Austin Reaves recently discussed what the Los Angeles Lakers need in a new head coach and it also appears to be an indirect shot on Darvin Ham. Most NBA fans will be aware that the Lakers fell short of their goals this season. They ended up losing in 5 games to the Denver Nuggets and were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs.
Since this is the second year in a row that the Lakers lost in a one-sided manner to the Denver Nuggets, the franchise decided to make a change in their coaching staff and removed Darvin Ham from his position as head coach. Now that the context has been provided, let us take a closer look at what the young Lakers star had to say on the subject.
Austin Reaves believes that Darvin Ham did not resonate with the Los Angeles Lakers roster
Whenever a team falls short of making a deep postseason push, the coach is always the first to be blamed. This is all the more true in Ham’s case given that Laker Nation has been attacking his decision-making and coaching abilities all season long. It turns out that even the players on the Lakers’ roster such as Austin Reaves did not think too highly of Darvin Ham and are looking for very different character traits in their new coach.
“I don’t know when they’re hiring a coach… But hopefully we get somebody that comes to work every single day the way that we do ready to go try to win a championship.”
Austin Reaves:
“I don’t know when they’re hiring a coach… But hopefully we get somebody that comes to work every single day the way that we do ready to go try to win a championship.”
(h/t @DStarkand) pic.twitter.com/XvFSmodSwf
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 4, 2024
By claiming that they are looking for someone who comes into work the same way that the players do with the intent of winning, Reaves is indicating that Darvin Ham simply did not do that. While it is easy to blame just Darvin Ham for the Lakers’ lack of success in recent times, some fans may be wondering if he truly deserves to be held accountable.
What was the Lakers’ record under Darvin Ham?
Darvin Ham was the Lakers’ head coach for more than 2 seasons before being removed from his position. Under him, the team managed to make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals last season. In the 2 seasons that Ham spent with the team, he coached the Lakers for 164 games and carried them to a record of 90 wins and 74 losses.
Although this record was more than decent, it simply wasn’t enough to help the team avoid the play-in tournament in a competitive Western Conference. In any case, fans are left wondering if the new head coach for the Lakers will resonate well with the players on the roster.