Lakers hire Darvin Ham, ticks several boxes with first-year head coach

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Lakers hire Darvin Ham, ticks several boxes with first-year head coach

After a month-and-a-half search, the Lakers hired their next head coach, Darvin Ham, Friday afternoon, multiple sources have confirmed the athlete.

Ham, 48, has ticked almost every box when looking for a coach for the Lakers: He’s got ties to the franchise, he’s got a championship pedigree, he’s coached several big stars (notably Kobe Bryant and Giannis Antetokounmpo), he’s an ex Player, he has a strong dominating personality, he is loved by the players and he is a respected tactician from the revered Popovich/Budenholzer coaching chain.

In an otherwise lackluster coaching market, Ham fits the profile of a first-year head coach with the potential to be successful from day one.

Ham seemed an obvious choice for the Lakers job after vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said the team was looking for a candidate with seriousness and high-level communication skills after appointing former head coach Frank Vogel on April 11 had dismissed.

Ham is known as a charismatic communicator who holds players accountable and sets strong boundaries. Though his expertise lies in player development — a skill that could certainly help improve the capped Lakers internally — he’s a defensive-minded tactician who played a notable role in developing the Bucks’ championship defense system.

According to sources, Ham agreed to a four-year deal with the Lakers. He was an assistant coach for 11 seasons, starting with Mike Brown’s Lakers in 2011 before spending the last nine years in Atlanta and Milwaukee as lead assistant under Mike Budenholzer. Ham is a two-time champion, winning both as a player (with the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons) and as an assistant coach (with the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks).

Three years after botching their last coaching job, the Lakers hired the best candidate available. Ham took second place the athlete‘s Coach Rankings – the best option on the market (#1 was Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, who was linked with the Lakers but was never officially available).

The only reason Ham’s hiring comes as a slight surprise is because of the Lakers’ history. They’ve traditionally favored flashy coaching names: Phil Jackson, Rudy Tomjanovich, Mike D’Antoni, and Tyronn Lue (the front-runner before they hired Vogel).

But without a clear candidate of that ilk, they had two choices: hire a retread or give an assistant coach a shot.

The Lakers decided to step out of their comfort zone and hire a freshman head coach with considerable potential (the Lakers’ last freshman head coach, Luke Walton, played nine seasons in Los Angeles and had much stronger ties to the organization). . Ham has a chance to solidify the Lakers’ coaching position after a decade of turmoil since Jackson’s departure.

Ham impressed the Lakers, beating out more experienced candidates Terry Stotts and Kenny Atkinson. The Lakers chose Ham after interviewing Stotts Tuesday and Ham Thursday, sources said. Ham is the 28th Lakers manager in franchise history and the sixth in the past 11 years.

It’s unknown how the Lakers are handling Vogel — initially crushing him on both years and money, offering him a one-year extension after winning a championship, and reporting his layoff on the buzzer of last regular season leaked game – influenced league-wide interest from already signed coaches such as Nick Nurse, Quin Snyder and Doc Rivers. It feels like these names would have followed the Lakers’ work harder in years past and/or circumstances would have been different.

Aside from playing a key role in Antetokounmpo’s rise to superstardom, Ham earned Bryant’s respect and also forged relationships with Pau Gasol, Al Horford, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.

The only real blow against him is that he has no experience as a head coach. He has been a runner-up for several head coaching positions in recent years and was heavily considered for the Charlotte Hornets’ vacancy. It was only a matter of time before he got a chance.

Ham follows in the footsteps of the youngest head coaches to have their first G League experience: Nurse, Snyder, Taylor Jenkins and Chris Finch. All four coaches quickly found success at the NBA level.

The difference between Ham and those four names, however, is that the Saginaw, Mich. native played eight NBA seasons from 1996-2005 as a hard-nosed roleplaying player with Denver, Indiana, Washington, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Detroit. That immediately gives it a seal of approval among players.

As Ime Udoka and Willie Green have shown this season and Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue and Nurse in recent years, head coaches can step in and make a significant impact in the freshman year (and, in the case of the last three championships, win as a coach). Beginner).

According to ESPN, Ham and the Lakers will assemble a staff with head coaching experience. Vogel’s assistant coaching staff led the team’s preliminary draft training sessions, but it’s unclear how many – if any – of those will remain on Ham’s staff.

After the Lakers’ disastrous 33-49 season, in which they finished 11th in the West and missed the Play-In tournament, Ham is tasked with making the Lakers competitive again. It’s a tall order, no doubt: LeBron James turns 38 in December, Anthony Davis has suffered a number of serious injuries over the past two seasons, Westbrook is a terrible fit for his two star teammates, to put things mildly, and the Lakers have it not many tools to rebuild their flat list.

Westbrook’s future in Los Angeles remains unclear. There’s a growing likelihood he’ll be back as the Lakers don’t want to attach a first-round pick to move him, and some within the organization believe a new coach could better maximize the fit with Westbrook, James and Davis . Ham had to sell the Lakers how he would use the 14-year-old star point guard next season if the Lakers keep him.

Ham, who had become a favorite among Laker fans in recent weeks, received significant support from several Lakers personalities, including tweets from James (who was a Ham supporter), Lakers legend and former president of basketball operations Magic Johnson (who advised). ) and soon-to-be free-agent wing Kent Bazemore.

Johnson, who has advised Gov. Jeanie Buss and the front office on their coaching search, said the athlete On Monday, he wanted a former player to be hired as the Lakers’ next coach.

“Probably all the other three who are in the bottom four, except for Erik Spoelstra, are ex-players,” Johnson said. “I think that says a lot about these young ex-players who immediately deserve respect who have done it before. I’m not saying it has to be an ex-player, but I’m saying you have to look at what’s going on.

“But the most important thing for me is accountability. You must hold everyone accountable, one through 15. And we got away from accountability. The guys never talked about that this season. It was always the fault of others. I hated that. Never: “Hey, I played badly. Hey, it’s on me.’ So, whether it’s an ex-gamer or not, but the trend is towards ex-gamers. But if not, I want a coach who holds everyone accountable. And I would like to see that.”

The Lakers’ next task is to figure out what to do with Westbrook, prepare for the NBA draft on June 23, for which they will be looking to buy a second-round pick, and then on June 30 free hand to begin.

But the most important part of the Lakers’ offseason is officially settled. Ham is a departure from their typical coaching tenures, with the potential to thread the delicate needle between the Lakers’ present and future. Your critical summer has got off to an impressive start.

(Photo: David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)

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