At 2-7 on the season, it’s clear that the Lakers are a team full of problems. LeBron James has struggled mightily shooting the ball, Anthony Davis has been inconsistent from quarter to quarter, and Russell Westbrook’s bench revival has done little to stop the bleeding.
The worst of it all, though, is the supporting cast. Outside of the big three (LeBron, Davis, and Westbrook), the Lakers haven’t been getting any meaningful minutes from their guys, and it has been a serious issue.
Darvin Ham Calls On Lakers’ Supporting Cast To Step Up And Help The Big Three
In fact, after L.A.’s 114-100 loss to the Cavs on Sunday, head coach Darvin Ham felt compelled to call out the role players and demand more from them during games.
“Russ was huge again off the bench but guys like Kendrick, guys like Austin, Matt, Juan-Toscano, all these guys, they gotta step up and help the big dogs. Everyone’s trying to fight but, again, you can’t get down on yourself. I’m not saying this is the case, but this is what it looks like. Especially our younger players that play with energy, you see these guys playing at a high-level energy-wise. That has to be maintained throughout the course of a game. The last couple of games, the last four games really, Russ has been phenomenal and we need to get him help. We need to get Bron help. We need to get AD help. It’s a team of talented players but these are our leaders.”
Darvin Ham calls out the bench to help LeBron, AD, & Russ
“Guys like Kendrick, guys like Austin, Matt, JTA….They gotta step up”
Glad to see we have started calling guys out early 🤞🔥 pic.twitter.com/yKSr4F9Osu
— 🌟Fake (@LALeBron23) November 6, 2022
With all due respect to Austin Reaves, Kendrick Nunn, and Juan-Toscano Anderson, it’s not that they aren’t putting in the effort — they are just not good enough to consistently produce valuable minutes for the Lakers.
Of course, that isn’t on Darvin Ham. The stat of this Lakers roster is on Rob Pelinka, who has already gotten flack for assembling this questionable team.
“Shame on you, Rob Pelinka! Rob Pelinka, through the whole offseason, we talked about Buddy Hield and all the players that could come in and here is the bench for the Lakers: Matt Ryan, Wenyen Gabriel, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Austin Reaves, Scotty Pippen Jr., Max Christie, Damian Jones, Cole Swider. You guys have any idea who they are?”
“All the teams that LeBron James has ever won on have had shooting around him,” said Jay Williams. “I’m not paying Rob Pelinka to try, I’m paying you to do it! You know how insulting that is [for James to go] in the postgame and literally say, ‘Maybe teams are giving us open looks for a reason.’”
Darvin Ham can call out those guys any way that he wants, but there is only so much those guys can be asked to do. This summer, instead of focusing on Kyrie Irving, the Lakers should have prioritized adding some depth in the form of defenders and perimeter shooters.
Unfortunately, it’s too late to go back now, and they will have to try and make do with who they have.
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