-season moves … and it remains.

It was always going to take a hit after Damian Lillard took over from Jrue Holiday as the starting point guard, not to mention Adrian Griffin replacing Mike Budenholzer as head coach and implementing a whole new system.

But Milwaukee’s defence is ranked bottom third in the NBA over the course of the season.

Sure, it’s only January and the Bucks sit second in the East at 25-11 and look primed to go deep in the playoffs behind their potent offence that’s ranked third overall. However there’s legitimate concerns around whether or not they a defensive system that can win a championship – and it’s very much championship or bust for Griffin, Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and company.

After all, regular season records only mean so much and it’s also important to look at other data and teams’ process in assessing their overall profile, and in the Bucks’ case, championship credentials.

So how much do we read into it as we near the midway point of the season? With a juggernaut offence led by Lillard and Antetokounmp, can they simply score their way to a title if they become at least solid defensively? They might have to if they’re any chance of going all the way.

This was basically the model of 2023 champion Denver last season – it was ranked fifth in offence during the regular season, but ranked only 15th defensively (though the latter improved in the playoffs). It seems to be the direction the NBA is heading in, where defence is no longer seen as the be-all and end-all

It’s worth noting the Bucks’ current profile is the complete opposite to previous seasons where they were known as a stingy defensive team. Last season they were ranked fourth in defensive rating but were just middle of the road on offence.

And in losing Holiday, they lost the frontline of their defence that at times compensated for others, while Lillard’s backourt partner Malik Beasley, like Lillard, is also not regarded for his defence.

In saying this, Milwaukee has improved to the point where it has the 16th-best defensive rating since November compared to it being among the worst few teams in the first few weeks of the campaign. There was always going to be an adjustment made by Griffin, plus more data painting a clearer picture of where they sat.

And so it’s not time to ring the alarm bells, but it’s something to monitor.

Because, again, when the Bucks come up against the best teams in the post-season, they’ll at least need to be able to hold their own defensively to contend for the major prize.

“They’re not dominant like they were last season, but they’re not at the complete bottom of the barrel like they were in the first couple of weeks of the season,” The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor said on The Mismatch Podcast.

“It’s partially schemes still and partially personnel – obviously you lose Jrue Holiday and replace him with Damian Lillard and you have Malik Beasley, that’s not great point of attack defence. (Pat) Connaughton is not the same guy right now.

“Part of it is a lack of hustle – last season they were eighth best in points allowed in transition, this year they’re eighth worst in points allowed in transition.

“I think it’s a lot of little things adding up to make them average since they made the switch (to playing tighter and higher up). I don’t think it’s unfixable by any means … but they definitely do have to solve it.”

SLEEPING GIANT … OR A WASTED SEASON?

Are the Memphis Grizzlies the sleeping giants in the championship race? Or is this a mountain too tall to climb?

One thing’s for sure – the clock is ticking on their season.

It was always going to be a slow start out of the gates for Memphis while Ja Morant served his 25-game suspension. Then things became even more tough when Steven Adams suffered a season-ending injury on the eve of the campaign followed by Marcus Smart’s nasty ankle setback in the opening weeks.

It all added up to a disastrous 3-13 start to the season for Taylor Jenkins’ team to make for a worse scenario than most anticipated. It included the Griz sitting 6-19 prior to Morant’s return to the court, however when he did, the dynamic quickly shifted.

Memphis has gone 7-4 with Morant back in the fold to look much more like the title contender of recent seasons compared to the lottery side of the first quarter of the campaign.

“It’s a competitive team with Morant … I’m starting to see what their team could actually look like,” ESPN’s Zach Lowe told The Bill Simmons Podcast.

“Morant, Bane and Jackson – we know that’s a good foundation.

But has too much damage already been done?

The Grizzlies currently have a 13-23 overall record as we approach the midway point of the season, sitting 13th in the West and 4.5 games outside a play-in spot.

That mightn’t seem like much, but Memphis would need to make up a fair bit of ground in the always tough and competitive Western Conference.

Based on current standings, the Griz would need to jump both the Jazz and Warriors plus at least one of the Lakers, Suns, Rockets or Pelicans, who currently sit 7-10th, to just feature in the play-in.

Both teams that finished 10th in either conference (OKC and Chicago) at the end of last year’s regular season notched 40 wins. Based off those numbers, Memphis would need to go a minimum of 27-19 for the rest of the way to just make the play-in.

Locking in a guaranteed playoff spot is an even harder road and appears unlikely right now.

Of course, if Memphis was to limp into the playoffs, it’d likely be on the road for any series it plays in in anything key factor in its overall prospects.

No matter, the Grizzlies have enough talent and time on their side in a marathon NBA season, even if the clock is ticking. They frankly can’t afford many, if any, more bumps along the way – and they might need other teams in their conference to experience a couple.

UNSUNG HERO IN KNICKS’ RISE

From “some dude named Hartenstein” to the heart of the Knicks’ surge.

Nobody has played more minutes on the Knicks since the OG Anunoby trade than Isaiah Hartenstein, who has aptly replaced Mitchell Robinson while leaving every game looking like he went through a meat grinder.

The German-American draws blood regularly these days, showing off the latest scratches on his arm and hand following Sunday’s blowout triumph over the Wizards.

And while Hartenstein isn’t quite the same height as Robinson or as proficient an offensive rebounder, he does hold a very large and important advantage over the frequently injured starting centre.

Hartenstein is crazy durable.

Despite absorbing an inordinate amount of gashes and blows, Hartenstein is riding a consecutive games played streak of 157 — by far the most on the Knicks.

He was one of only 10 NBA players last season to log all 82, a point of pride and probably a prominent bullet point on his résumé for free agency negotiations this summer (yes, his contract is expiring).

But now his role is expanded and a lot more strenuous. When Robinson was around, Hartenstein was playing less than half the game.

But Tom Thibodeau doesn’t have much faith in the other centres on the roster — Jericho Sims and newcomer Precious Achiuwa — which means Hartenstein rarely leaves the floor.

He acknowledged that was an adjustment.

“I think I had a slight little period on the road — I think it was at Orlando, at OKC, that road trip (last week) — where I kinda felt my body kind of going down a little bit,” Hartenstein said. “But I think now my body has gotten used to it. I take care of my body pretty good. So now, it’s just keep getting better in that role, and I think that’s something I can do on a consistent basis. … Now, my body is used to it. I don’t really get tired.”

In Sunday’s game, for instance, Thibodeau subbed out Hartenstein in the fourth quarter and tried to go small with Julius Randle at centre.

It lasted 65 seconds.

The Knicks gave up five points and Thibodeau quickly summoned Hartenstein.

“I just sat down. I put a towel around my shoulders and Thibs was like, ‘Isaiah,’ ” said Hartenstein, who finished with eight points and 19 rebounds, one short of his career high. “So I got back up.”

It’s hard to argue with the results. In the four games since the trade, Hartenstein is averaging a double-double (10.5 points, 13.5 rebounds) while leading the Knicks in steals (2.3) and blocks (3.0).

He’s also increased his play-making role, finding cutters such as Anunoby from the elbow while dishing out 2.8 assists per game since the trade. It has made ESPN analyst and Knicks fan Stephen A Smith look irrational for dismissing the centre on air when he said recently, “I got to deal with some dude named Hartenstein.”

“It’s fun,” Hartenstein said about his new responsibilities. “I think it’s definitely a role that I always envisioned myself being in.”

-This story was originally published by Stefan Bondy in The New York Post and reproduced with permission.