The Los Angeles Lakers are once again under scrutiny for their lackadaisical play and head coach Darvin Ham is once again under the scanner. They have just 20 wins for 21 losses and are currently placed at 10th in the West. In that wake, 3x NBA Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams claimed that despite these underwhelming returns through midseason, the Lakers are not losing their nerve, owing to LeBron James and Anthony Davis duo.
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He appeared on the Fan Duel-powered Run It Back pod and discussed how the presence of Anthony Davis and LeBron James has kept the Lakers’ belief alive. During the podcast, host Michelle Beadle brought up the team’s struggles and asked Williams, “Who are they(Lakers) and how do we process this team?”
To which, the former Clippers guard replied, “I think they are a veteran group that feels like if they are in a Play-in or in the Playoffs, they are gonna have an opportunity to win.”
“I feel like any team that you have LeBron James on, as well as Anthony Davis, you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to win games.@TeamLou23 on the Lakers identity.
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— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 16, 2024
To Williams’ point, when the Lakers were in knockout-like situations during the In-Season Tournament, they emerged at the top. Also, if we go back to the last season, the Lakers finished with a so-so 43-39 record for a seventh-placed finish but still made a commendable Playoff run.
During the Play-in tournament, they eked out an OT win against the Timberwolves. Later, they crushed the second-seeded Grizzlies and 2022 champion Warriors to make a run to the Western Finals. Considering they have the same core, it seems like they bring their best out in a Playoff-like environment.
Apart from that, Williams suggested that since coach Darvin Ham is still experimenting this deep into the season, the squad is still figuring out their rotations. The management is being patient because they have two of the best players in the world.
“They are still tinkering with their lienups. Still figuring out who plays well together and just tryna find the rhythm. I don’t think they have hit the panic button yet. I feel like any team that you have LeBron James on, as well as Anthony Davis, you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to win games,” opined Lou Williams
The former Clippers guard also expressed that he believes that the team is aware of the urgency “to get going”. They still have the confidence to turn out the season despite the ton of losses since the In-Season tournament. However, not many in the Lakers fanbase or the camp itself share Williams’ optimism.
Since the In-Season Tournament triumph, they have lodged 12 losses compared to just six wins. HC Darvin Ham has been throwing all kinds of lineups with no stable rotation as Williams pointed out. Because of this approach, he has drawn a lot of criticism. To top it off, there seems an evident disconnect between the team and the head coach in various situations which is bound to have an impact on the team’s performance.
Is Darvin Ham to blame for the Lakers’ woes?
One of the strangest rotations that Ham came up with was bringing premier scorer, ball-handler, and passer D’Angelo Russell off the bench. He opted for a lineup of Cam Reddish, Taurean Prince, and Jarred Vanderbilt alongside AD and LBJ. This lineup lacks a second ball-handler apart from James, while the scoring output was affected.
Therefore, even the players themselves have reportedly been unhappy with such rotations. Considering Russell is a starting-level guard, coming off the bench would have hurt his pride and rhythm a bit.
“I’m told there’s a growing, deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and that Lakers locker room right now, and a lot of it is stemming from extreme rotational changes, lineup changes.”@ShamsCharania on Head Coach Darvin Ham and the Lakers.
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— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 4, 2024
There has also been discontent about not starting Austin Reaves and Russell for an extended period which changed in the Lakers’ latest win against the Thunder. For Ham, these line-up changes have occurred because of the injury troubles. But AD and Reaves contradicted this statement and refused to pin the blame on injuries.
The discontent is clear and many voices have even asked for the management to oust the head coach. However after the Thunder win, Ham did declare the Russell-Reaves-Prince-LeBron-Davis as the starting lineup for the rest of the season.
The Lakers indeed have two of the best players in the league and they have shown up during the Postseason. But with the way the West is becoming younger at the top with teams like Timberwolves, Nuggets, and Thunder, will this approach not prove burdensome to aging James and AD?
It is interesting to note that earlier in the season, Ham wanted to cap LBJ’s minutes at around 30-32 a game but he has repeatedly gone over the 35-minute mark. Are the Lakers overconfident about repeating the same formula as last season?
