Miami Heat: Juwan Howard should avoid Lakers coaching disaster at all costs

Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard has drawn interest from the Los Angeles Lakers for their vacant head coach job. Howard should avoid it like the plague.

Since long before the Los Angeles Lakers finally fired beleaguered head coach Luke Walton, Miami Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard was rumored to be a legitimate candidate for the then-occupied job.

Now that Walton has actually been dismissed, Howard remains a candidate for what could be considered one of the premiere jobs in the NBA, coaching LeBron James and a young core of players in the home of Hollywood.

Howard should run from this supposed opportunity like a monster in the shadows.

In spite of the glitter that comes with this job with that team, the Lakers are perhaps the most disfunctional organization in the NBA.

Team president Magic Johnson quit on a whim in an impromptu press conference before a game late in the regular season. Kurt and Linda Rambis are influential behind the scenes in the gaping directional vacuum, in what might be the most absurd power couple in NBA history.

The organization has already been rebuffed by two candidates, first by Monty Williams, who chose the Phoenix Suns (of all teams) over the Lakers, and more recently Ty Lue because the Lakers shamefully low-balled him, tied his contract length to LeBron James’ contract, and insisted on choosing his assistant coaches.

There is no upside for Juwan Howard to take the reins of the Los Angeles Lakers, should they choose to offer him a job. He won’t get credit for his success, if there is any, because when you have LeBron you’re supposed to win anyway. He will get full blame for the team’s failures, because again, when you have LeBron you’re supposed to win, even though the Lakers are an organizational disaster with a top-to-bottom Game of Thrones-esque level of intrigue and subterfuge.

Juwan Howard should have a bright coaching career ahead of him, and there’s a risk that it could be derailed before it even begins if things go off the rails with the Lakers. The time will come when Howard will be a team’s first choice for their head coach, not their third (or worse), and when that time comes he won’t be forced to hire Jason Kidd (noted power-hungry schemer) or Tom Thibodeau as assistants.

He might be the best choice for the Lakers, but Howard should avoid that job like the plague it is.