After weeks of searching for the right candidate (and Doc Rivers thankfully not getting fired), the Los Angeles Lakers hired Darvin Ham to be the team’s next head coach. This was the right move for the Lakers as they are betting on the potential of Ham, who is one of the most respected assistant coaches in the league.
Ham has about as uphill of a battle as a head coach can have despite coming into a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He is not getting the benefit of a rebuild as the Lakers expect to contend right away. This is made harder by the multiple problems that Ham has to now solve.
While the season does not start for another five months, there are some things that Ham should instantly be doing to set the tone as the head coach for the upcoming season.
Here are 3 things Darvin Ham should instantly do as head coach of the Lakers:
1. Talk to Russell Westbrook and explain a lesser role for him
Darvin Ham needs to be getting with Russell Westbrook as soon as possible as it does not seem like the Lakers are going to move on from the former MVP this offseason. It is important for Ham to build a relationship now and let Westbrook know what the team expects out of him.
Those expectations should be for a lesser role. While Russ is not going to take the news lightly, the Lakers will be better next season if Westbrook gets his minutes slashed, particularly next to Anthony Davis. Playing Westbrook and Davis together made both players worse as the two were actually one of the worst two-man lineups on the Lakers last season.
If Russ does not like this then he has time to think it over and even explore a buyout. The chances of him rejecting his massive player option are essentially zero but who knows, Westbrook does have a huge basketball ego and players have made worse decisions with their money (looking at you Dennis Schroder).
Regardless, Ham needs to get with Westbrook and establish his role for the team as soon as possible to avoid any conflict and get on the same page.
2. Hire experienced coaches as assistants
Darvin Ham has no experience as a head coach and that is not a bad thing. Ime Udoka led the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals this season in his first year as a head coach and the guy he is squaring off against, Steve Kerr, did the same thing in his first season with the Golden State Warriors.
It is important for Ham to establish his own culture in the team but it is also important to get coaches with experience that can help him along the way. While it would not have been a good thing to hire said coaches as the head coach, as assistants, they can add value.
Just look at the value that Jason Kidd added to the Los Angeles Lakers’ staff under Frank Vogel. Kidd was heavily rumored to get the job in LA before Vogel did and he ultimately got an assistant role after two bad coaching stints with Brooklyn and Milwaukee.
Kidd had a big impact and parlayed that into another head coaching gig with the Dallas Mavericks, leading them to the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers need to find a coach who is looking to do the same thing and can have an impact like Kidd.
Terry Stotts is someone who was heavily connected to the Lakers and even though he reportedly won’t take an assistant job, the Lakers should be targeting someone like Stotts to add to Ham’s staff next season.
3. Separate the front office from the team
Part of the problem for the Los Angeles Lakers is that the team has too many voices in deciding what the team is going to do. There is such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen and that is exactly what the Lakers are suffering from.
Instead of giving Rob Pelinka the avenue to build the team how he wants with people underneath him, the Lakers instead are also getting feedback from the likes of Kurt Rambis, Phil Jackson and Magic Johnson. And of course, LeBron James and Klutch Sports also have some sort of say, even if they deny it.
It got so bad last season that Kurt Rambis was sitting in on coaching meetings and giving advice to Frank Vogel. The front office was also pressuring Frank Vogel to bench Russell Westbrook towards the end of the year.
The front office and coaching staff have to work in sync and there absolutely should be some say from the front office, that is true. But the Lakers need to create a boundary of separation between the front office, coaching staff and team if they are going to be successful; not just next season, but beyond next season.
The fact of the matter is that the Lakers have not been the best-run team in the league since Jerry Buss passed away and if it was not for LeBron James handpicking LA (and Anthony Davis), then the team would have zero playoff berths over a decade span. That is horrible.
If the Lakers want Kurt Rambis to have a say so bad then they should have hired him as the head coach. If not, separate Rambis from the team and actually trust the head coach you just hired.