Kentavious Caldwell-Pope didn’t mention Darvin Ham.
He probably wasn’t even thinking at first Lakers trainer.
But the comments made by KCP on Wednesday’s episode of Draymond Green’s podcast unintentionally brought back some painful memories for Los Angeles sports fans who hold Ham responsible for the Lakers’ shortcomings last season.
Caldwell-Pope was talking about his recent playoff run with the Denver Nuggetsteam with which he won the NBA title in 2023. This year, however, after defeating the Lakers four games to one in the first round, the Nuggets were eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals.
The veteran guard was trying to make the point that the Nuggets had exerted so much energy in a tight race for first place in the conference — finishing second behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and ahead of Minnesota — that they had nothing left. in the tank for the postseason.
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“You know how it is around the playoffs, do guys rest?” said Caldwell-Pope, who signed with the Orlando Magic as a free agent this month. “Well, I feel like that’s where we spent most of our energy and time trying to get first place, trying to catch up. And then we get to the playoffs, we have no gas. .Like we’re losing every game – at least 10 to like best, maybe 20-something?
The Lakers have led the Nuggets by at least 12 points in each of their first four games — including a 20-point third-quarter lead in Game 2 – and maintained a nine-point lead in the third quarter of Game 5 but we can only hold on to win Game 4. LA also led at halftime in every game.
Green emphatically agreed with Caldwell-Pope that the Lakers should have won that series.
So did many fans on X (formerly Twitter), almost all of whom went the extra mile to blame Ham for the Lakers’ inability to maintain a significant lead in every game. A fan tweeted, “KCP basically said the Lakers didn’t beat them because of Darvin Ham.” Other he wrote“My hatred for Darvin Ham has been reignited into a raging flame.”
A person posted a photo of Ham with his hands in his pockets, an image that for many Lakers fans has come to symbolize a perceived lack of action on the part of the former coach as momentum began to slip away from his team.
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To be fair, some fans also criticized the players D’Angelo Russell It is Rui Hachimuraboth with underwhelming series against the Nuggets.
Ham, who took LA to a surprising appearance in the Western Conference Finals during his first season as coach in 2022-23, he was fired by Lakers on May 3rd. He is now an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks.. The Lakers signed JJ Redick as head coach on June 20.
Caldwell-Pope spent four seasons with the Lakers winning the 2020 NBA title inside the COVID-19 bubble near Orlando. He also discussed this experience with Green.
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“You’re playing a season and the season is over. I don’t know if we’re going to come back and play basketball,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We saw the regular season and how we were playing and we thought…what if we can’t come back, because we already had it in mind, man, this is our championship, regardless of whether COVID stopped or not.
“As soon as we heard the season was starting in the bubble, we were excited. We were ready to win our championship the way we wanted. the season stopped again in the bubble. These things boggle people’s minds, like, okay, I’m ready to go home. Forget basketball. I’m very grateful – I appreciate all my teammates at the time. Their minds were focused on that championship. They weren’t ready to go. They came here for a reason and we wanted that.”
Caldwell-Pope added, “We wanted that one so bad we would have gone through burning hoops for him.”
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
