Report: Lakers Players "Hated" Playing for Darvin Ham; Loving JJ Redick

The Los Angeles Lakers only managed to finish 7th in the Western Conference in each of Darvin Ham's two years at the helm, though they did win a couple of playoff series and reached the Conference Finals one year.

But are the players glad to see Ham gone this season? You bet. According to a source, per Hoops Wire, the Lakers "hated" playing for their former head coach.

Look, Darvin was a nice guy. Players liked him as a person. He's easy to talk to. He's a former player and won a championship.
Players respected him as a person. But that was the biggest issue. They respected him as a person, not as a coach. His schemes, rotations and inability to take accountability for his mistakes rubbed guys the wrong way all year. They started tuning him out all the way back in December.

One example noted of the disdain they had for Ham's system was the fact that Anthony Davis was "never a fan of Ham's drop coverage defensive tactic."

Now that they're starting to acclimate to new head coach JJ Redick, the players are liking what they've seen so far. In two preseason games, sources told Hoops Wire, players have "loved" everything that the new rookie coach has brought in.

Ham finished his often contentious two-year run in La-La Land (remember the whole Russell Westbrook-to-the-bench drama?) with a solid 90-74 regular season mark. In the playoffs, they were 9-12 under Ham, including a five-game loss in the first round to the Denver Nuggets last year that sealed his fate.