Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers season ended at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, head coach Darvin Ham has been defending himself from his detractors. The main criticism levied towards Ham has been in regards to his constantly changing lineups and rotations.
In particular, many wondered why it took Ham so long to settle on the starting lineup that ultimately turned the Lakers season around, especially as all five were on the team last year and had success together. But Ham has argued that the injuries to multiple role players made it nearly impossible to settle on consistent rotations.
The most glaring criticism actually came from Anthony Davis after the Lakers’ Game 2 loss to the Nuggets when he stated that there are times where the team doesn’t know what they’re doing on both sides of the ball. Ham seemed to take offense to that and instead of saying something to quiet the story, he publicly disagreed with his superstar.
There are valid arguments on each side, but apparently at least one person within the Lakers feels Ham isn’t handling this great. According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, a person within the organization felt Ham isn’t taking accountability for his role in the Lakers struggles this season with that Davis incident being an example:
A team source was confounded by Ham’s lack of accountability, questioning to ESPN the merit in boasting about his coaching staff’s preparedness while the Nuggets ran their winning streak against them into double digits. Ham’s adjustments, or lack thereof, stood out so much that Nuggets coach Michael Malone said in between Games 2 and 3 that his team had “gone over adjustments [for] different players and playcalls that we haven’t even had to show yet.”
That comment from Malone certainly raised some eyebrows. The fact that he was prepared for certain adjustments that never came called into question what the Lakers staff was doing as they fell behind in the series.
Injuries undoubtedly played a factor in the Lakers issues and it is hard for Ham to maintain a consistent rotation with players in and out of the lineup. But there were also in-game decisions that were highly questionable as well.
At the end of the day, the Lakers season is now over and whether Ham will be on the Lakers bench next season is now a big question.
Lakers expected to fire Darvin Ham by the end of the week
Things are still up in the air right now, but it feels more and more likely that Darvin Ham has coached his last game in charge of the Lakers.
A recent report stated that the Lakers could make their final decision by the end of the week and the expectation is that the franchise will choose to move on from Ham and begin their search for a new head coach.
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