Draymond Green gave his take on the Lakers hiring Darvin Ham as their new head coach replacing Frank Vogel at the helm of the purple and gold.
The three-time NBA champion provided a different perspective on the appointment. Green, who like Ham, is a native of Saginaw, Michigan, sees the hiring as an inspiration for kids from his hometown.
“The head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers? A kid from Saginaw? That’s groundbreaking, man. That’s big time,” the Warriors forward said on his podcast. “When you come from small places like that, you really grab on to that because ultimately what you’re looking for is hope.
“That’s the thing that gets lost when you come from a place like Saginaw. You don’t see much outside of that world. And you only see what Saginaw has to offer. What you lose first is you lose hope.
“What a signing like Darvin Ham, a hiring like Darvin Ham does is it gives that young kid hope. I was once that young kid. When LaMarr Woodley made it to the NFL, it gave me hope.
“When Jason Richardson made it to the NBA, it gave me hope. When Darvin Ham won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons, it gave me hope that I could do that too because those guys come from the same place that I come from.
“And so, for me this is so much bigger. This is so much bigger than some Xs and Os or ‘Aw man, the Lakers hired another coach’ — for me this is everything.”
