Lakers to hire Darvin Ham as next head coach, per report

The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham as their head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. The Lakers interviewed a number of candidates, but as the search drew to a close, they focused on three finalists: Ham, former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, and former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. In the end, Ham was able to win out over his more experienced competition and will receive a four-year deal to coach the franchise, per Shams Charania.

Ham, a small forward in his playing days, managed to eke out an NBA career that lasted nearly a decade. He won a championship with the 2004 Pistons and participated in the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, but he has since made his name as an assistant coach. After a few years in the G League, Ham's first NBA coaching job came with the Lakers. He worked under Phil Jackson from 2011-2013, just narrowly missing out on Kobe Bryant's last two championships.

His rise to prominence didn't come in Los Angeles, though. He left the Lakers in 2013 to join Mike Budenholzer's staff in Atlanta, and he has worked under Budenholzer ever since. Ham has been Budenholzer's top assistant for the past few years, and the pair won a championship together in 2021. Thus far, coaches from the Budenholzer tree have been fairly successful in their own jobs. Rumored Lakers candidate Quin Snyder, Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins and, ironically, Atkinson have all worked under Budenholzer. The Lakers likely valued that experience as they also interviewed another Budenholzer assistant: Charles Lee. Now Ham will be a head coach for the first time in his career, and he's got his work cut out for him given the year the Lakers just had.

Despite entering the season as Western Conference favorites, the Lakers just missed the playoffs with a 33-49 record. Their trade for Russell Westbrook was a disaster, and Frank Vogel was fired as head coach mere seconds after the final buzzer of the season finale. The roster needs an overhaul, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have dealt with injuries for two years, and in a loaded Western Conference, making the playoffs is going to be harder than ever.

The Lakers believe that Ham is up to the task. His first head-coaching job will be one of the hardest in all of basketball, but remember, the last time a team that employed James hired a first-time head coach, they won a championship. That coach, Ty Lue, is coaching in the same arena that Ham will be. Now the Lakers are hoping he'll achieve the same result.

Comments

Dennis Rodman Once Said He, Michael Jordan, And Scottie Pippen Could Lock Up LeBron James: "LeBron Is So Easy To Play. He’s So F**king Easy To Play. He Doesn’t Have Any Moves."

If there is something that will never end it is the comparison between players from different eras. Even in that niche, most comparisons revolve around the legendary players from the Chicago Bulls. Yes, we are talking about the likes of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. A perfect example of that was seen by fans back in a 2019 interview featuring Dennis Rodman. The Worm was asked about his thoughts on guarding none other than LeBron James. Rodman replied: (starts at 6:06) "You know who could lock up LeBron? Me, Mike, and Scottie could. F*ck yeah. I would have locked his a** up. LeBron is so easy to play. He’s so f*cking easy to play, he don’t have any moves. Only move he has is streak down the line. He ain’t got no moves. Where he going?? Where is he going that’s quick? That’ll be sh*t, you can stop that. Scottie Pippen would have shut his f*cking a** down quick before I get to him. His game is too simple, he’s just big. I’m 260 and 6’8” and 6’9”, that’s the onl...

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...

Michael Jordan On LeBron James: "He's An Unbelievable Player, He's One Of The Best Players In The World... I'm A Fan Of His, I Love Watching Him Play..."

Even before he made it to the NBA, LeBron James was already compared to the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan. His Airness made a huge impact on the league, winning six championships in eight years, dominating rivals every night, and becoming one of the best two-way players in NBA history. During his career, and even during his retirement, many players were compared to Jordan, but nobody could live up to the expectations. LeBron James was deemed 'The Chosen One' when he was a teenager, and comparisons between him and MJ never stopped coming. They have mutual respect, and the biggest proof of that came during the 2022 All-Star Game, where MJ and Bron embraced each other in Cleveland. James would post a big pic of his first and most recent encounter with Jordan, paying respect to the man that inspired him. Just like the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has always shown his admiration for James, Jordan has done the same before. Back in 2020, during a press co...

Crossover World

Search This Blog