Darvin Ham on dealing with pressure of being Lakers coach

Darvin Ham is making his head coaching debut in one of the most challenging positions. He was appointed as the head coach of the Lakers, a team that is always expected to compete for a championship.

Not only that. This season was disastrous for the Lakers, which adds extra pressure on the next season. But according to Ham, the situation that he is right now is no big deal at all. He gave example of his own personal experience of being in a life threatening situation. The former NBA player pointed at the U.S. military as people that are facing real pressure.

“I grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, I was shot in the face by accident April 5th, 1988,” Ham began his response about being under pressure in L.A. “You go through something like that, it’s going to do one of two things. It’s going to make you fearful or fearless. It made me fearless.

“I don’t feel no pressure. It’s basketball. You’re going to talk about some of our military representatives across the seas fight for our democracy. That’s pressure.

“This here is a challenge. It’s something that can be navigated. We have a great partnership me and Rob [Pelinka] that’s going to grow and continue to build. We have great ownership group. We have great people around our building, great people involved in our personnel decisions.

“I look forward to it. I wanted to hit the road. I wanted to to talk. I wanted to talk to LeBron my first day in the gym and I wanted to start training cam the next day I got so excited. Just to hear his excitement over the phone it’s like, man. And to Russ and talk to AD, and talk to Russ.

“These guys they’re not great by mistake. They want to be able to do something and I know all of them feel this way. They want to be able to do something collectively that’s great. Put another banner in this building and it starts right now.

“So, that’s just a challenge, not pressure. I’ve seen real pressure in life. So, to me this is fun, this is something that’s going to be joyful. Something we’re going to look back on remember these days and when we’re popping champagne somewhere celebrating another banner going up.”