Darvin Ham has been a coach in the NBA since 2011, but this is his first season as a head coach. He actually got his start as an NBA coach with the Los Angeles Lakers when he was an assistant on Mike Brown's staff until 2013. Ham also served as an assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer first with the Atlanta Hawks and then with the Milwaukee Bucks. Ham and Budenholzer were set to square off for the first time as opposing coaches on Friday with the Lakers visiting the Bucks and Budenholzer dropped a heap of praise for his former assistant as per Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet.
Mike Budenholzer on his longtime former assistant: “(Darvin’s) a leader. Even as an assistant here, a great leader. He has an unbelievable combination of toughness and grit. Nobody wants to be on the wrong side of Darvin. At the same time he’s incredibly caring and thoughtful.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) December 2, 2022
Darvin Ham won a championship as a coach in 2021 with the Bucks and he had been mentioned as a head coaching candidate for a while before the Lakers gave him that opportunity this season. Ham walked into a tough situation with a team that clearly had championship aspirations but with a roster that didn't quite fit around its star personnel.
The Lakers got off to a poor start and at one point where the only team in the NBA that was winless. But they have seemingly begun to turn things around and are buying into Ham's system. Under Ham, Russell Westbrook has embraced his role as sixth man and is having a career resurgence. The Lakers have won six of their last eight games and sit at 8-12 and 13th in the Western Conference standings.
Recently, Ham revealed that former NBA head coach Quinn Synder was helping him behind the scenes. While it remains to be seen where the Lakers ultimately finish this season, it seems as if Ham learned a lot under Mike Budenholzer and has finally managed to get the team to respond to him.
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