The Los Angeles Lakers fired mentor Darvin Ham on Friday. The choice comes a few days soon after the franchise was eradicated in the very first spherical of the 2024 NBA playoffs by the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
While it is no wonderful disgrace to get rid of to Nikola Jokić and a very superior Nuggets workforce, Ham was on the scorching seat all time prolonged owing to some questionable coaching selections, especially in regards to the starting up lineup. Paired with the sky-superior expectations that appear with coaching a LeBron James-led outfit, the change is not totally stunning.
The Lakers will now commence the look for for the 29th head mentor in franchise heritage. Prior to searching forward, nonetheless, it is essential to appear back again and contextualize Ham’s tenure at the helm. How does he stack up to his counterparts throughout franchise historical past?
Lakers’ Coaching Heritage
With his dismissal on Friday, Ham will officially end his Lakers job boasting a frequent season record of 90–74. His 90 wins put him 14th all-time in franchise record, more than Mike D’Antoni but less than Joe Mullaney. The all-time leader in Lakers history is— you guessed it— Phil Jackson, who recorded 610 victories in his dominant decades with the franchise.
Ham’s 164 online games coached from the bench places him in a five-way tie for 10th in Lakers franchise history. The other coaches with 164 video games particularly below their belt are the aforementioned Mullaney, Butch van Breda Kolff, Mike Dunleavy Sr., and Byron Scott. For admirers of HBO’s Profitable Time, Paul Westhead is next on the checklist with 161 games coached. The all-time leader for the corporation in this category is, once yet again, Jackson with 902 video games coached.
In phrases of profitable percentage, Ham will end his time in Los Angeles clocking in at .549. That ranks 19th all-time in Lakers record, ahead of Randy Pfund (.452) and behind Rudy Tomjanovich (.558). Technically talking, the franchise chief in profitable percentage is Bernie Bickerstaff, who went 4–1 back again in 2013 and as a result owns an even .800 winning share. Having said that, amongst coaches with much more than 10 online games coached, Pat Riley prospects with .733.
Ham’s playoff report is not very as flattering in the light of the giants who came in advance of him, even though he did avoid the ignominy of getting the 11th coach in Lakers historical past to not mentor a one playoff match. His 21 postseason appearances are very good for 12th all-time, but his 9–12 file (a profitable share of .429) slots him 13th. Jackson sales opportunities all Lakers coaches with 118 playoff wins but Riley received at a greater clip, posting a profitable proportion of .685 throughout his tenure.
As the figures advise, Ham had a wonderful run as head coach of the Lakers. It was not drenched in glory but it also wasn’t drenched in failure. A decidedly average tenure, and a person that came to an conclusion on Friday.
