Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham guided the organization through a tumultuous season in his first year at the helm, rebounding from a 2-10 start to make the Western Conference Finals.
So far in Ham’s second season though, the team has not been able to build off that playoff run as they currently sit at 19-20, in danger of missing the postseason halfway through the regular season.
While not all of that falls on Ham, it seems that he has struggled to connect with this group as reports recently came out that there is a disconnect between him and the players as he continues to switch up lineups and rotations due to injuries and ineffectiveness.
Despite that though, it was recently reported that the organization plans for be patient with Ham, knowing that he was able to turn things around last season and could very well do so again this year. Ham has constantly expressed that he has the support of Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka and it seems that still is the case.
According to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, the Lakers have informed Ham that his job is not currently in jeopardy:
Having lost 11 of their past 16 contests and on the heels of an 18-point loss at home to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers remain committed to head coach Darvin Ham, league sources tell Bleacher Report.
Owner Jeanie Buss and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka have informed the second-year head coach that his job is not in jeopardy, sources say.
That assurance from the top has allowed Ham to purely focus on redirecting his team.
“I speak to Rob every day, and we’re always discussing ways to improve our team and what we can do better as a coaching staff,” Ham told B/R after falling to 19-20 on the season. “It’s an open dialogue that I embrace and that is helpful. We’re all trying to get this right, and we will.”
Ham went on to comment on the recent reports that have been going around and how that has affected him:
“I had like 50 texts when I checked my phone that day. I’m not on social media, so I don’t know what people are saying. But I’m getting text messages saying, ‘Hang in there. Are you OK? It’s going to be OK. I’m here for you.’ I thought somebody died. That was my initial reaction. Then someone sent me story with some unnamed sources and I was like, ‘This s–t?’ Everything is going to be alright. We’ve got a good team. We just got more work to do.”
The Lakers aren’t gonna turn their season around if they let distractions get in their way, so it is at least good that Ham is not paying attention to the various reports that are out there.
The fact of the matter is though that the Lakers are currently not getting results that are good enough to compete for a championship. Whether that is on the coach, the roster construction, the players’ effort or all of the above, something will need to change for the Lakers to get back on track.
Darvin Ham looks at turnovers as biggest issue in Lakers loss to Suns
All of the Lakers’ issues were on display in their blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night as they jumped on L.A. early in the first quarter and never looked back.
While the Lakers’ inability to guard the 3-point line was a problem, Ham believes that turnovers were the team’s biggest issue in the loss to the Suns.
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