One of the big questions surrounding Darvin Ham becoming the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers has been who he would hire to be on his coaching staff.
He reportedly contacted Rasheed Wallace, with whom he won the 2004 NBA championship on the Detroit Pistons, and let go of three men who had been on previous head coach Frank Vogel’s staff.
But the good news so far is that he invited Phil Handy to stay on with his new regime, and Handy said yes.
Via Lakers Daily:
“Now, another update has been offered on the team’s evolving coaching staff. It sounds like Phil Handy will be staying with the team heading into next season.”
Phil Handy, one of the top assistants in the league, has accepted the invitation of new Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham to be a part of his coaching staff, league sources tell @YahooSports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 7, 2022
This will no doubt be good news for hard-core Lakers fans, as Handy is considered perhaps the best player development coach in the NBA.
Handy started his coaching career in the 2011 season with the Lakers the same year that Ham joined the team as an assistant.
Handy then moved on after two years to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he had the good fortune of working with LeBron James.
During that time, he started an incredible run. He went to the NBA Finals four straight years with James and the Cavs, then got there a fifth straight time in 2019 when he joined the Toronto Raptors.
When Frank Vogel hired him to be on his Lakers staff for the 2019-20 campaign, Handy appeared in the championship series for an incredible sixth consecutive year while getting his third ring.
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