Speaker 1: Welcome to This League Uncut in the world of twenty
Speaker 1: four hour NBA news. Is you lo.
Speaker 2: Chris Hans.
Speaker 3: It's so time, Port Stein, It's so time.
Speaker 2: This League Uncut is underway and on fire. It should
Speaker 2: be a good one.
Speaker 4: Everyone welcome, Thanks so much for joining us. This is
Speaker 4: a historic moment for this show. We're almost six months old,
Speaker 4: This League Uncut, the This League Uncut podcast. I'm Mark Stein.
Speaker 4: To my far right is my trusty podcast partner Chris Haynes,
Speaker 4: who everyone knows from Turner Sports and Bleach your report.
Speaker 4: And we are truly honored, not just to be at
Speaker 4: the iconic Caesars Palace here at Summer League in Vegas,
Speaker 4: but to have a truly special guest with us.
Speaker 2: You guys know him.
Speaker 4: Doesn't need an introduction. Lakers coach Darvin Ham. Everyone with
Speaker 4: us here on this League Uncut Coach.
Speaker 1: Thank you man, thanks for having me, Thank you for
Speaker 1: joining us.
Speaker 3: Even for the brothers.
Speaker 1: I wish I want to take the headphones off and
Speaker 1: see what Pat Bell was talking about.
Speaker 2: That's what God.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, he'll TV right.
Speaker 4: Now and that will not be his last interview, so
Speaker 4: don't worry.
Speaker 1: I'm sure.
Speaker 4: I'm sure he'll be I'm sure he'll be getting getting
Speaker 4: info from him soon. When you're at Summer League, what
Speaker 4: what is I mean, you're an observer, You're not on
Speaker 4: the floor. What are you looking for when you're when
Speaker 4: you're watching the Lakers player, when you're in the gym
Speaker 4: for other games? What are you on the lookout for?
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to survey the level of competitiveness individual individual,
Speaker 1: group by group again, the level of competitiveness and the
Speaker 1: i Q, you know, in terms of guys that play
Speaker 1: the right way, you know, not necessarily trying to make
Speaker 1: every play for themselves, but trying to put their their
Speaker 1: team in a position to be successful possession by possession.
Speaker 1: So that's the biggest thing. And how guys are bought in.
Speaker 1: And I mean it's obviously as Summer League, it's it's
Speaker 1: a short term situation for some guys. But in that
Speaker 1: short term, how quickly can they come together and try
Speaker 1: to do something special and you know, win a summ
Speaker 1: League championship?
Speaker 4: But how much different does the game look from a
Speaker 4: fan sea Because I'm guessing.
Speaker 1: And I haven't been a fan of so long. It's like,
Speaker 1: it's hard, it's hard, it's it's actually more difficult to
Speaker 1: watch as a coach because you're you have that every
Speaker 1: like critiquing different things as you're watching real live action.
Speaker 1: It's tough. Like it's it's hard for me to sit
Speaker 1: at home and watch basketball. I love watching it, but
Speaker 1: I know, I'm so happy we have what you call it. Uh,
Speaker 1: you can pauls and winding yea, I always say TVO,
Speaker 1: but you can pause and rewind it. And I'm like
Speaker 1: breaking the game down like I'm breaking down one of
Speaker 1: my films. So it's it's it's tough, but you know,
Speaker 1: being around the game, I'm you know, I'm from Michigan
Speaker 1: originally the rich history of basketball within that state, being
Speaker 1: from the city of Saginaw, and all the great players
Speaker 1: I saw coming up from Sagging, all the flot Detroit,
Speaker 1: Grand Rapids, Calumbas play guys all over that state. To
Speaker 1: now being on my own journey from a player to
Speaker 1: now a coach, It's like you it's not hard. I
Speaker 1: see things immediately, and you can tell when the guys
Speaker 1: out there not doing the right thing, not playing the
Speaker 1: right way, and you know, usually they you know, they
Speaker 1: may get some numbers, but they don't really get very far.
Speaker 5: You've assigned coach JD to see the head coach of
Speaker 5: Summer League to talk about opportunities that presents when a
Speaker 5: guy is able to leaders own team, even if for
Speaker 5: for a short stint during some of league.
Speaker 3: What are you looking for as well?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm looking for the leadership capabilities, how how
Speaker 1: well they're keeping everything organized. I try to stay out
Speaker 1: of the way to just let him go figure it out,
Speaker 1: you know, throw them on the deep end of the pool,
Speaker 1: so to speak, you know, and you know, not be overbearing.
Speaker 1: And I think JD has done a tremendous job him
Speaker 1: skylar zp the guys why put in charge of running
Speaker 1: the Summer League team and shout out to my man
Speaker 1: Nick Mosella, who really were quarterback putting our sumer League
Speaker 1: roster together. It's it's been beautiful to watch. And you know,
Speaker 1: one of our young kids, we're really really excited about
Speaker 1: Max Christie, you know, going into his second year in
Speaker 1: the league. I told him he needs to step up
Speaker 1: and show his leadership abilities, and he's done that, along
Speaker 1: with you know, Jalen Hood Chapino and Maxwell Lewis and
Speaker 1: Colin Castleton, d'amoye Hodge, like we got Cole Spider. We
Speaker 1: have some really good players under our umbrella that you know,
Speaker 1: the people are getting a chance to see and and
Speaker 1: they're playing the right way. They're competing again, competing at
Speaker 1: a high level, and coaches at the at the forefront
Speaker 1: of that. And it's just not you know, opportunity as
Speaker 1: you mentioned for players, it's just coaches, our training staff,
Speaker 1: our performance team, like it's our h opportunity for those
Speaker 1: guys who are normally in a support role step to
Speaker 1: the forefront and show their abilities to the run a
Speaker 1: situation and keep it running smooth and keep it well
Speaker 1: oiled and well organized. So I'm excited. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think our program is just it's been incredible.
Speaker 4: So you guys, your first season, it started off so rough,
Speaker 4: but then you guys oooh changed everything up, surged into
Speaker 4: the playoffs. You won your first two playoff series as
Speaker 4: an NBA head coach. You KOed the defending champs, but
Speaker 4: obviously the Western Conference finals did not go the way
Speaker 4: you wanted against Denver. Now that you've had some distance
Speaker 4: from it, when I just listed like that, what's your
Speaker 4: gut reaction to year one on the sidelines for Darvinham.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, man, it's not stressful. What
Speaker 1: excuse me, seemed to be a stressful situation. I knew
Speaker 1: exactly what I was getting myself into. The Lakers are
Speaker 1: the organization that gave me my first shot as the
Speaker 1: NBA assistant coach. Excuse me once again, and I just
Speaker 1: knew it'd be. You know, I call it the excavation period,
Speaker 1: you know, where we try to get things stable level,
Speaker 1: you know, dig up the old bones, get them out
Speaker 1: the way, and try to reset the franchise to get
Speaker 1: back to re establishing to win the culture. And I
Speaker 1: felt like we were able to do that. We put
Speaker 1: together a strong coaching staff, you know, Chris, Jim, Phil Hand,
Speaker 1: the Jordan and skyl Or jd. We just added to
Speaker 1: Mary Carroll, Zach Peters and all our guys, like we
Speaker 1: knew that every day we come out, you know, our
Speaker 1: marching orders that I delivered as being the head coach,
Speaker 1: we gotta make sure we go get better at something
Speaker 1: each and every day. And I didn't look at him
Speaker 1: as wins and losses. I called them wisdom and lessons.
Speaker 1: And so we we didn't want to answer we're gonna
Speaker 1: go as far as our work takes us. And that's
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. I mean, obviously we had some parts
Speaker 1: albeit that were good parts, but they just didn't fit.
Speaker 1: And so once we were able to get some pieces
Speaker 1: that hit naturally to our two captains, Brian and a
Speaker 1: d I thought, you saw, you know, you got to
Speaker 1: you got to see what the laker what it looks like.
Speaker 1: And you know, being able to get through the first
Speaker 1: round it's a really tough, well coach Memphis team and
Speaker 1: in the second round it gets the defending champs. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it was beautiful. And then to see of what
Speaker 1: winning is gonna look like in the league. In terms
Speaker 1: of playing against Denver, the won two parts, not three
Speaker 1: four max players and just a collection of individuals, a solid,
Speaker 1: well coach team with the monster of.
Speaker 2: A player in.
Speaker 1: Nicolet Jokic, the Joker is nothing short of amazing. The
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, the reemergence of Jamal Man and just just
Speaker 1: a really good program, well balanced team that's you know,
Speaker 1: very very young, and someone that you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: go through. In terms of achieving that goal of winning
Speaker 1: the championship, it runs directly through Denver.
Speaker 4: I remember being there early in the season, during the
Speaker 4: two and ten start. Yeah, and being in that press
Speaker 4: conference room and you talked about how blessed you felt
Speaker 4: to be the Laker coach and it was not it did.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie to you. There were a lot
Speaker 4: of people in that room, maybe even me included. It
Speaker 4: didn't look like a blissful, I'm blessed situation.
Speaker 2: At that this point.
Speaker 4: I mean, you guys were in a serious hole. How
Speaker 4: much pressure did you feel at that time?
Speaker 2: Too?
Speaker 4: I have to try to somebody has to bring some
Speaker 4: calmness here, and it's gonna be me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I just think you show up to
Speaker 1: work and you be consistent. One thing I've always prided
Speaker 1: myself on is being a consistent human being, Like, no
Speaker 1: matter what circumstances changed in my life, if I'm up,
Speaker 1: if I'm down, rich, poor, whatever, it don't matter. Like
Speaker 1: every human deserves to be treated with respect. And I
Speaker 1: want people to know if they engage with Darviingham, they know, Darvingham,
Speaker 1: you gonna get the same thing every time, and never
Speaker 1: get too high and never get too low. Because again,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, what I've seen throughout my years of
Speaker 1: playing at this level, or any level for that matter.
Speaker 1: Being around some of the great coaches I've been around,
Speaker 1: the team is a direct reflection of the coach, and
Speaker 1: I just felt like if I stayed consistent in my approach,
Speaker 1: that toughness was was gonna bleed over into my team.
Speaker 1: And I think that's exactly what happened. If you go
Speaker 1: back and look at some of those press conference conferences,
Speaker 1: I told them, I said, we have to go through
Speaker 1: this time, like this is the reconstruction period, Like we
Speaker 1: have to go through this. I understood that, you know,
Speaker 1: being with Bud for nine years and what we had
Speaker 1: to do in Atlanta and what we were able to do,
Speaker 1: you know, transitioning from Atlanta to Milwaukee, and you know,
Speaker 1: like it's nothing's gonna happen overnight if you just have
Speaker 1: to stick with it and be consistent every day. And
Speaker 1: it starts with me being a leader and everyone that's
Speaker 1: around me just having that mindset to where you know,
Speaker 1: we got better at something. That's a such thing as
Speaker 1: a bad win and a good loss, Like sometimes you
Speaker 1: win bad and you've had bad habits, but just because
Speaker 1: you have so much talent.
Speaker 4: You would have taken a bad win.
Speaker 1: Though during I'd have taken a few bad wins, but uh,
Speaker 1: we had some good losses. Like where I saw the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. It's funny because you know, being with Bud
Speaker 1: coming from La joining him in Atlanta in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: the Lakers were always my scout and as the scout coach,
Speaker 1: I always had to pay attention to what was going
Speaker 1: on over there for strategic reasons. And also that's that's
Speaker 1: what gave me my start, you know, being with Kobe
Speaker 1: for two years twenty eleven in twenty thirteen and everything
Speaker 1: that's going on is it's a little special place in
Speaker 1: my heart for that place. And so just what I
Speaker 1: saw from them the previous season going into it, even
Speaker 1: before I got the job, it is just like I
Speaker 1: just saw lack of competitiveness that I knew that once
Speaker 1: I get the job. That's the first thing we got
Speaker 1: to established that when you play the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 1: you in for a dog fighting like no matter who
Speaker 1: wins or loses, you gonna feel us like you're gonna
Speaker 1: we gonna make you feel us, and you're gonna know
Speaker 1: that you you were in the like a knockdown drag
Speaker 1: out if need be. I wanted to re establish that
Speaker 1: first and to be together. And I said, it's competitiveness,
Speaker 1: togetherness and accountability starting with myself. How can I be better?
Speaker 1: How can we be better? So I think we were
Speaker 1: able to do that in the first year.
Speaker 5: Up once again, we're here with Los Angeles Lakers head
Speaker 5: coach Darvin Ham here at Caesars Palace, live here in
Speaker 5: Las Vegas. I think it's well documented obviously the decision
Speaker 5: you had to make early in the season to bring
Speaker 5: Russell Westbrook off the bench. But coach, there are Hall
Speaker 5: of fame coaches who coach for twenty years who never
Speaker 5: have to make.
Speaker 3: A decision like that.
Speaker 5: What prepared you to have a talk like that, to
Speaker 5: have a not just a suggestion, but hey, this is
Speaker 5: what this is what needs to happen, Like, what prepared
Speaker 5: you to take go on something like that.
Speaker 1: I just think things I've been through in life, like
Speaker 1: growing up and sagging on the eighties. Man, we got
Speaker 1: to sell anybody about that time, you know, just everything, Yeah,
Speaker 1: things people have engaged and and the biggest thing for me, man,
Speaker 1: is just I just feel like you only have to
Speaker 1: tell the truth once and you're not You don't Some
Speaker 1: people choose to disguise it with humor and being a
Speaker 1: damn comedian, and some people want to disguise it through
Speaker 1: being abrasive and and and and being like just assertive
Speaker 1: and what could be perceived a mean spirited way. I
Speaker 1: just shoot between the eyes, man and just look.
Speaker 2: Look.
Speaker 1: And I told Russ, I said, and shout out to
Speaker 1: Russ Man, like so us made. He takes a lot
Speaker 1: of blame. And you know, everybody you know seems to
Speaker 1: want to talk stuff about it. I won't curse, but but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just some of the stuff he has to endure.
Speaker 1: And he's still a very, very highly capable basketball player.
Speaker 1: I appreciate him for just giving it a chance and
Speaker 1: complying with what I wanted to do and just to
Speaker 1: take a take, take a bullet for the team. And
Speaker 1: like I told him, it's not a demotion, bro, Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we got you a D and Brown in the starting lineup.
Speaker 1: All of you guys need the ball, like and most
Speaker 1: times you give it up, you're going to just go
Speaker 1: stand somewhere, like why not realign? Why not allow me
Speaker 1: to help you help us by realigning the rotation to
Speaker 1: where now you're coming off and you get to dominate,
Speaker 1: dictate to do everything and people forget man like when
Speaker 1: he came in from that reserve role and we would
Speaker 1: put runners and shooters and rim rollers and finishers around them,
Speaker 1: it's time to there are ten MVP for us. He
Speaker 1: saved our ass a bunch of nights when we started
Speaker 1: off flat and he came in and he pushed the tempo.
Speaker 1: He brought that energy and you look up now we've
Speaker 1: gone on a twelve to two or ten oh run
Speaker 1: as soon as he stepped into the lineup off the bench.
Speaker 1: So shout out to him. I'll always be thankful and
Speaker 1: respectful for him again just meeting me halfway and really
Speaker 1: trying to buy into what we were trying to do.
Speaker 1: But it's I mean, I think you just sit down
Speaker 1: and it was it was a summer long deal. Me
Speaker 1: seeing him out here in vegue is me, you know,
Speaker 1: pulling them to the side, having one on one conversations
Speaker 1: throughout text messages.
Speaker 2: Phone calls. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but just really because I have a ton of
Speaker 1: respect for us, like I've always had since he's been
Speaker 1: in the league. So I just I respect what he's done,
Speaker 1: but who he is, great, great human being, and I'm
Speaker 1: just happy again that he it's a collaboration these days, man,
Speaker 1: it's no longer a dictatorship.
Speaker 2: Of his my way of the high win.
Speaker 1: And you have to collaborate with your players if you
Speaker 1: hope to have any type of success. And that was
Speaker 1: a huge collaborative effort on his behalf in mind and
Speaker 1: us trying to.
Speaker 2: Make something work.
Speaker 4: How much do you think that that plays to your advantage?
Speaker 4: You're obviously not afraid to talk to guys.
Speaker 2: You, I mean you.
Speaker 4: You clearly relish that. So how much does that change
Speaker 4: in the game work in your favor?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 1: I just think you know, I came in as an
Speaker 1: undrafted player, and again I come from a real place,
Speaker 1: a real background, really and always try to be the
Speaker 1: best teammate I could possibly be. It's funny I still
Speaker 1: talk to my teammates from every situation I've ever been in,
Speaker 1: you know, always all the way back to Lafondo, Ellis
Speaker 1: in my rookie year in Denver, Man Chris Webber, Juwan,
Speaker 1: Rod Strickland, all my guys, God Sham God, Ben Wallace,
Speaker 1: She like Sam Plesel like Jason Terry, everywhere I've been,
Speaker 1: you know, I made these relationships with these guys and
Speaker 1: the camaraderie that's involved, because that's the thing you missed
Speaker 1: when guys go on, they retire and they get away
Speaker 1: from the game. Obviously, the money is what it is,
Speaker 1: and the traveling and all that, but what they miss
Speaker 1: is that brotherhood you have with your teammates and being
Speaker 1: able to understand that from a player's perspective, and now
Speaker 1: transitioning into being a coach, I think it makes it.
Speaker 1: It's not like a chore or a daunting task for
Speaker 1: me to have a conversation with someone, whether.
Speaker 4: It's I'm sure you heard the skeptics coming in the
Speaker 4: natural question. They're going to ask, not necessarily about you specifically,
Speaker 4: but they're going to say, how is a rookie coach
Speaker 4: going to coach Lebron James.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm rookie in the sense of having never been
Speaker 1: a head coach, but I'm not a first time at all.
Speaker 1: I've been around this league for a quarter of a
Speaker 1: century and so knowing Brown like I do, I think
Speaker 1: the common denominator between he and I is the hunger
Speaker 1: to win and to win at a high level and
Speaker 1: just sit and talk. And those are my nad and
Speaker 1: my team captains, and I think communication is key and
Speaker 1: a collaborative mindset of not your way or what works
Speaker 1: best for you specifically individually, we're gonna fail. If it's
Speaker 1: something that's not the whole group can embrace and thrive on,
Speaker 1: then maybe it's not a good idea. And I'm not
Speaker 1: afraid to say that or challenge my guys man in
Speaker 1: certain ways. So and again not being laughing, joky or
Speaker 1: being dark and aggressive and abrasive, like just just calling
Speaker 1: a cat and cat being real and just having a
Speaker 1: type of temperament where they know I'm serious and we're
Speaker 1: gonna push forward and try to make it work. But
Speaker 1: it's just not gonna be something we pull out of
Speaker 1: the sky. It's gonna be a well thought out, well
Speaker 1: informed decision or course of action. So that's the biggest
Speaker 1: thing for me, and just them understanding the clarity about
Speaker 1: it and getting their feedback and then landing in a
Speaker 1: place where we all feel good about, you know, the
Speaker 1: course of action we're gonna take.
Speaker 5: I covered Lebron when he was in Cleveland when David
Speaker 5: Black had took over, and it didn't go too well.
Speaker 3: Darn the players just didn't.
Speaker 2: That.
Speaker 5: The respect wasn't there. Yeah, the voice wasn't there. The
Speaker 5: accountability wasn't there. And so with that sense, we're saying
Speaker 5: that I know players on that team, they were like,
Speaker 5: you know, he wouldn't call out certain guys.
Speaker 3: So I want to ask you.
Speaker 5: Do you remember the first time you called out Lebron
Speaker 5: in front of the team. I call out that call out,
Speaker 5: that call out knowledge.
Speaker 2: Him when you have to. When you have film, you
Speaker 2: fight with film.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's any coach that's worked this way and go
Speaker 1: will tell you the film never lies. Is you have
Speaker 1: to fight with film. It's not calling anybody out. Are
Speaker 1: you willing to acknowledge a mistake made by the biggest
Speaker 1: asset in the.
Speaker 2: Room like.
Speaker 1: Respect that there's times when you stop the film, like Bron,
Speaker 1: I need you to be the meg, what we call
Speaker 1: our meg, our baseline up, our most important guy. And
Speaker 1: to his credit, is one of the reasons why we
Speaker 1: were able to have a success and that you know,
Speaker 1: transformed and what we were able to do going from
Speaker 1: h to six or to two and ten to getting
Speaker 1: to the final four in the conference finals. Like was
Speaker 1: his ability to allow himself to be coached like he
Speaker 1: like everybody, you know, he's this he he's the biggest
Speaker 1: personality global superstar we have today. But he's also a
Speaker 1: guy that's been praised and both criticized for always making
Speaker 1: the right play and playing and not being selfish enough
Speaker 1: at times. And the one thing I know about Lebron
Speaker 1: James is is IQ he just wants the right plays
Speaker 1: to be made. It doesn't have to be him shooting
Speaker 1: the ball going for a game winner. The biggest, one
Speaker 1: of the biggest shots that were made in our program
Speaker 1: this year was him kicking the ball out of Dennis
Speaker 1: Shroud and the play and game against Minnesota, Dennis knocking
Speaker 1: down the corner three. So when we talk about the
Speaker 1: game and we break stuff down, and even I encourage
Speaker 1: them when we're going through walkthroughs, you're going through film,
Speaker 1: I encourage the feedback. I know the coaches constantly. I've
Speaker 1: been in the room where in uniform as a player,
Speaker 1: watching the coaches give us all the answers and what
Speaker 1: he thinks and not really open enough the floor for
Speaker 1: guys to say what they need to say and get
Speaker 1: that feedback and from their petive.
Speaker 2: So that's the one thing.
Speaker 1: I wanted to try to create and my first opportunity
Speaker 1: being in the seat is to let these guys know
Speaker 1: that all feedback is welcome. But it can't be it
Speaker 1: can't be a personal agenda behind that. It's gotta be
Speaker 1: from a perspectable what's gonna help the entirety of the group,
Speaker 1: not just what's comfortable for me and what's gonna help
Speaker 1: me individually, Like he understands that about me and my staff.
Speaker 1: The way it's constructed, we hold each other accountable and
Speaker 1: ad the same, and guys will speak up in the films.
Speaker 1: That's only he allows himself to be coached. It's not
Speaker 1: like this big thing where oh, and you have some
Speaker 1: guys that are go into it like that.
Speaker 2: Or just.
Speaker 1: Manipulate or try to create a scenario to where they
Speaker 1: can say I stood up the broad It wasn't even
Speaker 1: about that, Bro, Like, let's deal with the facts. Does
Speaker 1: the film say, Okay, if Bron was out of place
Speaker 1: and there's one play, we're gonna talk about it, not
Speaker 1: just for Bron, for the.
Speaker 2: Whole room and group to see that.
Speaker 1: If you're in this position, whether it's Bron or if
Speaker 1: it's Dennis, or if it's whoever one of the new
Speaker 1: guys that's coming in Jackson Hayes, Cam Reddish everybody's gonna
Speaker 1: get that same speech, because this is the way we
Speaker 1: have to play. This is the way we have to
Speaker 1: execute on either side of the ball. It's not just
Speaker 1: because it's Lebron. It's like these dudes like they manufacture
Speaker 1: these moments to just make themselves feel good, like they
Speaker 1: stood up to something, whereas me, I just want us
Speaker 1: moving thinking the right way so we can ultimately accomplish
Speaker 1: our goal of being NBA champions once again.
Speaker 4: You've got to taste that. As a player, how often
Speaker 4: do you do you allow yourself to imagine what that
Speaker 4: would feel like to win one? As a coach, how
Speaker 4: do you approach you? Do you dream about it or
Speaker 4: do you not think about it? Or what's your approach
Speaker 4: on that?
Speaker 1: Bro? You constantly, I mean you're constantly chasing that feeling.
Speaker 1: I mean to be able to do it in O
Speaker 1: four in Detroit and then do it as an assistant
Speaker 1: coach in Milwaukee what they had gone on a fifty
Speaker 1: year drought and we were able to do that in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one to go get number eighteen in the
Speaker 1: Purple and gold. Like I'm working my ass off, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to give us each and every opportunity to be
Speaker 1: able to put that.
Speaker 2: It's nothing more than I would want is.
Speaker 1: To win a championship trophy with gd Bus and Rob
Speaker 1: Blinka have been nothing short of amazing to me. They've
Speaker 1: given me this platform, they've supported me stay solid through
Speaker 1: the hard times early on, and then just some of
Speaker 1: the text messages, some of the conversations, some of the
Speaker 1: phone calls when the three of us get into the
Speaker 1: room and the support they've given me, man, it just
Speaker 1: empowers me. And so it's nothing more that I will
Speaker 1: want than being able to hoist that trophy up. And
Speaker 1: with those two individuals and our team and an organization
Speaker 1: as a whole, everyone has treated me with nothing but
Speaker 1: open arms.
Speaker 4: So since you bring that up, I don't know if
Speaker 4: my count is exactly right, but I mean, you proved
Speaker 4: last year you should have gotten a head coaching job
Speaker 4: a long time ago. But I mean I counted it
Speaker 4: up once and if my count is right, Celtics, Hornets, Bulls, Pacers, Wolves, Magic, Kings,
Speaker 4: Wizards and Clippers and Hawks and Hawks too. So ten
Speaker 4: teams interviewed you, yep, and did not hire you as
Speaker 4: their head coach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they fucked up rawly. Then you go back and
Speaker 1: look at those teams, I mean, coaches changed as we've
Speaker 1: had amongst those.
Speaker 4: How did you not let that embitter you?
Speaker 2: How did you?
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm sure that was not fun to go
Speaker 4: through that ten times.
Speaker 2: Nah.
Speaker 1: I mean it's just one of those things. And Lakers
Speaker 1: were a tenth. I mean, just it's not getting a job.
Speaker 1: It's the right job with the right fit, with the
Speaker 1: right individuals. You could think you're ready for something, but
Speaker 1: only God knows is like to put you in the
Speaker 1: right place where you need to be.
Speaker 2: And that was what happened with the Lakers, and.
Speaker 1: God blessed those other franchises. But I just know, yes,
Speaker 1: you never want to get down because you those things
Speaker 1: take They take time.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, the process goes a team of call
Speaker 1: and national permission to interview, right, your interview might not
Speaker 1: be for another two to three weeks and so oh
Speaker 1: and a bunch of those situations. I'm in a situation
Speaker 1: that Milwaukee we're fighting for a championship and I'm the
Speaker 1: lead assist, so my mind I have to be locked
Speaker 1: in on what we're doing to support but but also
Speaker 1: trying to prep for this new situation to get familiar
Speaker 1: with what their their circumstances are, and so it was
Speaker 1: tough not you know a few of those situations not
Speaker 1: being able to land them. But I'm okay, I'm I
Speaker 1: don't get the job, but I'm going back to a
Speaker 1: championship franchise. So my my landing, my landing were all.
Speaker 1: I had a big ass parachute, so people talk about
Speaker 1: having a golden parachute. That was my situation in Milwaukee
Speaker 1: and sou But again, it's not about getting a job
Speaker 1: but the right job. And I felt like we fell
Speaker 1: into the right situation with the Los Angeles Lakers, and
Speaker 1: then it was like a homecoming for me.
Speaker 2: You know, they gave me my start as a coach.
Speaker 4: I've seen you now like three times here and you've
Speaker 4: had a different Dodger hat on every time.
Speaker 2: If you were so.
Speaker 4: But if if you go home, I mean, they're gonna
Speaker 4: be cool with a Dodger hat if you's.
Speaker 1: Daring him, So they're gonna be They don't be satisfied.
Speaker 1: They ain't gonna say about nothing I'm doing. You've been
Speaker 1: around me before. We moved through a rood, no problem.
Speaker 1: I promise The security is there to save the people that's.
Speaker 2: Just how it is. Talk that the power of God
Speaker 2: with you. Man. I ain't worried about nothing.
Speaker 5: Do you have the I've noticed because I've experienced it myself.
Speaker 5: You've gotten petty a couple of times this season. So
Speaker 5: that's case in point. We were talking about it a
Speaker 5: little bit before. So you're playing the Golden State Warris
Speaker 5: and that that was actually the playoff series that everybody
Speaker 5: wanted to see.
Speaker 3: That they wanted to see that serious. That series actually
Speaker 3: should have been the Western Conference.
Speaker 5: Well, and I can't say that because that's respecting the champion,
Speaker 5: but that was a serious That was the serious everybody
Speaker 5: wanted to see. So at certain point, Steve Kerr goes
Speaker 5: out and accuses your team of continuously flopping, flopping, flopping.
Speaker 5: So for you that don't know, you know, when you
Speaker 5: see me during the game, I'm I'm talking to the
Speaker 5: coaches after the first and third quarter.
Speaker 3: So I got Coach Ham after the first quarter.
Speaker 5: There was a play that Dennis Schroeder had he really
Speaker 5: got fouled, like he got fouled, but there was no call.
Speaker 3: Buzzer ends ends the first quarter.
Speaker 5: I saw Coach Ham's reaction, so I'm like, okay, in
Speaker 5: my head, that's gonna be my first question. I'm not
Speaker 5: thinking anything of what you're about to say. I'm just
Speaker 5: wanting to get your reaction to that miscall. So I
Speaker 5: asked you, hey, coach Ham, I saw your reaction Denis
Speaker 5: Schroder not getting a call with what did you think
Speaker 5: about that? And I think you completely dismissed that question.
Speaker 5: She was like, I don't teach flopping over here. We
Speaker 5: don't flop over here. So if anybody's saying anything like that,
Speaker 5: and it just said like immediately, I was like, oh,
Speaker 5: this is gonna be a viral.
Speaker 2: Woman.
Speaker 3: You don't get those type of questions, I mean answers.
Speaker 3: It gave an interview right there.
Speaker 5: So you was that something that just triggered you at
Speaker 5: the time, Like what triggered you to get that response
Speaker 5: at that point?
Speaker 1: It's just one of those things, man, Like I let
Speaker 1: me start here. Man, I have nothing but the utmost
Speaker 1: respect for Suten State Warriors, Steve Cerr, everybody. But when
Speaker 1: you try to paint a narrative, I think you know,
Speaker 1: it's like playing chess, playing poker, or whatever you want
Speaker 1: to call it. Guys trying to give themselves any and
Speaker 1: every chance and every possible way to come out on
Speaker 1: top of a situation and be victorious. Right me, I
Speaker 1: never blamed officiating. It's even hard. Like we have someone
Speaker 1: to sign to like who watches the game and watch
Speaker 1: we may flag certain clips, and all we want is consistency.
Speaker 1: We don't want, you know, an advantage or the referees
Speaker 1: to work on our behalf. These guys are the holders
Speaker 1: of the game, the integrity of the game at that
Speaker 1: and so we just want to point out different things
Speaker 1: in order to try to force the situation where they're.
Speaker 2: Just more consistent.
Speaker 1: And so when you hear certain things, man like I
Speaker 1: don't rob or tell you, my coaches will tell you.
Speaker 1: I struggled to try to be caddy and petty and
Speaker 1: complaining about the officiating and all of this. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's times I just called like it it. We got
Speaker 1: screwed a bunch this year, bro, Like early on we
Speaker 1: needed some it was some big wins that didn't go
Speaker 1: in our favor for just inconsistent officiating. I don't blame
Speaker 1: that on one individual referee. I'm just saying in that
Speaker 1: moment in time, it was inconsistent officiating.
Speaker 2: That's all I'll say. And I'll leave it there.
Speaker 1: I don't want to use that as a crutch because
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we have also what
Speaker 1: we call in our program, self inflicted wounds when we
Speaker 1: don't take care of the business we're supposed to take
Speaker 1: care of to put us in a position where we
Speaker 1: can come out victorious. So we address that. But when
Speaker 1: I'm hearing different sound bites and I'm seeing the game
Speaker 1: within the game being played in the media and all
Speaker 1: of that, I don't fuck with it. I don't want
Speaker 1: nothing to do with it. I'm sorry, excuse my language,
Speaker 1: but I'm you know I nothing came easy for me,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of crossing the t's dotting the
Speaker 1: eyes and within my career, whether I was a player,
Speaker 1: coach you just mentioned, I went through ten interviews. Nothing
Speaker 1: has ever come easy for me. And I want it
Speaker 1: that way because now it's like I can't just give
Speaker 1: you a scripted message.
Speaker 2: I have a testimony, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: By the grace of God, I'm sitting here in this
Speaker 1: position I'm in, working for the franchise I'm working for,
Speaker 1: and I'll be damned if I let someone try to
Speaker 1: manipulate the way we approach our game, the competitiveness in
Speaker 1: which we come with, like we're trying to you know,
Speaker 1: disguise and try to pull the wall over someone's eyes
Speaker 1: where now were coming out were playing smash mouth basketball.
Speaker 1: That's the way we teach it. That's the way we
Speaker 1: preach it, and that's the way we're gonna execute it
Speaker 1: when the lights come on.
Speaker 5: So, coach, you don't view that tech as you know
Speaker 5: a coach, what's the term lame as hell?
Speaker 3: Starry? What's the term? With coaches? It's like a it's
Speaker 3: a tactic coaching.
Speaker 4: Steve Currs of Phil Jackson disciple that that's that was
Speaker 4: a Phil Jackson maneuver.
Speaker 5: Okay, but a lot a lot of coaches do it
Speaker 5: like they plan to see in hopes that the calls
Speaker 5: will go in their favorite next game.
Speaker 1: If they I'm a Larry Brown disciple, you're gonna get
Speaker 1: out of your work what you put into. It's shout
Speaker 1: out to coach Brown. Still talk to him all the time,
Speaker 1: stay on my line. Gave me great words of encouragement
Speaker 1: throughout this whole process.
Speaker 4: I can't get over that ten teams talk to you
Speaker 4: before the Lakers. That's a third of the.
Speaker 1: League, a third of the league. Bro, And I give
Speaker 1: another shout out Charles Lee. I'm seeing him going through
Speaker 1: some of the similar things right now. And and and
Speaker 1: kudos to him, congratulation to him become and lead assistant
Speaker 1: over with the Boston Celtics, and he's gonna get his time.
Speaker 1: And again, like he and I just talked about this
Speaker 1: two days ago, Like it's not just about getting a job,
Speaker 1: it's getting the right job, because don't get it messed up.
Speaker 1: Like the same way they're trying to they would try
Speaker 1: to vet me and see if I'm capable of doing
Speaker 1: the job. You have to vet some of these franchises
Speaker 1: they're leader to a lot of times, their leadership is shaky.
Speaker 1: They don't have the vertical alignment that they should have.
Speaker 1: But everything falls on that position of a coach first
Speaker 1: to get blame lines, to get the credit right. So
Speaker 1: you have to do your own vetting of some of
Speaker 1: these organizations that's being poorly ran, that don't give the support,
Speaker 1: that's not trying to everybody talks just rebuild stuff. I
Speaker 1: just na that's but you have to do your part.
Speaker 1: To any candidate out there that's you know, the next
Speaker 1: potential head coach, make sure you do your homework on
Speaker 1: that franchise you stepping into, to make sure that you
Speaker 1: know that you even want to be a part of that.
Speaker 4: So much goodness, so much candor on so many different
Speaker 4: subjects here with Darvin Ham, that we decided, you know what,
Speaker 4: We've got to split this thing into two parts. So
Speaker 4: stay tuned for part two because we're going to get
Speaker 4: into Darvin's thoughts about Austin Reeves and his new contract,
Speaker 4: what the future looks like for Austin Reeves with the Lakers,
Speaker 4: and in addition to many other topics, we will get
Speaker 4: to Darvin Ham's thoughts on the Lakers rivalry with Denver
Speaker 4: and Nuggets coach Mike Malone.
Speaker 2: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 2: This League Uncuttage and iHeartRadio Production
Speaker 3: Chris Hayne and Mark Stein