Russell Westbrook had an up and down season with the Los Angeles Lakers season, and many fans criticized his performances over the course of the year. Despite all the noise, Russell Westbrook still managed to average 18.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 7.1 APG with the Lakers, and his performances notably got better towards the end of the season.
New Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has recently praised Russell Westbrook at a press conference, claiming that the point guard has a lot left in the tank, and adding that Russell Westbrook “is one of the best players” that the NBA has seen.
Darvin Ham on Russ, with Russ watching. pic.twitter.com/Y6iYykvecp
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) June 6, 2022
“Don’t get it messed up. Russell is one of the best players our league has ever seen,” Ham said. “He still has a ton left in that tank. I don’t know why people tend to write him off. I’m going to approach him like every player I’ve ever encountered. We’re going to talk about our running habits with the ball, without the ball.
“Again, the team, the rhythm of the team, and trying to establish the rhythm with LeBron, Russ, AD. Again, share the load defensively and offensively. Defensively is where you’re going to see us make our biggest leaps and bounds. We have to commit to the defensive side of the ball or we don’t have a chance to do anything. The offense won’t even matter if we don’t get stops.”
There’s no doubt that Russell Westbrook could potentially have a bounce back year next season, and perhaps being under a new head coach in Darvin Ham would help with that goal. Frank Vogel’s inability to make Russell Westbrook work on the Lakers notably played a part in his firing.
It remains to be seen how the Los Angeles Lakers end up doing next year, but it seems as though Darvin Ham is focused on the right things to help the team improve. Hopefully, his hiring pays dividends for the team, and perhaps we’ll see the Lakers back in the playoffs.
