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LA Lakers coach Darvin Ham is aware that some of the team’s fans are not too fond of his coaching abilities, particularly with his philosophy on calling timeouts when opposing teams make a run on them. He has now assured them that he knows what he is doing.
In a lengthy explanation, which senior NBA reporter Jovan Buha of The Athletic shared on X (formerly Twitter), the second-year Lakers coach shared that the reason for him not immediately calling timeouts is for his team to figure things out first and get out of certain difficult situations.
Part of the explanation read:
“You know, I trust my players to the highest level. And its sometimes predicated on how a team is making a run against us…”
“So sometimes it’s like, it’s no one correct answer I think. You have certain coaches that a team scores two baskets in a row and they’re immediately on it. But me, I just feel like you gotta trust your guys and give them a chance. And again, according to circumstances.”
The LA Lakers have had their struggles in the ongoing season. They won the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament back in December but have since labored to a current record of 34-30, 10th in the Western Conference.
Some in the team’s fandom have blamed Darvin Ham for what they deemed to be his much-to-be-desired coaching.
Ham is currently in his second year coaching the purple and gold, which he helped steer to a Western Conference finals appearance last season.
Darvin Ham says they let officiating affect them in recent loss to Kings
The LA Lakers recently absorbed a tough loss at the hands of division rivals Sacramento Kings, which coach Darvin Ham partly blamed on them being affected by the officiating.
LA bowed to the Kings, 130-120, on Wednesday in a key Pacific Division clash at home. The win allowed Sacramento to put some distance from the Lakers in the race for an outright playoff spot.
Speaking after the game, Darvin Ham pointed to them being bothered by the officiating as a contributing factor to their loss.
He said, by way of the Silver Screen and Roll website:
“We’ve been talking about having a next play mentality. Some things start going against us and just the frustration, I thought the officiating – I’m not blaming officiating, I thought we allowed that to bother us.”
“Frustration makes cowards of us all, just like fatigue. You try to get something back, you start going out on your own, you preoccupy with something that you can’t control such as officiating instead of just figuring out how you can make plays, get stops and, a lot of times, just competing harder.”
Ham and the Lakers are looking to bounce back from the loss as they play the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. They were leading the game, 58-50, with 3:32 left in the second quarter.
