After the Los Angeles Lakers fired Darvin Ham , several questions were doing the rounds among fans and the media. The primary question is what went wrong causing their early playoff exit.
On that note, famed analyst Michael Wilbon suggests that LeBron James is to be blamed for coach Ham’s firing. The New York Post covered an episode of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, where long-time NBA analyst Michael Wilbon put his logic in words;
He took a team that had done nothing the year before, and missed the playoffs, and then last year they got to the conference finals with him and everybody had praise for him, including LeBron and Anthony Davis. And now all of a sudden, they blame him. Let me just say this, if you want to be the GOAT and you want to tell everybody you’re the greatest player of all time, then take accountability like one. Do that! Michael Wilbon said
Wilbon alluded that instead of blaming the head coach and firing him, the Los Angeles Lakers superstars should have taken ownership. They should also have stuck to the coach who helped them turn their last few years around.
To put it in context, when Darvin Ham took over the Los Angeles Lakers had just finished the previous season outside the play in spots. In his 1st season, with almost the same roster, the Lakers struggled again. After some roster moves the Lakers charged back up until the Western Conference Finals.
After all that, this year the Lakers were bumped out in the 1st round despite having a better record than last year. Wilbon believes the accountability for their head coach’s firing should be on LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Ham has improved year after year during his tenure.
LeBron James and his history with head coaches
LeBron James has had an all-time great career spanning 21 seasons. However, in those years, the all-time leading scorer in NBA history has had 10 different head coaches. Not a great number to be associated with. The longest any head coach has stayed with him is for 5 years. But there is one common trait in all of them. Excepting Erik Spoelstra, who continues to this day, they have all been fired from their positions.
It paints a grim picture of the legacy of the player who calls himself the GOAT. Michael Wilbon used the example of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Two players who took the blame on themselves for any playoff failures. Excepting Spoelstra, James has never seen a head coach last the life of their contracts. Not even the ones who led him to two of his championships.
Whoever takes the reigns of the Los Angeles Lakers will be the 11th head coach in LeBron James’ career. Hopefully, for the King, he should retire from the game with that coach still in his position. It will be a 1st in his career.
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