Jenine Howard: "He wants to win a championship. That’s the focus."
Too many got their underoos in a knot when I mentioned the Juwan Howard/Lakers speculation was bubbling up and that it would eventually need to be addressed.
In response to a report that Howard wants to stay at Michigan and coach his sons, his wife, Jenine, the first lady of Michigan Basketball, added:
"I also wish they would stop making it about “his sons” He is excited to Coach EVERY kid here. He wants to win a championship. That’s the focus."
https://twitter.com/J9Howard/status/1513988644138360838?t=QtXXZYTzQeIW8udU58loCA&s=19
It was obvious this was going to be a "thing," even for a short while. The lazy connection with Pelinka and LeBron was going to make it damn near impossible to ignore, even if there was ZERO truth or legitimacy behind it all.
In other Juwan Howard "news," here's Coach Howard and Coach Beilein enjoying a softball game: https://twitter.com/umichsoftball/status/1513996718395723780?t=BB2abltIFLYAEMYOa6RinA&s=19
April 13th, 2022 at 12:16 AM ^
Nice pic. Glad they're buds.
Who's the guy on the right?
Also, Rob Pelinka has certainly not established a good name for himself. I'm not sure great agents make great executives (see Van Wegenen, Brodie). Pelinka's handling of the Frank Vogel situation was not a good look. And the Laker front office, over which Pelinka nominally presides, is a political snake pit. Why would Howard want any part of it?
I am not sure this is accurate. Pelinka put together the deals that helped LA win a championship. It was only after the Lakers started treating LeBron like a "stakeholder" (or some such shit) that their roster collapsed. The articles that have come out since the season ended stating LeBron won't have any say in roster construction going forward speak volumes. LeBron meddled too much, apparently demanding Westbrook over DeRozan, if not DeRozan AND Buddy Hield, at the very least.
That’s Jay Smith.
I don't think it's fair to assume that Pelinka has 100% control over the Laker front office. There are too many variables in that organization without factoring in Lebron.
April 13th, 2022 at 10:23 AM ^
With the obvious disclaimer that everything we, the general public, knows about the Laker situation is cultivated through calculated leaks to Sham/Woj via what can be charitably described as unreliable narrators, which is a roundabout way of saying that we don't know shit:
The biggest thing that might deter Howard from accepting the Laker job is how they've treated previous coaches they interviewed. Ty Lue walked away from negotiations for the job because they gave him a three-year contract that pretty obviously lined up with LeBron's stay there and they wanted to pick his staff. Vogel, for his part, was also a good coach, but not good enough to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, which is what happened this year. It's fine to move on from him because he did fail this year, but his failure was only a small part of this abortion of a season. In what will bring a rueful smile to other longtime MGoBloggers, it was leaked that Pelinka and senior basketball adviser Kurt Rambis* often sat in on coaches meetings.
* Rambis' qualifications, in ascending order of importance:
- having about a 67-140 head coaching record
- being at best the 4th best power forward for the 1980's Lakers
- being married to the BFF of Laker owner Jeanie Buss
April 13th, 2022 at 12:40 AM ^
I'm sure he wants to win a world championship too though.
He’s already got one.
Now it wouldn’t surprise me if he goes to the NBA someday but, and I know I’m kissing off Jenine, it’s not going to be before Jace and Jett leave, and probably not before a natty.
That being said, he clearly lives for the mentoring aspect of the college game so he may think this is his last job
Kissing off another man's wife? Bold move, Cotton.
that right there is going to earn you a bit more than an open hand swat to the mug.
I agree with the mentoring aspect.
April 13th, 2022 at 10:29 AM ^
I agree, and if he was a serious candidate for the Lakers job AND it was a job that provided a good chance to win a title, he would be wise to at least give it consideration. I believe that at some point Juwan would like to be a head coach in the NBA. I’d be delighted if he stayed at Michigan for 30 years, but I won’t begrudge him the chance to do this in the NBA, especially since he was preparing for that until Michigan asked him to come home.
Now, the Lakers? That would have been interesting. They’re a mess, though I confess with my divided attention span I am not an expert on why they’re a mess (I have some ideas, since I had suspicions about how well their roster moves would work out, but anyone who watches the NBA regularly this season will know far better than me). And it seems apparent that Lebron’s influence on the franchises he plays for is a real factor. So if the job were open, Juwan would probably want to speak to someone who knows what it’s like to deal with talent-laden rosters, maybe someone who has been on the staff of a Lebron James team before. Someone like former Miami player and assistant Juwan Howard.
My guess is that we get another couple of years out of Juwan for sure, and then maybe he considers the NBA depending on how things have gone here. But maybe not—it’s not wrong if he really wants to go to the NBA someday, but I won’t rule out him finding this place to be somewhere he is happy to stay long term.
"Too many got their underoos in a knot ..."
Is MaizeBlueA2 here to pat himself on the back now that the idea "has legs?" Looks that way.
When he posted this it was nearly baseless speculation and was justifiably mocked:
When he posted this it was baseless speculation and was justifiably mocked...
FIFY
The Lakers coach next year will be someone other than Juwan Howard, regardless of what is speculated in the media, social media, etc.
Self fulfilling prophecies do tend to make accurate prophets. Your last thread being maybe well intentioned and perhaps true doesn't make it the helpful thing to do.
And we want him to win a championship.....Those who stay....
He may very well want to stay right now, and if he does, I welcome it. But I won't be surprised if he gets the itch to one day coach and win at the highest level (as a head coach). Yes, I know he coached with the Heat and won a title there while he was an assistant, but he wasn't running his own team. There's a difference.
If any NBA team comes calling, I wouldn't be upset if he at least picked up the phone and listened to what they had to say. As long as it was after the season was over and you're not straight up lying to recruit's faces about your plans. If it was a team like, say, the Lakers or Celtics, I'd tell him he'd be nuts to not take that interview. You can always say no at some point down the road, but there are some teams you just have to talk to and listen to their pitch.
Anywho, I hope he stays for a while, but I won't fault him if he decides he wants to take that jump. If Beilein of all people got the itch, you can expect Howard to possibly get it as well.
April 13th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
That picture of John Beilein and Juwan Howard together yesterday can only mean one thing: Coach Howard is leaving and they met there to secretly hand the coaching reins over to Coach Beilein!
/conspiracy theoried
I'd settle for, "Hi Juwan, here are the shooting drills I used to run."
April 13th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
If I'm a parent of a blue chip recruit, my takeaways are:
1) Juwan is staying
2) He will care for my son as if he is his own father
3) Jenine will also have a motherly care for my son
I can't imagine, as a blue chip recruit or the parent of one, wanting to go anywhere else for college ball.
The Lakers are a mess at this very moment. But overall the Lakers are routinely title contenders. They are in a city that players and coaches covet. A top media market. And they are the league’s alpha franchise, akin to the Yankees or Cowboys They would be appealing to most any candidate at any time.
OP: So you are following up your original post of baseless rumor-mongering with claims that others’ baseless rumor-mongering proved the validity of your original post. Where’s the logic? Why don’t you just confess that you deliberately posted false rumors of Coach Howard taking the Laker job (or even being interviewed for the job, or applying for the job, etc.) ?
good lord, just stop. two negatives don’t always make a positive.