Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes
Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve had a fantastic week.
I don’t know if they know it quite yet, but the Lakers and Bucks have a problem with each other.
It’s not that serious yet. It’s only just simmering for now. But, man, you can feel the spice levels rising by the day.
So let me paint the picture. It all starts with J.J. Redick, who is, obviously, the new Lakers’ head coach. But before he was the Lakers coach, he’d turned himself into a media mogul. He worked at ESPN, obviously, and frequented First Take.
One of his most egregious takes was about Doc Rivers, who he lambasted on national television. After Rivers took over when the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin, Redick called him out for “making excuses” and always throwing his teams “under the bus.”
“Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard … but it’s always an excuse,” He said. “There’s never accountability with that guy.”
Well, now, Redick is a head coach. Specifically, he’s the head coach of the team that fired Darvin Ham last season. And here’s where another layer gets added to this deliciously spicy beef lasagna.
Ham is now an assistant coach for Doc Rivers’ Bucks. Before the Bucks’ preseason game against the Lakers on Thursday, Rivers was asked about Ham being fired by LA and now being on his staff. He proceeded to take that moment to tear into the Lakers.
“I’m not going to get into the whole thing that happened there, but he took a team to a Western Finals and, then the following year, he won the in-season tournament, which they say we should have a lot of value on, and then they release him.” Rivers said. “It literally makes no sense, but it happens.”
Rivers clearly believes Ham should still be coaching the team that the guy who had a lot of not-so-nice things to say about him last year is currently in charge of. The Lakers players seem to disagree, so there’s that. But, hey, man. Doc is entitled to his opinion.
Meanwhile, as far as things between Rivers and Redick go, the Lakers’ current head coach hasn’t apologized but said he’d probably have worded things differently if he could do it again. Overall, Redick says Rivers is “fine” in his book.
I wonder if the feeling is mutual.
Anthony Edwards is the coolest
I haven’t started watching Netflix’s Starting 5 series quite yet, but I’m definitely about to dive into it this weekend. You should, too.
If you weren’t interested before, I guarantee you will be after watching the series introduce Anthony Edwards as the next big thing in the NBA.
How the Netflix series “Starting 5” introduces Anthony Edwards at the end of episode 1, has got me so AMPED 👑 🔜 🐜 pic.twitter.com/pAuTXyq6hG
— K👁🌲🐺🌲 (@Kgformvp211) October 9, 2024
LeBron says if he thought there was someone on the floor who he thought was in better condition than him, he’d be willing to “sit down a little longer.” And then, flawlessly, we cut to Edwards, who says he’s itching to bust James’ you-know-what on the basketball court.
This is brilliantly sequenced. I haven’t seen the full thing, but James seems to be referring to the whole minutes restriction thing that Darvin Ham (lol) introduced last season.
Using that specific line to cut to Anthony Edwards and turning it into a “next generation” thing is excellent television. I can’t wait to dive deeper into this.
MORE ON STARTING 5: Domantas Sabonis opens up about getting vulnerable on the new Netflix show
Shootaround
— Check out today’s Morning Win on why the WNBA Finals aren’t over for the Liberty yet after their embarrassing Game 1 loss.
— Here’s Charles Curtis with 8 sleepers for your Fantasy Basketball team this season.
— Speaking of, here are 8 fantasy team names that we could actually print. You’re welcome.
— Here’s Meg Hall on Courtney Williams completely shifting the WNBA Finals with her heroics.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. We’ll see you on Monday. Until then — peace.
-Sykes ✌️
