Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is not an indispensable part of the Lakers project. He is under the radar for mismatches in the locker room.
Darvin Ham used an extensive rotation of players in the previous fixtures. As a result of this, players have failed to adapt to the system. The frequent changes to the starting lineup have damaged the flow of the players and their morale.
There's a "growing disconnect" between Darvin Ham and the Lakers' locker room around his rotation and starting lineup adjustments 👀
Via @ShamsCharania and @jovanbuha pic.twitter.com/179ZFFdA7r
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) January 4, 2024
Adding to the dressing room woes are the recent worrying results of the Lakers under head coach Darvin Ham. The Lakers have won just 2 out of their last 10 matches and currently sit at 10th in the Western Conference. The recent 110-96 loss to the Miami Heat has aggravated the situation involving the Lakers and Darwin, especially because the Heat were without their star player Jimmy Butler.
Darvin Ham makes another change; disappointing results repeat
In the 12 games since the In-Season Tournament victory, the Lakers have won just 3 games. To change the disastrous run of events, Darwin Ham tried out a new starting lineup, his third in 3 consecutive games. The results are still indifferent as the Heat cruised past the Lakers. This was Darvin’s 10th starting lineup of the season and unfortunately, none has worked.
Darvin Ham’s choice of starting line-ups hasn’t been the most efficient. Starter-level players like D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Austin Reaves have often found their way into the court off the bench, seeing their roles and game time getting diminished.
Post the game, Darwin Ham emphasized rotation and an available lineup, as he said “We’ve got to get healthy… And once you get healthy, guys got to get back into rhythm and we’ve got to find a cohesive unit, a total cohesive rotation that we can go with. When you’re dealing with different guys being in and out of the lineup that frequently, it’s damn-near impossible to find a rhythm. That’s just being real. That’s no slight on anybody.”
He went on to sight the locker room being full of superstars makes things difficult as he commented “I think the multiples (rotation players) are more impactful than … if you lose one of your big dogs, you’re going to figure out how to try and manage without them.”
Darvin Ham was also critical of the performance despite availability as he said “And when you have your key role players, your key rotation players – this guy misses three or four. This guy misses three or four. And they’re happening one right after another, that’s what makes it difficult. … We’ve got to figure it out. I’m disappointed, but I’ll be damned if I get discouraged.” [H/T The Athletic]
Post the Heat game, Anthony Davis commented, “We’re not executing. That team played harder than us tonight, executed better than us tonight, more physical than us tonight. We got outworked tonight. So it’s a bit of everything right now. If we keep on this trend, it’s not going to be good for us. So it’s kind of obvious that we have to figure it out sooner than later.”
The display against the Heat prompted Austin Reaves to say, “We’re more than talented enough to win games. We have enough depth. We have enough skill. We got to figure it out.” He also pointed out that the atmosphere in the dressing room is “sh***y“.
The differences in the opinions of the star players and the head coach are a major concern. It seems like Darvin Ham is failing to connect to the players like he did in his past season. The rising tensions in the locker room and the lack of results might not be a good omen for the seasoned coach.
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