The Lakers dropped to 2-7 on the season with another frustrating loss to the Cavs on Sunday, leaving head coach Darvin Ham not mad, just disappointed.
There’s nothing more fear-inducing than that moment, whether brief or long, when you know you’re in trouble and a parent or guardian is waiting to confront you about it. The dread of what they’re going to say you is then normally met with the phrase that everyone hates to hear...
“I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.”
After a seventh loss of the season on Sunday, Darvin Ham treated the Lakers roster like his children that just missed curfew by three hours and were busted trying to sneak into the house.
“I’m not angry,” Ham said. “I’m not disillusioned. I’m disappointed because I know how much better we can play. We just have to keep coaching them and fighting the good fight. That’s what we signed up for. There’s 82 games.
“No, I’m not disillusioned. None of that. No anger. None of that. I’m here to help this team. I’m here to help Jeanie and Rob turn stuff around. I’m here to help Bron. I’m here to help AD, Russ. I’m here to help and I’m not going to let them see me down or uninspired or whatever. You have to experience the bad before you get to the good and that’s where I’m at.”
It’s an impossible position for Ham, who is being asked to get the best out of a terribly flawed roster. Game in and game out, he’s asked about the team’s struggles to shoot the ball and is doing his best to put them in a situation each game to make shots.
Unfortunately, he can not physically force them to make shots, which is where things derail each game. The Lakers are averaging 15.8 3-pointers per game classified by NBA stats as wide open, ninth-most in the league. Their 28.6% shooting percentage on those attempts is far and away last.
They are also shooting 8.1 3-pointers per game classified as open, which is actually in the bottom third in the league. However, they’re still shooting 23.1% on those attempts, the second-worst mark.
It’s a roster not designed to shoot the ball in a league in 2022 where shooting the ball is imperative. It’s a nasty mixture that has Darvin Ham in an impossible spot. All things considered, he’s handling it about as well as could be expected.
Which is to say he probably isn’t necessarily mad at the Lakers front office for creating the roster, just disappointed.
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