With training camp coming up soon, the Los Angeles Lakers remain one of the most watched teams in the NBA. Rumors continue to swirl around the franchise about another potential trade occurring, possibly giving head coach Darvin Ham new pieces to work with.
Whether or not that occurs is anyone’s guess, but if the Lakers go into the season with the current roster, Ham is just fine with that.
In a recent press conference, Ham said he’s happy with the roster he has, and any questions about future moves need to be directed towards Rob Pelinka, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“You gotta talk to Rob about that man. I’ll tell you what, I’m happy with what we have. Absolutely.”
Even with the current roster, there will be a lot of battles for minutes. In the backcourt, Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Austin Reaves seem like locks for the rotation, but Kendrick Nunn and Lonnie Walker IV will be battling for a spot as well.
Likewise in the front court, Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant will battle for the starting center position while Juan Toscano-Anderson and Weneyn Gabriel fight for minutes behind Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
Ham is gonna have some struggles figuring out his rotation, but he believes that things will begin working themselves out once the team really begins those group workouts and scrimmages, adding that it will all come down to how guys compete on the defensive end:
“We’ll see man. Like I said we feel comfortable about what we’ve assembled and once we get to playing, and once we get to going 5-on-5, going up and down, different guys are going to separate themselves and again it starts at the defensive end. It’s not much use, if we don’t guard anybody. I mean, we got three first ballot Hall of Famers and a bunch of other guys around them that can score. So offense we just gotta be organized and be disciplined in how we space, and how we run, and where we give these guys the ball so that won’t be as big of a hurdle.
“Defensively is something you can get right just about every night and that’s where we need to place our hard hats. Once we get our group workouts going, once we get guys going up and down, those practices and those scrimmages, that’s where guys will earn their minutes.”
Ham has continually preached the importance of defense since being hired and anyone who isn’t bringing it on that side will find themselves on the bench. With that being well known, these workouts and practices should be extremely competitive.
Ham believes Beverley will be a great tone-setter for Lakers
Another reason things should be competitive for the Lakers is the addition of Beverley. One thing Beverley is known for is his intensity at all times and the rest of the team will surely feed off that. Ham is counting on that as well.
Ham spoke glowingly about Beverley, believing he will be a tone-setter for the Lakers, especially on the defensive end and calling him a ‘lovely addition’ to the team.
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