Resign!Resign!!Resign!!! Darwin Ham Takes Full Blame For Loss To New York And Announces…
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has come under fire after LA blew a very winnable home game against the New York Knicks, 114-109, and lost its third contest from among its last four.
LA has fallen to a 15-12 record on the year, a slightly disappointing tally for a roster this talented.
This writer believes the issue is the team’s questionable decision to re-sign D’Angelo Russell following his miserable playoff performance against the Denver Nuggets in last spring’s Western Conference Finals, and Ham has tried to neutralize that a bit by essentially benching him (he ranks 10th in fourth quarter minutes on his own team, as Austin Reaves generally plays over him to close).
So it’s more of a personnel problem than a rotation issue, although Reaves should clearly be starting over D-Lo.
Richie B clearly doesn’t remember the Luke Walton or Byron Scott eras that well.
Nevertheless, Ham has come under fire due to his minutes allocations for Taurean Prince, who’s been moved to shooting guard after starting the year at the three spot.
Ham’s designation of timeouts amidst the opposition’s little runs also got excoriated by multiple people:
Los Angeles also has a major size advantage over most teams, an edge that some felt Ham didn’t capitalize on nearly enough.