In April 1988, a bullet pierced the right side of Darvin Ham’s cheek and lodged in the back of his neck. The weight of the Lakers coach's past, even during a career high point, is too heavy to hide. So he's sharing his story.
They were the 18th and 19th people killed that year. The killings equaled the totals from 1989 with four months left in the year, the city facing a gang and drug crisis that led the next day’s local newspaper.
In some ways, Ham was still searching for his place in the world as he entered his senior year of high school, the realities of street life everywhere. His low grade-point average kept him from trying out for football. But he’d sprouted to 6 feet 5 and the tight-knit guys on the Saginaw High basketball team thought he could help after they’d made a run to the state finals the previous year.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham talks with guard Patrick Beverley during a game last month at Crypto.com Arena.Ham’s first time home the following winter, he and the graduated players were getting ready to go back to Saginaw High to practice with the high school team. “He was working out, breaking rims at the rec center, in summer leagues,” Dottery said. “That summer, he just went on a rampage.”Though he was a valuable contributor on a Texas Tech team that would be ranked in the top 10 by his senior year, Ham hardly put up the numbers that screamed NBA career. As a senior, he averaged 9.1 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Yet as he made it as a pro — Ham managed to play eight seasons in the league, plus stops in Spain, the Philippines and the NBA’s developmental league — he said the trauma he absorbed growing up continued to play out in ways that impacted his relationship with his wife, Deneitra. “My wife has bore the brunt of all of that … to the point where I’m not beating her or slapping her. I [was] actually beating her with my pain, mentally, emotionally — not physically,” Ham said of his PTSD. “It’s one of those things where one of the reasons she’s still by my side is because she sees that and gets on me about being better.”
“You see a 10th guy who can connect everyone to the best player and you’re like, ‘Holy s---. His role is actually pretty important.’” His contact list is stuffed with mentors willing to help, people such as Quin Snyder, Larry Brown, Budenholzer, Billups and Brown in his network. So many of Ham’s mentors worked for San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich that when the Lakers met the Spurs for the first time this season, Ham sought out Popovich to give him a hug.
Yet for someone like Budenholzer, who saw Ham’s biggest strengths at work, he saw his former assistant as the right guy for the job.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Sixers vs. Lakers takeaways: DeAnthony Melton’s big game helped lead to a lucky winBefore the Lakers choked, the Sixers blew their 16-point lead with 4 minutes, 5 seconds remaining.
Read more »
76ers recover in OT after blown lead to beat Lakers 133-122- Joel Embiid had 38 points and 12 rebounds, De'Anthony Melton scored a career-high 33 points off the bench and the Philadelphia 76ers recovered after blowing a nine-point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation to beat the Los Angeles Lakers...
Read more »
Lakers run out of gas on road, fall to 76ers after big rally forces overtimeThe Lakers trailed Philadelphia by nine with 34.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter when a rally tied the score, but they were outscored 13-2 in overtime.
Read more »
Sixers’ defense clamps down in overtime of chaotic 133-122 victory over Los Angeles LakersDaily News | Sixers’ defense clamps down in overtime of 133-122 victory over Los Angeles Lakers
Read more »
76ers recover in OT after blown lead to beat Lakers 133-122Joel Embiid had 38 points and 12 rebounds, De'Anthony Melton scored a career-high 33 points off the bench and the Philadelphia 76ers recovered after blowing a nine-point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 133-122 in overtime on Friday night.
Read more »
Lakers erase big deficit but run out of gas in OT loss to 76ersThe Lakers trailed by 18 in the fourth quarter and were still down by nine with 30 seconds left, but Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and Austin Reaves helped them force OT before fading in a 133-1…
Read more »