For the most part, the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to hire Darvin Ham as their next head coach was greeted with enthusiasm from those around the NBA.
Ham, 48, has been seen as an ascending coaching candidate since his days as an assistant with these very same Lakers from 2011-13.
One NBA great apparently doesn’t agree. The always-boisterous Charles Barkley absolutely blasted Los Angeles’ decision to hire Ham recently. He did not hold back.
“If one of your coaches is close to the same age as your players, your team not gonna be any good anyway.”
Charles Barkley on the los angeles lakers hiring darvin ham, via the Dan patrick show
Tell us how you really feel, Sir Charles.
Sure his comments might have been more in jest. But no current Lakers players is anywhere near the age of the 48-year-old Ham. Perhaps, Barkley is talking about his lack of experience as a head coach in the NBA.
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Darvin Ham as the right fit for the Los Angeles Lakers
After his hiring, reports came out indicating that Ham will have more power than recently-fired former head coach Frank Vogel.
“According to the buzz in NBA coaching circles over the weekend, Ham has likewise been promised the autonomy to pick his coaching staff and is said to have received assurances that Lakers senior advisor Kurt Rambis will not be a regular presence in coaching meetings like he was with Vogel.”
NBA insider Marc Stein on the Darvin Ham, Los Angeles Lakers dynamic
It stands to reason that this was part of the negotiations between Ham and Los Angeles’ brass. Whether that includes some control in player personnel matters remains to be seen.
Either way, Barkley is in the minority when it comes to his criticism of the Darvin Ham hiring. We’ll have to wait a season or two in order to see if he’s actually right.