After a month-and-a-half search, the Lakers hired their next head coach, Darvin Ham, on Friday afternoon, several sources confirmed to The Athletic.
Ham, 48, scored almost every box in the Lakers during his search for a coach: he has ties to the franchise, has a championship pedigree, has coached several big stars (especially Kobe Bryant and Giannis Antetokounmpo), is a Former player, has a strong and dominant personality, is loved by the players and is a respected tactician of the revered Popovich / Budenholzer coaching staff.
In an otherwise unattractive coaching market, Ham adapts to the profile of a head coach for the first year with the advantage of being successful from day one.
Ham seemed an obvious choice for the Lakers vacancy after basketball vice president and general manager Rob Pelinka said the team was looking for a candidate with seriousness and high-level communication skills after firing the former head coach Frank Vogel on April 11th.
Ham is known as a charismatic communicator who holds players accountable and sets strong boundaries. While his experience is player development, a skill that could certainly help the Lakers improve internally, he is a defensive-minded tactician who played a notable role in the development of the Bucks Championship defensive scheme. .
Ham agreed to a four-year deal with the Lakers, according to sources. He has been 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 a senior assistant with Mike Budenholzer. Ham is a two-time champion, winning both as a player (with the Detroit Pistons in 2003-04) and as an assistant coach (with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020-21).
Three years after failing in his last coaching search, the Lakers hired the best available candidate. Ham ranked second in Athletic’s coaching rankings, the best option on the market (No. 1 was the head coach of the Utah Jazz, Quin Snyder, who was linked with the Lakers but was never officially available).
The only reason Ham is hired is a slight surprise is the history of the Lakers. They have traditionally preferred the names of striking coaches: Phil Jackson, Rudy Tomjanovich, Mike D’Antoni and Tyronn Lue (the main candidate before hiring Vogel).
But without a clear candidate like that, they had two options: hire a returnee or give an assistant coach a chance.
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 ties much stronger with the organization). . Ham has a chance to stabilize the Lakers’ coaching position after a decade of unrest since Jackson’s departure.
Ham impressed the Lakers, beating the most experienced candidates, Terry Stotts and Kenny Atkinson. The Lakers decided on Ham after interviewing Stotts on Tuesday and Ham on Thursday, according to sources. Ham is the Lakers’ 28th coach in franchise history and his sixth in 11 years.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. filter to the bell of the last regular season. game: affected the interest of the entire league of coaches who already had a contract, such as Nick Nurse, Quin Snyder and Doc Rivers. It seems that these names would have further haunted the work of the Lakers in recent years and / or if the circumstances had been different.
Aside from playing a key role in Antetokounmpo’s rise to superstar, Ham earned Bryant’s respect and also built 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 coaching experience at all. He has been runner-up in several head coach positions in recent years and was highly regarded for the Charlotte Hornets vacancy. It was only a matter of time before he was given a chance.
Ham follows in the footsteps of recent head coaches who cut their teeth in the G League: Nurse, Snyder, Taylor Jenkins and Chris Finch. All four coaches quickly became successful at the NBA level.
The difference between Ham and those four names, however, is the Saginaw, Michigan native, who played eight seasons in the NBA from 1996 to 2005 as a tough player with Denver, Indiana, Washington, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Detroit. . This gives it immediate prestige with the players.
As Ime Udoka and Willie Green have shown this season, and Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue and Nurse have shown in recent years, first-year head coaches can step in and make a significant impact (and in the case of the last three, win championships as coaches). novices).
Ham and the Lakers will bring together a coach with experienced head coaching, according to ESPN. Vogel’s assistant technical staff led training prior to the team’s draft, but it is unclear how many, if any, will remain in Ham’s squad.
After the disastrous 33-49 Lakers season, in which they finished 11th in the West and lost the Play-In Tournament, Ham is tasked with returning to the Lakers candidates. Definitely a tricky task: LeBron James will turn 38 in December, Anthony Davis has suffered multiple serious injuries over the past two seasons, Westbrook is adapting terribly alongside his two star teammates, to put it mildly , and the Lakers don’t have it. many tools to rebuild your shallow list.
The future of Westbrook in Los Angeles is unclear. There’s a growing chance he’ll return, 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 on how he would use the 14-year-old star base next season if the Lakers retain him.
Ham, who had become a favorite among Lakers fans in recent weeks, garnered significant support from several Lakers figures, including the tweets of James (who was a supporter of Ham), the Lakers legend, and the Lakers. former basketball operations president Magic Johnson (who advised on the process). ) and future free agent Kent Bazemore.
EXCITED !!!!!! Congratulations and welcome Coach Dham !! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 # LakeShow💜💛
– LeBron James (@KingJames) May 28, 2022
I’m excited that the Lakers have just hired Darvin Ham as their coach. Congratulations !!
– Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 28, 2022
Yes sir !!!!!!
– Kenny Baze (@ 24Bazemore) May 28, 2022
Johnson, who has been advising Gov. Jeanie Buss and the head office during her search for a coach, told Athletic on Monday that she wanted a former player hired as the Lakers’ next coach.
“Probably, in addition to Erik Spoelstra, the other three in the final four are former players,” Johnson said. “So I think that says a lot about these young ex-players who are asking for respect right away, who have done it before. I’m not saying I have 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 responsibility. They have to make everyone, from one to fifteen years old, responsible. And we’ve moved away from responsibility. The boys have never talked about it this season. It was always “Someone else. I hated this. Never, ‘Hey, I’ve played badly. Hey, it’s up to me. “And that’s exactly what I’d like to see.”
The Lakers’ next task is to find out what to do with Westbrook, preparing for the June 23 NBA Draft, for which they will try to buy a second-round pick, and then start the free agency on the 30th. June.
But the most important part of the Lakers’ low season is officially settled. Ham is a diversion from his typical coaching hires, with the potential to thread the delicate needle between the present and future of the Lakers. Its critical summer has an impressive start.
(Photo: David Dow / NBAE via Getty Images)