Sports

Report: Darvin Ham has the right to substitute for Russell Westbrook


Former NBA player Darvin Ham has a lot of new responsibilities as head coach for the first time. Not only will he coach a legendary brand in the Los Angeles Lakers, but he will have to combine LA expectations with the ego and star power of some of the key players on his team.

There’s LeBron James, who is still a superstar at 37. Anthony Davis, who became a superstar while healthy, is also there. Russell Westbrook, once one of the most dynamic and explosive players in the league, is listed on the depth charts as a starting point guard and he can still play at a high level when it comes to catching the beat.. With that said, Westbrook has struggled to find superstar-level rhythm, and it’s particularly affected his ability to capture perimeters.ing.

The problem for Ham is that Westbrook’s expectation to be treated like an elite player remains the same as if he was still the same caliber that won his MVP in 2017.

However, he is not the same player as before. Former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel knows it, which left him on the bench for Westbrook late in last season’s games. That’s natural didn’t go well with a proud player like Westbrook.

Ham is a first-time head coach but he already has experience as an NBA player and coach. He won a championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004 as a player and won another championship as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. He is also an assistant coach. coached for the Lakers from 2011-2013, so he’s also familiar with the stars coaching the glamor franchise.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka has given Ham the power to make his line-up decisions, and that includes tweaking Westbrook’s role in game situations and perhaps the starting lineup.

This, according to Jovan Buha by The Athletic:

“Lakers head coach Darvin Ham will have more power to reserve Westbrook for the longer part of the game, according to league sources (Former head coach Frank Vogel has done so a few times). in the last season),” Buha wrote in a mailbag feature. “That could eventually extend to excluding Westbrook from the starting lineup.”

The important thing is that as a new head coach, Ham can establish the culture he wants and apply to this triad however he chooses and not based on star power and strength. former greatness. It remains to be seen how Westbrook and Ham fit together but Ham is expected to be the one to decide how the match plays out.





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