While the basketball world is focused on the NBA Finals, a series that features the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to hire Darvin Ham has flown under the radar.
Many around the league feel he is a sound hire for L.A., although they also know that he won’t be able to do much with its roster unless it is upgraded.
Draymond Green, one of the most important players for the Warriors, is from the same hometown as Ham – Saginaw, Mich.
Ham is about 16 years older than Green, and the latter looked up to the former growing up in the same small Midwestern town.
It’s for that reason Green has strong feelings about Ham finally getting to be a head coach in the NBA, especially in the context of paying it forward to the next generation.
"This is so much bigger than some Xs and Os — for me, this is everything"
—@Money23Green speaks on Darvin Ham coaching the Lakers pic.twitter.com/rUdwcqINa1
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) May 31, 2022
Green also told Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Lakers about how specifically Ham is going to help the Lakers next season, regardless of what their roster looks like.
Via Los Angeles Times:
“I think he’s going to bring a toughness, a blue-collar mentality just because that’s how he’s built. That’s how he’s raised. You have to be that way from Saginaw,” Green told The Times. “I think it’ll be a different toughness that they haven’t seen. And he’s going to command and require a different respect level that they haven’t really have had. … And I think that will bode well for that team.”
Some speculated that the Lakers would opt for an experienced head coach, such as Doc Rivers or Mark Jackson, in order to make sure the players would buy in.
Instead, they’re going with a newbie, albeit one who has been universally praised by insiders for his communication and leadership skills.
