Lakers Hire Rambis as Assistant Coach

Call me a cynic (and NOT a fan of Jim Buss) but I can't help but wonder if D'Antoni isn't being set up for replacement, if/when the Lakers don't do well.  They double-tapped Mike Brown when he didn't produce in a year plus a handful of games.  D'Antoni, heading into this year, would have a little more time than that, perhaps.

They should have hired Rambis or Shaw in the first place, but that's water over the dam at this point.  I believe, in Rambis' case, he left voluntarily because he didn't think Phil was going to retire as soon as he did and he had a shot at a head coaching job in Minny.  Shaw's exit was different.  Hard feelings with Shaw, obviously not with Rambis.

Oh well, we've got enough worries with our team to spin many cycles on the Lakers.  Just thought I'd post it as news.  Good luck to Rambis.  I always liked and respected him, even as McHale clotheslined him.  Rambis, to his credit, bounced right up and went after McHale.  No whining, playing to the refs or faking injury. A true tough guy and an excellent role player.





bob

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I really like Rambis. He was super honest about the Lakers this year as a somewhat outsider.
As an fyi, Linda Rambis and Jeanie Buss are BFF's.
If D'Antoni gets Mike Brown'd at some point, I think Rambis would get hired and Phil would be a Lakers advisor. I really don't think Phil wants to take on the stress and travel of an NBA season.

Bob, you basically stole my thunder. I was going to ask whether McHale sent Rambis a congratulatory line.

Sam

sam wrote:Bob, you basically stole my thunder.  I was going to ask whether McHale sent Rambis a congratulatory line.

Sam

Sam,

A couple of things jumped out at me from that video:

1.  Rambis was up like a shot.  I don't know how his back felt the next morning, after it stiffened, but he didn't feel it then.
2.  James Worthy immediately ran over to scream at McHale, but seeing Rambis heading for McHale, turns instead and tries to get between him and McHale.  Angry?  Hell, yeah, but not crazy mad.  He, Worthy, knocks Rambis off his feet (along with referee Jess Kersey) into the stands.  I think they tripped over a cameraman.  That was back when people were allowed to sit right there.  I think that practice ended after Dennis Rodman kicked a cameraman.
3.  Bird calmly walked over, bent down to offer his hand and helped Rambis to his feet.  He didn't look at, nor was he involved, in the fracas.  After Bird helped him up, Rambis was completely calm and walked away from the riot going on.
4.  Both benches emptied.
5.  The color commentator on this national TV broadcast was Tommy.  I don't remember how the calls were being made down on the floor but I'm sure we got a couple of favorable ones from the broadcast booth.  :-)  I heard Tommy say, about Rambis, "he's angry, but this is part of the game.  Some coaches don't like giving up layups.  We saw some of that in the NY series".  Good old Tommy.  Old school to the end.  No layups, put them on their asses first and make them earn it at the line.  It makes me think of the story he tells about how he and Luscutoff used to hack the shit out of Wilt, HARD!, on purpose because he stunk at the line and it was a free shot at him.  I don't know how much of this was homie-ism by Tommy on this broadcast, since he has always been a tough guy.  That's probably why he loved Cowens, another player famous for hating flopping.

In today's wussified NBA, the trainers and ball boys would be suiting up because both teams would be ejected, right down to the end of the bench because they didn't stay on the bench either.  McHale would probably be out at least 2, maybe 3 games.  Possibly even the rest of the series.  As it was McHale wasn't ejected, nor was anybody else.  McHale was assessed the personal and Rambis shot and, I believe, sank two.  That was normal back then.  Don't whine, just make them pay at the line.  Same thing when Cowens blasted Mike Newlin over the scorers' table and into the 3rd row.  It was his 3rd personal and Cowens just sat down.  I don't know if Houston was in the penalty at the time, so maybe Newlin didn't even get to shoot free throws as payment for his impromptu visit to the neighboring county.



bob


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Bob,

One of my favorite Larry Bird anecdotes (I wish I could recall the name of the opponent) came on an out-of-bounds play. Larry was throwing the ball in from under the opponents' basket; and, for some reason, an opponent (I'm pretty sure it was a Laker and the game was in LA) wound up behind and right up against Larry. Without even looking around, Larry just flicked his ass, sent the guy sprawling into the crowd, and calmly inbounded the ball to a teammate. It was just another matter-of-fact thing for Larry, but I couldn't stop laughing for about five minutes.

One of my favorite Pierce moments was when Paul was sent flying into the crowd at one end of the floor. He was spraddled out among several fans. As he struggled to disentangle himself, he grabbed a drink from a spectator, took a hearty gulp, handed the drink back, and ran up the floor.

One of my favorite all-time "deapan moments" was one I've described before but will repeat for any newbies. Coming our of a timeout in the 60s (Red never allowed the Celtics to sit during timeouts because it showed weakness to the opponent), the Celtics (led by Satch Sanders) were slowly walking back out on the floor when a small rubber ball came hurtling out of the crowd and bounced several feet ahead of Satch. Without breaking stride, Satch calmly grabbed the ball and threw a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass to the guy behind him. And the guy behind him just happened to be Bill Russell. It might have been the only time I ever saw Russ at a loss as to what to do. But, to his credit, he caught the ball and rolled it out-of-bounds, walking all the time.

But (and I've told this one before), my favorite such incident will always be when a ref made a call against Sam Jones that absolutely infuriated Sam. When Red saw Sam ready to burst, he quickly called timeout. Sam slowly walked to the sideline, still holding the ball and with the referee trailing along behind him asking for the ball. When Sam reached the sideline, he slammed the ball on the floor, and it easily went 20 feet up in the air. A technical foul for sure. But wait! As the ball descended, Sam caught it, took several low, in-place dribbles, spun the ball around while looking intently at it, and even shook it by his ear. Then he turned and handed it to the ref with the words, "It's okay." No technical.

Unfortunately, all of these stories suffer in the re-telling, but you really had to see the nonchalance that was involved in each case in order to appreciate those moments to the max.

While it's impossible to compare eras statistically, it's heartening to recall that deadpan antics of the players need not be unique to any era.

A little off-subject to be sure, but I couldn't resist.

Sam

You know how much I respect the Celtics franchise and especially their championship teams of the past, but I consider that McHale-Rambis play a low point in Celtics history.

I know rough plays and fights were standard fare in the old days of basketball, but I thought McHale's clothesline of Rambis was an egregiously dirty and dangerous play. McHale is one of my favorite power forwards of all time, if not at the top of the list, but that play is a black mark against him in my book. What bothers me most is that it was rewarded because it turned both that game and the series in the Celtics' favor.

The only good things I see out of it are that Rambis wasn't hurt and it spurred the Lakers to rise above the physical challenge of the Celtics to become greater champions as they won three of the next four titles. But that doesn't justify a play that is outlawed even in football because it is so dangerous.

http://sulia.com/channel/basketball/f/d5d73e84-8523-445f-93f1-d1631a4f8b1a/?source=twitter

By Ric Bucher

Talks with various people close to the situation make it clear there were two prerequisites for Dwight Howard to
remain a Laker: fire Mike D'Antoni and amnesty, or at the very least muzzle, Kobe Bryant. As audacious as that might sound, it doesn't come without precedent in Lakers' history. When Kobe re-upped in 2004, it coincided with Shaq being shipped to Miami and Phil Jackson being let go. Of course, Kobe didn't have to pressure the team braintrust -- Mitch Kupchak and Jerry and Jim Buss -- to make those moves, since Dr. Buss, in particular, was done with both Shaq and Phil at the time. The Lakers apparently asked Dwight to be patient on both fronts for at least another season, telling him "hey, you're going to have to gut this out another year," a source said, although it sounds as if VP of basketball ops Jim Buss isn't ready to abandon Kobe anytime soon. "Dwight didn't want to play with Kobe for 2-3 more years," Buss said. "I'm going to stand behind Kobe because of his history with the franchise." It would seem, then, with all that happened, the Lakers had the wherewithal to keep Howard if they had desired; they simply found the price too high.


bob
MY NOTE:  So, they said "hang in there for a year and it'll all be better on both fronts", huh?  Congratulations, in advance, Laker Head Coach Kurt Rambis.  As far as the Kobe thing goes, well, it now looks like Kobe's irritation with the underachieving Lakers, which he expressed by telling Gasol to "put on his big boy pants", claimed the team was so slow that he was the fastest one on the team and "I'm like 50" and the ongoing jabs and haymakers he threw D12's way turned out to be quite real.  Can't blame Kobe for his frustration, of course.  Their job is to compete, they had a helluva team, on paper, to start the season and they weren't getting it done.  I wonder if Kobe's statement that he could play a few more years was the backbreaker for Howard or if Kobe just said that on purpose to make Howard's head explode and drive him away.  I'm not a fan of Howard, so this little prima donna act of his in Orlando and LA grew old a long time ago.  Hakeem is tutoring Howard now and describes him as "raw".  Duh.  Maybe that's because Dwight doesn't listen to anybody and doesn't let anybody push him.  I like Kaman, LA got him for a song and I can't help but think that, over the long run, they might have dodged a bullet by losing the Howard Sweepstakes.


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Sam, my favorite Sam story is the way he and Wilt almost went at it and Sam grabbed a chair to protect himself! I believe Russ came to his rescue, but just thinking about it still makes me laugh. I am sure if I looked hard enough I could find that picture as if was on the front page of the sports page. As I have said before, ah....the old days!

Rosalie

even if McHale was ejected and suspended on that play, it would have proved to be a pivotal turning point in the series.

Totally disagree with Outside here. The Lakers had blown the Celtics out in the previous game and were running up and down the court with abandon. Physical play is as much a part of NBA history as the beautiful fast breaking style of the 1980s Lakers. The Celtics were playing like a bunch of "sissies" as Larry Bird said after game 3 and this play, reasserted the East Coast - Eastern Conference physicality that was the Celtics main advantage.

In every sport, sometimes a message needs to be sent - that you will not fly up and down the field/court/rink laughing it up for long. Pitchers throw at batters, Safety's take personal fouls to send a message. That is part of the game.

Rosalie, both Russ and Red came to Sam's rescue.  Russ reportedly said to Wilt, "I you want Sam, you'll have to go through me."  Never happened.

But Wilt did get a substantial measure of revenge.  On the night before a game at Philly, Sam ate dinner at Wilt's house.  At some point, Wilt apparently said, "You know that 'Too late' thing you do when you score over me?  Well, if you come into the lane and do it tomorrow night, I'm going to deck you."

So, on the first offensive play of the game, Sam drove into the lane, hit a jumper just over Wilt's fingers, and said, "Too late."  And nothing happened.  So, on the next offensive play, Sam again drove into the lane went into his jump and awoke about a minute later—staring at Wilt who was towering over him."  Wilt: "Gonna do it again?"  Sam: Not tonight."

Auerbach had called a timeout when Sam hit the floor.  In the timeout Red called the exact same play again in the next possession after Sam's freebies.  "Oh no, not me," yelled Sam.  "Have Cousy or some of those guys do it."  I never did find out how the next play turned out, but I'm pretty sure Sam Jones didn't take a shot.

Things like that were part of what I call the league's primitive days. People were blasting one another throwing sucker punches, and learning how to do such things out of sight of the two referees. If someone had clotheslined Russell, it would have been handled very easily. Within 60 seconds the miscreant would simply have been introduced to Mr. Loscutoff. No wimpering from either players or fans.

Sam

mrkleen,

I expect that most people here disagree with my post, but I also think opinions would change if Rambis had clotheslined McHale. Given that circumstance, I don't think most Celtic fans would view that as "part of the game."

It's an "eye of the beholder" thing.

Bob,

It's a shame Howard is apparently insecure, which is the only way I can explain the stuff he'd done over the past several years. Unless he matures tremendously, I don't see him coming close to realizing his enormous potential. Instead of rising to a challenge, he demands that the challenge be removed or moves to another team to avoid the challenge. He won't be satisfied until his whims are completely coddled. In the long run, you may very well be right that the Lakers will be better off without him.

As for Rambis, he's been coach-in-waiting before, under Jackson, as was Shaw to a lesser extent, as have many, many other assistants. My highly unscientific stab in the dark is that most of those guys don't get the job they're supposedly in line for. We'll see how it works out for Rambis.

Outside wrote:mrkleen,

I expect that most people here disagree with my post, but I also think opinions would change if Rambis had clotheslined McHale. Given that circumstance, I don't think most Celtic fans would view that as "part of the game."

It's an "eye of the beholder" thing.

Outside

I agree with you 100%. Hometown bias plays a major role in most cases involving the home team.

Swish

Outside wrote:mrkleen,

I expect that most people here disagree with my post, but I also think opinions would change if Rambis had clotheslined McHale. Given that circumstance, I don't think most Celtic fans would view that as "part of the game."

It's an "eye of the beholder" thing.

The Celtics played against the Sixers with Moses, Dawkins, Bobby and Caldwell Jones - the Bad Boy Pistons and many many other very physical Eastern Conference teams many many times every season.  Dont think many in Boston would have much to say about physical play.

Physical play is part of every sport.  I am a big fan of using what you have at your disposal.  If you are a fast, talented, fast breaking team like the Lakers - do what you do.  But for the Celtics, they were the lunch pail guys...who played tough, physical games.  If you need to smack someone in the mouth to change the momentum...I have no problem with it.

I believe this is one area in which the age of the fan might be a major determinant in the fan's opinion.  With some exceptions (such as Swish), older fans might be a little less likely to get bent out of shape at rough play.  Earlier in this thread, I posted an incident in which one of my favorite all-time Celtics was warned that he was going to get plastered if he committed a particular act; he went ahead and committed the act anyway; and he got knocked unconscious.  I didn't think much of anything about it then, and I posted the story with what I hope was a tone of lingering amusement.  It was simply part of the game.

I don't have any statistics on the following, but I'd be willing to bet that—despite all the rock 'em sock 'em stuff in those days— there were fewer really serious injuries.  That was the case with the Celtics.  Between 1950 and 1969, I recall only two serious injuries—one lengthy injury to Loscutoff and a relatively brief ankle injury to Russell that came at the worst possible time (in the finals series) and resulted in loss of the 1958 championship.  What I think may have changed is that all the rules designed to protect players have led to a great proportion of sneaky cheap shots to the point of attempts, in some cases, to injure opposing players.  That sort of thing has to be curtailed, and I find it completely understandable that people on the court and fans would be incensed.

Sam

I'm not sure where my age (56) fits in Sam's equation, or the fact that I've been a fan of the league since the 1960's.

The story about Sam and Wilt is indicative of the early days of the NBA, but things had changed by the mid-1980's. There was still plenty of physical play, but the days of Red punching Hawks owner Ben Kerner or players punching each other with impunity were long gone. In the earlier days of the league, everyone had an enforcer (or two, or three) on their roster, but by the 1980's they were largely gone and the "bad boy" Pistons were the exception, not the rule.

Lastly, I'll point to the nature of the McHale-Rambis play -- it was a clothesline of a player going to the basket on a fast break, and Rambis could have easily suffered a very serious injury. McHale made no attempt at a basketball play and purposely took a player in the air down by the neck. This was not accepted physical play from that era, or any other. It was one of the most egregiously dangerous plays I've ever seen.

I'll leave it at that.

Outside, my definition of "older fans" (for whatever it's worth) would be those who watched a steady diet of NBA ball, with an analytical eye, throughout the 60s.  Doing so during the 50s would earn fossil status. And bonus points would be given for having digested Red Auerbach's "Basketball for the Player, the Fan and the Coach" numerous times before reaching puberty.

I'm not sure the days of guys punching one another with impunity were gone by the 80s.  Ask Bill Laimbeer about that.  I'd never claim that what McHale did was justified in any way, but I see flagrant fouls each year that are just as dangerous.

Actually, that play is symptomatic of one reason I'll never feel that any of the 1980s Celtics teams was as great as several of their 1960s teams.  The difference was speed and athleticism.  The 60s Celtics weren't seriously vulnerable to anything.  The 80s Celtics were vulnerable to speed, as the Lakers proved five times in ten seasons.  It could be argued that it was because McHale was slower and less agile that Rambis got the angle on him and Kevin resorted to hooking him around the neck with a long arm.  This isn't to excuse Kevin in any way for his action.  I guess only Kevin will ever know whether that move was a premeditated strategy.  It looks pretty instinctive to me, but who knows?

It's interesting that, after Rambis popped up immediately, he ran all over the place and was tripped by people sitting on the floor at the end of the court.  And the guy who picked him up and patted him on the backside was Larry Bird.

Sam