Thoughts on Darvin Ham
The Good
Darvin Ham has as good of a resume as any assistant coach in the NBA who has never had a head coaching gig. He played in the league for several years, including winning a title in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. He also spent 10 seasons as an assistant, including on the Lakers in the player development staff alongside Phil Handy under head coaches Mike Brown and Mike D’Antoni.
Ham has since been one of Mike Budenholzer’s top assistants since 2013 in both Atlanta and Milwaukee, which includes a championship in 2021. Bud’s coaching tree includes Quin Snyder (Jazz head coach), Kenny Atkinson (former Nets head coach, current Warriors assistant), and Taylor Jenkins (Grizzlies head coach).
According to Bill Oram of The Athletic, Ham blew the Lakers away with his knowledge of the X’s and O’s. (To be fair, how hard is it to impress Kurt Rambis with that?) The Bucks, according to StatMuse, ranked 6th in eFG% on plays after timeouts (15th for the Lakers). Milwaukee also ranked 2nd in that category in 2019 and 2021 and 1st in 2020.
Ham is also regarded as a “strong individual” who can “garner respect from players”, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. A players’ coach plus a strong X’s and O’s background is an excellent combination for a first-year head coach.
The Question Marks
Darvin Ham has never been a head coach before in any professional setting, but that didn’t stop both current Finals coaches Imo Udoka and Steve Kerr in their first seasons. There’s going to be an adjustment for Ham, but he is qualified to take the leap.
The other questions around Ham have more to do with Mike Budenholzer whom Ham has mostly coached under. Bud’s weaknesses are well documented:
sometimes reluctant to play his stars big minutes
stubborn with his rotations
mostly focuses on drop coverage
willing to protect the paint at all costs even if it means giving up open 3s
Darvin Ham is going to have weaknesses as a coach because nobody is perfect. We just don’t know exactly what they are yet and all we have to go off of are his mentor’s. Will he carry on some or most of Bud’s weaknesses? Only time will tell.
Verdict
Darvin Ham is a good hire. Is he an upgrade over Frank Vogel? We’ll see. I think he’ll bring a better offensive system, especially one that could unlock Anthony Davis even more. Defensively, I think he’ll be good, but not as good as Vogel, a top 3ish defensive coach in the game.
At the end of the day, none of this matters if he doesn’t have the right personnel. Russell Westbrook’s play and his contract are massive albatrosses. Do the Lakers run it back with Russ and a bunch of veteran minimums or do they trade him for multiple high-risk/high-reward players (Gordon Hayward, Malcolm Brogdon, etc.)?
Running it back with Russ is essentially punting the season. He turns 34 this Fall. He doesn’t play defense, takes a lot of bad jumpers early in the clock when the offense hasn’t even run a play yet, and provides negative spacing for LeBron and AD.
The Lakers’ front office held Frank Vogel back. Last season, they didn’t provide him with a roster that suited his style and Kurt Rambis was constantly overseeing coaches’ meetings, which reportedly won’t happen with Ham. Giving the new coach more autonomy than Vogel is already a step in the right direction.
If Ham can hire the right assistants and the front office can construct a competent roster, the Lakers, in theory, will be back in business. Now, practice has to match the theory.