Despite making it to the Western Conference Finals in his first season and winning the first NBA In-Season Tournament, Darvin Ham has not won over Los Angeles Lakers fans. It is not hard to see why as Ham hasn't been all that impressive as the head coach and when the standard is so high in LA, it could lead to him losing his job sooner than expected.
Ham has been carried at times by LeBron James and when it has really come down to it Ham has not shown the skills to be a successful long-term coach. His rotations are extremely questionable at times and he doesn't always put players in the best positions to succeed with their skill sets.
The front office is definitely taking notice of this and if the Lakers fall short of expectations then we could see Ham get the boot. To avoid that, he has to make some changes to better maximize the team.
3 changes Darvin Ham must make to save his job as Lakers head coach:
1. Cut back on the Taurean Prince minutes
This is the most obvious change that needs to be made as it simply is not working. Taurean Prince is averaging the third-most minutes on the Lakers this season and has 13 games with 30 or more minutes played this season. Prince has more 30+ minute games this season than the previous three years combined.
Not only has this kept other players from hitting the court, but it has impacted Prince's play as well. Prince absolutely still has something to offer to this Lakers team and shouldn't be axed altogether, but he can't be playing this many minutes on a title contender.
Prince is a serviceable defender and can still be a viable off-ball shooting option. But giving him over 30 minutes a game is bad coaching. There is no way around it.