It took more than a month, but the Los Angeles Lakers have finally concluded their search of a new head coach by hiring Darvin Ham, who had been working for the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach.
Frank Vogel was fired as soon as the 2021-22 NBA regular season came to an end after the Lakers finished 11th in the West with a 33-49 record. Now, Ham has a challenging job in trying to turn their fortunes around.
But many people around the league have shown excitement for his hiring, and it wasnāt just the players he worked with. Draymond Green, for instance, has also weighed in on his arrival at Los Angeles.
Draymond Green reacts to Lakers hiring Darvin Ham
Green may have not been coached by Ham, but he has been a role model for him for a long time. Both were born in the small city of Saginaw, so Green grew up admiring the current Lakers coach.
āGrowing up, could see that ā āthatās Darv, in the NBAā ā and you want that,ā Green told Dan Woike of the LA Times. āThatās your dream, too. And to see him come back and be able to touch him, to go to his camps. It was like, āYo, I could possibly do that one day.ā
āI think heās going to bring a toughness, a blue-collar mentality just because thatās how heās built. Thatās how heās raised. You have to be that way from Saginaw. I think itāll be a different toughness that they havenāt seen. And heās going to command and require a different respect level that they havenāt really have had. ā¦ And I think that will bode well for that team.ā
Now, the Lakers can move on to the next stage which is to make roster decisions. They have to decide what to do with Russell Westbrook and figure out ways to improve for next season, hoping to be contenders again.
