Lakers News: Darvin Ham A Finalist For Major NBA Honor

Surprisingly, Ham's coaching is being praised by the league.

The NBA's February iteration of the Coach of the Month Award has gone to Erik Spolestra (Miami Heat, Eastern Conference), and Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors, Western Conference). 

And, in Los Angeles Lakers news, despite his shaky reputation, LA head coach Darvin Ham has been named a finalist. 

Ham led LA to a 9-3 record in the month of February, recording wins against the Celtics, Knicks, Pelicans, and Clippers in the process. While his month was quite impressive, Kerr led the Warriors to an 11-3 record, securing him the honor. 

Ham has shown some major improvement overall this season, finding different rotational combinations that have been successful, including a starting lineup that is now 9-3, as well as finding ways to stay afloat in the minutes where LeBron James/Anthony Davis are off the floor. 

He still quite a bit to be desired for, with his snafu that likely cost LA the game against Denver on Saturday night being the freshest in fans' memory, where he benched D'Angelo Russell for Cam Reddish down the stretch of the 4th quarter. 

Going forward, expect Ham, who is only in his 2nd year as a head coach, to continue to figure things out. With LeBron James to lead the way, the arrow should be pointing up for his performance that, thus far, has been easy to criticize. Entering the home stretch of the season, however, with how LA's offense has looked, it wouldn't be shocking if they put a run together like last year.