“Got a Wholehearted Plan”: Lakers Coach Darvin Ham Explains His Plans on Improving Russell Westbrook

Posted on by Jack Marks

Darvin Ham is still unsure of how his roster and coaching staff will look at the start of the upcoming season, but he is already aware of Russell Westbrook as his toughest challenge in his first season as the Lakers head coach. The Los Angeles Lakers were among the biggest letdowns of the previous season.

The squad missed the playoffs despite having superstars like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook on their roster. The failure of Russell Westbrook to consistently contribute to the offensive end of the court was one of the many frustrating parts of his rookie year with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Russell WestBrook
Russell Westbrook

Finding a way to get Westbrook to consistently produce offensively well will be one of the numerous difficulties Ham will encounter. Putting Westbrook in different offensive scenarios on the field will be one of the ways he intends to do this that will be different from last season.

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Lakers coach reveals plan to improve Russell Westbrook

“Yes indeed,” Darvin said.

“I got a wholehearted plan, a clear plan on how I’m going to use him. I think he’s going to flourish. We ain’t going to try to curtail his energy.”

For the Lakers to have any chance of winning the title this year, he must return to his MVP form. The coach currently relies on Russell Westbrook because he is a team member. Although Russ hasn’t exactly been a defensive powerhouse throughout his career, if he somehow buys into what Ham is advocating on both sides of the game, maybe he’ll be a productive scorer and a strong defender the next season.

Russell Westbrook, though, is involved. One of the league’s most obstinate players. Westbrook was never the roll man in a pick-and-roll scenario, at least not according to NBA tracking statistics. However, it may just be a question of semantics because he did play that role briefly and well earlier in the season. However, Russ wasn’t employed in a lot of other ways, and definitely not successfully.

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