New Lakers coach Darvin Ham believes Russell Westbrook has a “ton left in the tank” but will have to make sacrifices to help the franchise return to a championship level, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.
Ham made those comments on Monday during his introductory press conference, which Westbrook attended.
“Don’t get it messed up, Russell Westbrook is one of the best players our league has ever seen and there’s still a ton left in the tank,” Ham said. “I don’t know why people tend to try to write him off.”
Westbrook took the brunt of criticism, along with former coach Frank Vogel, for the Lakers’ wayward season. He has a $47.5MM option on the last year of his contract and is expected to exercise it.
The Lakers reportedly asked head coaching candidates how they could maximize Westbrook’s talents in L.A. Ham believes Westbrook will have to do more without the ball and step up his defensive effort.
“Russ and I had some really, really great one-on-one convos, man, and the biggest word I think that came out of that, those discussions, was sacrifice,” Ham said. “I’m going to expect him to be the same tenacious, high-energy player that he’s been all his entire career. A lot of now may have him without the ball in his hand. Most of it now may have it on the defensive end. But, again, we have to sacrifice. There’s no achieving anything without all parties sharing the load, sacrificing instead of one-on-one.”
Here’s more from Ham’s presser, as relayed by McMenamin and the Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike:
- Ham’s top priority is to make the Lakers a much tighter defensive unit. “Defensively is where you’re going to see our biggest leaps and bounds,” Ham said. “We have to commit to the defensive side of the ball, or we don’t have a chance.”
- Ham said he’ll be just as tough on Westbrook, LeBron James and Anthony Davis as the team’s role players: “We have a saying, ‘Facts over feelings.’ And once you see the film, that’s a fact. You missed your assignment, then that has to be pointed out. Because if I can’t point it out to one of our Big Three, then the last man or someone in the rotation, they’re not going to take what we’re doing seriously.”
- VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said Ham was a “unanimous” choice among the team’s decision-makers. “It’s easy to be grateful when you find a candidate that you feel is the ideal fit for what the franchise is looking for. And that’s what coach Ham represents to us,” Pelinka said.
The fact that he uses the word “sacrifice” for Russ to play hard without the ball and on defense says a lot…Ham should be a good hire, but westbrook needs work
Having the team buy into what your preaching is half the battle.
Great idea, take the ball out of his hands and take the only true skill he has left in play making away from him. Make him a 6th man, let him come in full attack mode and he’s still a difference maker. Kevin love was 2nd in 6th man of the year.. remember what people said about him last offseason. Slide lebron to guard and hope that nunn can start at the point and give some shooting. Put AD at the 5 and try to find some athletic shooters. Still a 4-6 seed healthy at best
Westbrook?— playmaking is the only skill he has left? He is a great rebounder. He could lead the league in rebounding. His playmaking as a main job is what I would take away.
An air of negativity is going around… RW will return… Some other team would have to want him and there’s no sign of that.
Facts, not feelings.
Only two words are important
Championship level
Anything else is absolutely nothing
In other words, Lakers are in championship mode
Of course he is going to say that because the Lakers are stuck with Westbrook for now. Everything is on Westbrook to come into preseason in fit ready to play whatever role he is needed to play.
Last summer, Lakers and Nets are championship favorite
Reality is that Lakers will be doomed starting from January 2023
On paper, Ham is far better than Frank Vogel
Reality is that Lakers are likely to miss playoffs next season and have championship hopeless
They have very limited financial flexibility and trade assets. Even though Darvin Ham is a defensive minded coach. It won’t help improve Russell Westbrook’s defense.
Ton of what though in that tank? That’s the issue….
My guess is ‘attitude’.
Do they drug test coaches ?
I was wondering the same thing
Don’t know about “a ton” but I agree Westbrook has still got a some left in the tank, I just don’t think he fits well with the Lakers. The problem is Westbrook is useless without the ball in his hands but you can’t have him run the offense when Lebron’s on the same team. While Lebron is far from useless off-ball his court vision is only rivaled by Magic, Stockton and Bird.
To have any success with Westbrook you need to treat him as a 6’3″ version of Giannis, which means you need shooters and cutters at every other position then just give him the ball and get out of his way.
@Tacocat
It’s all about attitude. If he’s just going to be a statue in the corner without the ball then yeah he’s useless. If he can look at how Derozen and Butler, both poor 3pt shooters who choose to shoot the 3 only when necessary but instead master the short shot and attack the basket he can still be an effective scorer. Just be aggressive in getting positioning 10 ft or lower. He’s very strong and fast. LBJ will get him the ball and AD would likely give him space in the post anyway.
Westbrook sucks. He convinced the rockets to get rid of their center Clint capella then made some of the most bonehead moves I’ve ever seen a basketball player make. He still thinks he’s a top 10 player in the league, his play shows it. Lakers will continue to be garbage this is just typical new coach rambling
Blame Morey bud.
It wasn’t Morey though it was Westbrook. Just like it wasn’t morey who ruined the team is was harden
The best thing Russ can do for the Lakers is to get injured during the preseason.
They can get a DPE out of it too. Which they can use to sign some decent to solid free agent role players
I completely agree. Westbrook clearly has the ability to go full speed down the lane and turn the ball over.
Russ didn’t fit but also the team was a mess and try too hard to be heat 2.0. We need more youth less vets . Build dogs that can shoot and play d around lebron ad and Russ . Since Russ and lebron aren’t the best outside shooters
Curious how the Lakers will be better in the tough West. Clippers, Nuggets, Pels will have their guys back healthy for camp. Suns, Mavs, Grizz should be top tier. Wolves will be tough. Jazz are the only suspect team. Now what if Spurs and Blazers do something, that could be interesting. Lakers with Westbrook will be what ahead of which 10th seed or higher from this season? I’m guessing they’re a 6th seed at best. And if they get 7th, good luck with play-in tourney.
Sure, I can see that he has tons of turnovers still to come.
Turnovers, missed layups, hitting the side of the board, bricked jumpers, bonehead plays, ball watching, etc etc
Westbrook changing is the key for the Lakers. AD has to play with Passion too. But the West is loaded. As a Celtic Fan Lakers troubles are great. They drafted a good team but they went the Star route and have 1 chip and that will be it.
None of this matters if they dont add the pieces they needed before last season even started
No one thought Westbrook was a bad player, he’s just not anywhere near a $45 million dollar player. The mistake was trading positive value for a negative contract.
And he also doesn’t fit well on a lakers roster where the two best players already clog up the paint. It was bad roster building. He has to be on a heavy pick and roll team with perimeter scoring, like the Celtics or Heat.
Don’t want him on the Celtics though, lol.