Darvin Ham hot seat: Another Lakers coach is suffering from Rob Pelinka's ineptitude

Per Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic, there is a growing disconnect between the Lakers’ locker room and Darvin Ham. A total of six sources echoed similar sentiments surrounding Ham’s handling of the Lakers’ rotation amid a three-game losing streak and now nine losses over their past 12 games. 

According to the sources, Ham’s rotation changes, described as extreme in The Athletic article, and starting lineup adjustments have made it difficult for some players to find a rhythm. It wasn’t long ago, Dec. 9 to be exact, when the Lakers were riding high, coming off a triumphant campaign in the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament and owned a 14-9 record. Since then, they’ve gone 3-9, and Ham has continued to tinker with lineups around his two stalwarts — Anthony Davis and LeBron James — to little effect.

Rob Pelinka's failings keep killing Lakers coaches

For a team with two bonafide superstars, who have been healthy all year, a 17-18 record 35 games in is unacceptable, but Darvin Ham’s constant lineup tweaks aren’t the problem. They’re a symptom of the same disease that has continuously dogged the Lakers since their championship run in 2020: Robus Pelinkaitis. 

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka deserves credit for what he accomplished in the summer of 2019. He traded for Anthony Davis, signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, and Danny Green as free agents, and swapped Luke Walton for Frank Vogel. All fantastic moves that helped the Lakers to their first title in a decade. 

However, since that one magical summer, he has consistently made a mess of the Lakers’ roster. In 2021, he traded all of the Lakers’ remaining depth in Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, and Montrezl Harrell, plus a draft pick to the Washington Wizards for Russell Westbrook, who was not only well past his prime and on the worst contract in the league but was obviously a poor fit with James and Davis. 

The 2021 Lakers were a disaster, and it resulted in Vogel, who had led the team to a title, being fired. Pelinka created a problem no coach could solve, fired the coach for his own failings, hired a new coach, entered another season with the same ill-conceived roster, watched him flounder with his pitiful roster, and then swung a desperation trade. 

That desperation trade in the moment saved the Lakers' season as it shipped out Westbrook for Jared Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell, and Malik Beasley. That move, combined with an earlier move for Rui Hachimura, finally gave the Lakers a roster around James and Davis that made sense and they went on a run to the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, Pelinka cleaning up his own mess, once again painted him as a shrewd general manager. 

However, even that move wasn’t nearly as flawless as people made out. The Lakers could have had Mike Conley instead of D’Angelo Russell from that same trade. Russell killed the Lakers in the playoffs and has lost his spot in the Lakers’ starting lineup this season, while Conley has been integral to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ success this season. There is no reason why Pelinka should have let the Wolves weasel their way into that deal and grab the perfect point guard to play next to James and Davis, especially when they had to surrender a far-out first-round pick. 

The Lakers roster is once again a mess

Fast forward to this season, and the Lakers are once again floundering because they’ve assembled a poor supporting cast around their stars. The most tried and true strategy in modern NBA history is to employ James and surround him with shooters. They currently rank 24th in 3-point shooting, and that’s with James shooting 39.5 percent from three. 

Ham has been forced to tinker with the Lakers’ rotations and lineups because the roster is not good enough. Without LeBron on the court, the Lakers got torched early in the season, so he moved Austin Reaves to the second unit to help stop the bleeding. However, taking their third-best player out of the starting lineup has led to a revolving door of uninspiring options in the starting lineup and rightful discontent from Reaves. Is it Ham’s fault he has had to count on Cam Reddish, Max Christie, and Taurean Prince? Or is it like asking a chef to make filet mignon with beef jerky?

It’s front-office malpractice to have a season hinge on whether or not a bunch of cast-offs and below-average career three-point shooters can play adequate basketball around LeBron James and Anthony Davis when they’re both playing at an All-NBA level. Ham might not be an excellent coach, but his constant tinkering with lineups and rotations isn’t a sign of his ineptitude. It’s a sign the roster wasn’t properly constructed. 

A Darvin Ham firing doesn't solve the Lakers real problem

If Ham is fired, then the Lakers will have cycled through two head coaches because their general manager is inept. Pelinka was handed one of the easiest jobs in history. He inherited James and was then gift-wrapped Davis by Klutch Sports. He did great work surrounding them with an acceptable supporting cast in 2019 and was rewarded with a title, but since then, all he has done is make unforced error after unforced error and then get credit for escaping each disaster of his own creation.

Coaches don’t constantly tinker with lineups and rotations because they’re bored. They tinker because they have to. Ham, as coach of the Lakers with LeBron James, is expected to deliver a championship. He’s only tinkering because the Lakers’ roster isn’t up to that task, and their roster is only not up to the task because of one man — Rob Pelinka.