When the Los Angeles Lakers hired Frank Vogel to be their head coach three years ago, he wasn’t their first choice or perhaps even their second choice.
But he got the job done, coaching them to the NBA championship in his first year at the helm of the team.
This past season, however, he was arguably a casualty of the most disappointing year in Lakers history, as the team fired him just hours after their final regular season game.
The way they handled it made an already-embattled organization look even worse.
But many around the league love the hiring of Darvin Ham to be Vogel’s successor, and owner Jeanie Buss says other owners have given her compliments on the decision.
Via NBA.com:
“I’m a big believer in Darvin Ham. When you’re at the Board of Governors meetings and governors say to you, ‘We interviewed your guy, you got a great coach.’ Or, ‘He worked for us, you got a great guy.’ His reputation around the league brings me a lot of pride to hear other people say how much they admire him. We got a really good coach.”
Ham has a reputation as a great communicator with strong leadership skills, something that is certainly needed in L.A.
He has apparently re-emphasized playing up-tempo basketball, as the team has gotten considerably younger in free agency this summer, and he has already started to build a constructive relationship with the much-maligned Russell Westbrook.
But as great a coach as Ham may turn out to be, it will take much more than him to restore the Lakers’ status as championship contenders.
