The Los Angeles Lakers finished the preseason with a 2-4 record, but that has done nothing to silence the optimism surrounding this team heading into the regular season. Darvin Ham’s squad is viewed as one of the top teams in the Western Conference and the preseason gave plenty of reasons as to why.
Whether it be individuals standing out such as Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, or the team’s improved perimeter shooting or overall depth, there is plenty to look forward to and Ham recognizes this.
Following the Lakers’ preseason finale against the Phoenix Suns, Ham spoke on what he saw from his team both on Thursday night and in the preseason overall.
“We still got a couple of key pieces that were out in terms of Vando and Gabe. But what I saw, I thought I saw a lot of continuity. Guys covering for one another defensively, competing at a high level. Had a bunch of great looks, forced them into some tough shots, which they made a lot of em, particularly KD, but that’s just KD being KD. But a lot of good to extract from tonights game as well as the rest of the preseason.
“Thought those guys had a good rhythm, a lot of weapons where we can just play stress-free basketball, no one has to try to force anything or put the team on their back or anything like that. Just coming down, reading the sets, reading the rhythm of the game and just playing basketball, playing some good basketball. We continue to have to work at our transition defense and our defensive rebounding. But outside of that, I thought it was a really good performance by our main guys.”
Chief among those great performances on Thursday was LeBron James, who had his best showing of the preseason with 19 points and six rebounds while also hitting three 3-pointers. Anthony Davis also came up huge with 15 points and six blocks.
Unfortunately, things fell apart late as the Lakers went to their reserves who, as Ham noted, were missing a couple of key contributors in Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt. But Ham still had a positive outlook for what the second unit and two-way players brought on the court:
“Nah, I mean basically that was just by circumstances, having a funky lineup out there. But what I told them was, if you do find yourself in that type of position you just gotta continue to compete, you gotta defend at a high level, and you gotta share for one another and sacrifice on the offensive end. A lot of times we just had some unfortunate, unlucky plays that didn’t go our way. But all in all, that first half we did a lot of great things with the main guys who are gonna be in the rotation.”
Preseason record means very little in the grand scheme of things as it is all about the performance and teams taking strides in what they want to do in the regular season. All in all, Ham feels the Lakers are on the right track to accomplishing their goals when the season begins.
Darvin Ham clarifies statement on Anthony Davis’ 3-pointers
Ham has always been a positive force for this Lakers team, encouraging and empowering his players. One of the things he is looking for this year is for Davis to be more aggressive offensively, and the head coach challenged him to shoot six 3-pointers per game this year.
Many were concerned with that notion, but Ham would go on to clarify exactly what he meant by that. The Lakers coach simply wants Davis to be aggressive at all three levels offensively and not hesitate if he is getting open looks from the perimeter.
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