There isn’t a problem that Ham doesn’t relish tackling, and the warmth he has for everyone in his orbit has created a support group he can lean on as he takes on what most would agree is one of the…
There is a brotherhood formed in seedy airport lounges and over somewhat unappetizing powdered eggs – the kind that holds fast for decades.By now, the story of Ham commandeering Snyder’s 2002 Eurovan when they were both assistants with the Lakers in 2011 under Mike Brown is fairly well-known. When Ham’s car broke down, Snyder lent him the van, which had a built-in couch among other features, and Ham promptly made himself at home.
Longtime Golden State assistant coach Ron Adams was working on George Karl’s staff in 1999 in Milwaukee, and at the onset of camp, Karl was telling his locker room what players on his team needed to do to contribute. After he had listed his points, a stocky forward who had spent the previous season abroad raised a hand.
“Sometimes when you step into coaching, it’s hard to understand what the role players go through, but Darvin always understood his role as a player,” Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy said. “His strength as a coach is being able to identify those roles, being able to push role players at a super high level. Even working with him back in 2011, you could see his attention to detail, just wanting to learn.
A lot of coaches come up when Ham talks about his influences and the people he turns to for advice. Obviously, Mike Budenholzer, under whom Ham worked for nine seasons, winning a championship in Milwaukee in 2021. But there are also Snyder, Adams, Brown, Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins, Portland coach Chauncey Billups and Charlotte coach Steve Clifford.
“That’s the most important thing for us and coaches: Everyone thinks it’s X’s and O’s but it’s not,” Handy said. “There’s not much you can’t ask them to do, that they won’t try for you if you treat everybody the same. Everybody on our team shows respect.” “Opposites attract, man,” Ham said of him and Snyder. “That’s my dude. Obviously, his swag is way different from my type of swag. But we just find the humor in certain things, and we have this bond, this connection that keeps life in perspective.”
Handy said Ham earned Kobe Bryant’s respect as an assistant when he worked with the Lakers a decade ago. They had gone against each other as players in the 2004 NBA Finals , and when Bryant wanted to practice against a bigger player, he would pull in Ham: “They would get in the trenches and bang. Kob respected D-Ham’s work ethic.”
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