"They Fucked Up Royally" - Darvin Ham Gave The List Of 10 Teams That Passed On Hiring Him So Let's See If He Has A Point

Wally Skalij. Getty Images.

I'm going to do my best to try and put aside my very obvious anti-Lakers agenda for the sake of this blog. Credit to me. But once I saw the following tweet on my timeline, I basically spit out my coffee that I wasn't even drinking. 

This sort of stuff fascinates me. Whenever we have a guy who has a long history of being rumored as a head coaching candidate but year after year ends up being the bridesmaid and never the bride, I'm always curious who passed over them. When it came to Darvin Ham, he certainly put in his time. An assistant for the Lakers from 2011-13, then over to the Hawks as an assistant from 2013-18, then he made his way to the Bucks from 2018-22 before ultimately getting the Lakers gig in the summer of 2022. 

According to him, those teams above "fucked up royally" which is a very funny quote. I'm also not sure how true it is, but what the hell lets run through them all

Boston Celtics

I imagine this was at the time post Brad Stevens, when the Celts decided to hire Ime Udoka in the summer of 2021. I dunno, they finished 51-31, snagged the 2 seed, and were 2 games away from the NBA title. Something tells me that wasn't a terrible decision.

Granted everything then immediately fell apart because Ime couldn't keep his dick in his pants, but who could have seen that coming. My guess is they aren't losing sleep about not going with Ham, even if Joe Mazzulla is the coach. The team still won 57 games which is their most in over a decade and was a game away from getting back to the Finals. They're fine.

Charlotte Hornets

After firing their coach following a 43 win season in 2021-22 which just so happened to be the most wins the Hornets had since 2015-16 (48), CHA decided to roll with Steve Clifford instead of Darvin Ham. They promptly won 27 games. I'm pretty sure LaMelo Ball only playing 36 games had something to do with that, but it was a bit of an odd choice that a win now type coach who doesn't exactly love playing young guys is now in charge of a team full of young guys. I could understand why Ham would be a little bullshit over this one, but you have to remember Clifford had been a head coach in CHA from 2014-2018. 

They weren't all that good, just a .453 winning percentage but maybe MJ preferred the familiarity? I'm also not even totally sure he gave a shit or was even paying attention given that he probably knew he was going to sell the team, but you could make the case the Hornets did in fact fuck up.

Chicago Bulls

Billy Donovan was hired in September 2020, so this must have been when Ham was an assistant with the Bucks. While they haven't been great during his tenure, it's also not totally on him. The Bulls have been decimated by injuries these last few seasons and it's not like their front office is doing them any favors. Given the fact that Donovan had a .608 winning percentage in his 5 seasons in OKC, I don't think it was all that crazy of a move to go with him over Ham back in 2020. Coming off the one season of Jim Boylen I feel like almost anyone would have been an upgrade, and Donovan has been.

So for the Bulls, I'm going to have to disagree with Ham. I don't think they fucked up royally here.

Indiana Pacers

Rick Carlisle was hired back in the summer of 2021 after a 13 year run in DAL where he had a .537 winning percentage and a title. The Pacers one year of Nate Bjorkgren was pretty much a disaster, so they went with a familiar guy. Remember, Carlisle was already the head coach of the Pacers from 2003-2007, including the season they won a franchise record 61 games.

Given the Pacers have never really been a team that flat out tanks, it doesn't surprise me they went with a proven head coach (who happens to be pretty damn good) so they could do their best to remain competitive. They went from 25 wins his first year to 35 wins last year, and now with Haliburton locked in the Pacers do feel like they are on the upswing.

It's just hard to fault them for going with a guy who has a ring who had been with the Pacers before, so I'm going to say they didn't fuck up either.

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Wolves are interesting because I'd love to know which time they passed on Ham. Was it when they replaced Thibs with Ryan Saunders or when they replaced Ryan Saunders with Chris Finch? If it was the first one I could see Ham being upset because Saunders had only been an assistant just like Ham, but at the same time when you're the son of the greatest Wolves coach of all time that has to be expected. 

If it was after they fired Saunders to roll with Finch and he finished the year 16-25, maybe that's a different story. The only problem there is the Wolves won 46 games in Finch's first season and have made the playoffs in back to back years, something that the team hadn't done since 2003-04.

Two straight years of over .500 basketball and playoff births tell me they didn't fuck up either. How much better would Ham have been?

Orlando Magic

Jamal Mosley took over for Steve Clifford in the summer of 2021 after being an assistant since the 2007 season. Call me crazy, but you spend 14 years as an assistant I'm pretty sure you've paid your dues and deserve a crack at the big leagues. We saw the Magic take a leap from 22 wins his first year to 34 wins last year, so you don't really get the sense that they are trending in the wrong direction or they made a mistake going ith Mosley. I don't think it would shock anyone if the Magic are a Play In/Playoff team next year, and it's clear the Magic were looking to instill a culture that seems to be taking off.

Time will tell, but nothing now suggests they fucked up.

Sacramento Kings

This basically is all we need to talk about

Yeah, not a fuck up.

Washington Wizards

Wes Unseld Jr got the job to run the Wizards in the summer of 2021 after about 16 years as an assistant. He also had spent his first 6 years as an assistant with the Wizards from 2005-2011. Not to mention, he's the son of Bullets/Wizards legend Wes Unseld, so this wasn't all that shocking to me. A guy paid his dues while being the son of a legend of the franchsie who had also worked there before. Seems like a pretty easy transition to me.

After back to back 35-47 seasons, it's tough to know if the Wizards fucked up or not because they couldn't fully commit to a plan. When they should have tanked, they tried to win now. While trying to win now, they didn't exactly build a roster good enough and they were hamstrung by some pretty terrible contracts. Now in 2023, it's time for the tank/rebuild.

Did they fuck up? Maybe? I guess you could make the argument that Ham could have gotten more out of the win now players the Wizards had, but something tells me he probably wouldn't have. Lets put them in the maybe category.

Los Angeles Clippers

Ty Lue got the job in the summer of 2020. Even with all the injuries to the Clippers, he still has a .564 winning percentage which is pretty damn impressive considering all the injuries the Clippers deal with are involving their two franchise pillars. By all accounts, Ty Lue is regarded as one of the best current coaches in the league. He has a title, even if it came via LeBron, but the same can be said of Ham's first year success.

I think we can all agree that this was pretty easily not a fuck up by Steve Ballmer. You have a chance to bring in a title winning coach or an uproven guy, rolling with the experience isn't a terrible idea.

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks have changed coaches a few times since 2017-18, so Ham may have a point here. Things didn't work out with Lloyd Pierce, who was replaced mid season by Nate McMillan who worked for a time. My guess is they were fooled by his 27-11 close to the 2021 season, and then he got the full time gig until he was fired this past year.

Maybe you could make the case that Ham should have been the guy if he's talking about the post Mike Budenholzer era instead of Lloyd Pierce, but I'm pretty sure that's who Trae Young wanted back then. With the way McMillan closed the season and then the fact he went 43-39 the next year, I can see why they didn't fire him in the summer of 2022.

I'll say the Hawks did fuck this up mostly because of all the turnover they've had since Coach Bud, but now with Quin Synder maybe it doesn't even matter.

In the end, I think Ham is someone who absolutely deserved to be a head coach. He's also someone that gets to coach LeBron and AD, which obviously plays into his success. I almost respect the hubris of a guy that gets to have that type of talent on the team who also just so happened to get swept in the WCF talking about how all these teams fucked up by not hiring him. That's the type of delusion I think you need to succeed as an NBA head coach, but as you can see when you go one by one through the teams he listed, it's hard to find too many that legitimately fucked up.