The Los Angeles Lakers are a mess right now; there’s simply no way to sugarcoat it. Ever since winning the In-Season Tournament, they’ve crumbled to pieces and can’t seem to get a stop against anybody.
They’re now two games below .500 and look more like a Play-In Tournament team than like an actual NBA championship contender. And to make things worse, it seems like the players are no longer committed to the coach.
Darvin Ham keeps getting exposed night in and night out, and LeBron James has been quite frustrated about it. Even at full strength, his rotations have always been questionable, and it seems like the second-year coach is just way over his head right now.
Clippers Game Could Be Crucial
That’s why it’s not much of a surprise to see Lakers insider Anthony F. Irwin reporting that their Sunday matchup vs. the Los Angeles Clippers could be crucial for his future in the organization:
“I’ve spent tonight asking around and this is the general consensus I’ve gotten: Sunday is crucial for Ham,” Irwin wrote on Twitter. “Considering how things have gone recently against the Clippers and how well they’ve been playing, there are plenty of people battening the hatches for a tumultuous weekend.”
Irwin did admit that he doesn’t expect Ham to be fired midseason, but it would be almost impossible to appease the fans with another blowout loss, especially to their city rivals:
“I’d still be pretty surprised if Ham was fired midseason, let alone this weekend, but between how the locker room feels about him, recent results, and his own comments, things feel pretty damn dire,” Irwin continued. “A blowout Sunday with more showers of boos would be impossible for the FO/ownership to ignore.“
Ham Calls Out The Fans
Ham recently tried to downplay all the rumors about his job being in jeopardy, and he even went as far as to call out the fans for complaining after every loss this season:
“It is what it is, it is the NBA,” said Ham after the loss. “It is a marathon. You have to look at the totality of the picture. I’m tired of the people living and dying with every single game we play. It’s ludicrous, actually.”
Ham wants the fans to be patient, and while he acknowledges that the team is going through a rough patch right now, it’s not like they haven’t played well this season.
“Come on, man, this is a marathon, and we’ve hit a tough stretch. It’s the same team that we play some high-level games a little while ago, and we just got to get back to that. We got to keep the fight thought. We cannot lose our fight,” Ham added.
Then again, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers we’re talking about, and there’s no such thing as moral victories or patience there, especially when you have two of the best players in the league on your team.
Ham is walking on thin ice, and his recent comments calling out the players for their lack of effort won’t do much to help his cause in the locker room, especially if they keep sliding in the standings.
SURVEY Should the Lakers fire Ham?
Should the Lakers fire Ham?
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