Russell Westbrook is, without a doubt, still a solid point guard. Though he has struggled with the Los Angeles Lakers during his tenure with the team, he clearly still has qualities that suggest he could be a winning player in the right role.
There was a lot of speculation about Russell Westbrook potentially coming off the bench this season after he was deployed as a sixth man during the Lakers’ preseason game against the Sacramento Kings. In fact, Darvin Ham explained that the move could benefit both Westbrook and LeBron James.
Westbrook didn’t address the decision to bring him off the bench at shoot-around, then didn’t speak after the game because of his injury. But Ham spent nearly 15 minutes explaining the Lakers’ rationale behind the move.
“Some guys play better off the ball, some guys play better with the ball in their hands, and through no fault of their own, that’s just how they’re built, you know?” Ham said. “You’re not gonna have LeBron James play without the ball in his hands for, you know, 80, 85 percent of his minutes that he’s on the floor, you know? At some point, you’ve got to allow him to orchestrate. Same thing with Russ. And so to create some type of balance, we wanted to look at this, the setup of this type of rotation and see if it works for us. The door’s not closed on Russ starting, and the door’s not closed on (whether) this works, you know. We got to explore it even further.”
Thus far, though, the Los Angeles Lakers have elected to keep Russell Westbrook in a starting role. Westbrook was inconsistent as a starter last season, and Skip Bayless has recently suggested that coach Darvin Ham is “afraid of Russell Westbrook” because he is letting Westbrook start and finish games.
“I was daring Darvin Ham to put him back in the game because Darvin Ham seems to be afraid of Russell Westbrook. He seems to be crumbling at Westbrook’s feet now, because he’s going to start him and he’s going to finish him.”
This is definitely a bold take from Skip Bayless. Darvin Ham is known as a stern coach who is willing to make changes, and he has definitely gotten the Los Angeles Lakers to buy into his defensive-focused system. He doesn’t seem like the type of person to be afraid of doing the right thing for the team.
We will see what Darvin Ham’s plans are for the future regarding Russell Westbrook. Throughout the Lakers’ two games, Russell Westbrook has had both good moments and bad, and hopefully, Ham will be able to bring out more and more good moments from Westbrook as the season goes on.
The Lakers Simply Need More/Better 3PT Shooting
The Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest issue on their roster is the lack of 3PT shooting. They’re definitely a team that has good defensive talent, but they clearly need to add some more perimeter players to the roster, as they have the worst 3PT record in NBA history through two games.
Hopefully, we see the Los Angeles Lakers improve in that department. It is quite likely that their shooters, such as LeBron James, Patrick Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn, will bounce back, and perhaps we will see them win more games when that happens.
