In his first season as an NBA head coach, Darvin Ham is learning that the buck stops with him. Every decision that the Lakers coaching staff makes ultimately rests with Ham. He has to own them and live with the consequences.
One of the biggest decisions Ham has made in his short tenure is moving Russell Westbrook to the second unit, a choice that has had immediate positive results for the Lakers. What Ham hadn’t done in Westbrook’s first two games off the bench was move the highest-paid Laker out of the closing lineup.