The Los Angeles Lakers had a disaster of a season this year. They finished the regular season with a 33-49 record and ended up missing the playoffs. There’s no doubt that this was a disappointing outcome for a team that many thought would be competing for the NBA championship.
It is clear that the Los Angeles Lakers had a lot of issues last season. They fired coach Frank Vogel and ended up hiring Darvin Ham as a replacement. Recently, GM Rob Pelinka claimed that the Lakers lacked an “identity of toughness” last year and added that the team is “excited” to see how Darvin Ham can “bring those attributes” to the team next season. Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register relayed the news:
While Ham’s X&Os base was cultivated on a championship-winning coaching staff in Milwaukee, Lakers’ general manager Rob Pelinka emphasized that Ham earned the unanimous support of the coaching committee because of his character traits. After finishing 33-49 and missing the postseason entirely after a hyped offseason, Pelinka believes the roster needs an infusion of Ham’s brand of grit.
“I think one of the things we lacked last year was an identity of toughness,” Pelinka said. “We are excited to see (how) a coach with his leadership style will bring those attributes to our team next year.”
Darvin Ham has recently opened up on an incident in his childhood that made him “fearless”, and added that he doesn’t feel “no pressure” when it comes to basketball. There’s no doubt that he is someone that could bring that “identity of toughness” back to Lakers basketball:
“I grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. I was shot in the face by accident … You go through something like that, it’s going to do one of two things. It’s going to make you fearful or fearless. It made me fearless. I don’t feel no pressure. It’s basketball.”
Anthony Davis and LeBron James are a top-tier duo when healthy, and we’ll see how far they can lead the Los Angeles Lakers next season. There’s no question that they are a duo that can get far in the playoffs, but the first step is obviously getting to that stage again.
Hopefully, we see the Los Angeles Lakers improve next season. Perhaps a new voice in the locker room will help them be a better team, but they also need to make some changes to their roster to become a playoff team once again.
