By all accounts the Los Angeles Lakers had a successful offseason. The team brought back its key players while making solid additions to improve overall depth. Going into the season, Darvin Ham’s team is viewed as one of the favorites in the Western Conference as they will be looking to build on their Western Conference Finals run from last season.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis remain the centerpieces and leaders of the team with Austin Reaves now signed long-term as well. The Lakers’ additions of Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish to the returning contributors like D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Max Christie has Ham excited about what this team can be.
The Lakers coach recently spoke on this as well, telling Leonard Solms of ESPN that he is looking forward to this talented roster coming together:
Ham, speaking at the Basketball without Borders camp in South Africa recently, told ESPN: “Absolutely [I think we’re close to a championship team]. We have leadership like LeBron James and Anthony Davis; some of the talent we were able to bring back in Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell.
“Then, you think about the guys we added in Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes. I think the sky is the limit for what we will be able to do.
“I think we added a lot of depth, a lot of guys that have skill, size and athleticism, so I look forward to all of that coming together.”
Ham would continue on with this train of thought, noting how he believes the teams that are most close and together, most willing to sacrifice will ultimately come out on top:
“A coach I worked for always used to always say, ‘The most together team will win,'” said Ham.
“I think the togetherness [is crucial to separating champions from the rest] and obviously, you need to execute and have a team full of guys who are willing to sacrifice their personal goals, their personal agendas, to align themselves with what the team goal is and that’s to win the championship.
“A lot of luck goes into that. Obviously, at our level, you have to be healthy; you have to be in a good rhythm team-wise — all the guys have to be on the same page. You have to keep your team organized.
“Obviously, in the middle of all that, is talent, but at the end of the day, it’s a team sport and the team that’s most together — selflessly putting themselves on the line for the greater good of the team — those are usually the teams that come out on top.”
Getting everyone to buy in to that ultimate goal is not always easy, especially when players are not in roles that they believe they should be in, or aren’t being properly utilized. It will not be an easy job for Ham to get everyone on the same page.
But the chance to win a championship should outweigh everything else. The leadership of the team will have to ensure everyone on this roster is on board to that same goal if they plan on accomplishing it.
Jeanie Buss commends Darvin Ham for how he handled first season as Lakers coach
The pressure will be on Ham as well, as while he had some great moments especially down the stretch of last season, there were some rough times too. But Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was impressed with how he handled his first head coaching season overall.
Buss commended Ham for his demeanor throughout the rough start to the season, adding that he set the tone for the Lakers overall and put in the necessary work to eventually be successful after that awful start.
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