Ranking all 7 Lakers head coaches since Phil Jackson from "bad" to "scapegoat"

Success in the NBA is a relative term.

For the Sacramento Kings, making the playoffs last season for the first time in two decades was a roaring success, propelling head coach Mike Brown to win Coach of the Year and forever connecting that group of players to the city of Sacramento and its fans.

For the Los Angeles Lakers, the expectations are a bit higher. This is the league's premier franchise, a team that has won titles in (nearly) every single decade of the league's existence. When you are hired as the head coach of the Lakers, you are expected not simply to win games, but to win championships.

Darvin Ham became the latest Lakers coach to be fired

Another head coach just learned that truth the hard way. Darvin Ham was fired as the Lakers' head coach after just two seasons. He took the Lakers to the playoffs in both seasons, including a run to the Western Conference Finals in 2022-23. It was not enough, and he fell victim to the buzzsaw of Lakers expectations.

Ham became the seventh coach to lead the Lakers since Phil Jackson, who took over the team in 2000 after winning six titles with the Chicago Bulls and proceeded to lead the Lakers to five more. Since 2011, however, the Lakers have averaged one new coach every two years.

Who has been the best Lakers head coach during that stretch? Who has been the worst? Let's rank all seven from downright "bad" to one who was consistently successful and yet became the "scapegoat" when things didn't go as well as hoped.