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Darvin Ham

Best Westbrook Trade Should Unleash Both LeBron James & Anthony Davis!

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Injuries to their superstars not only helped derail the Lakers’ championship hopes the past two seasons but may also have caused them to forget just how great they can still be as a team with a healthy, rested James and Davis.

Has the Lakers’ front office forgotten that LeBron and AD led them to their league best 17th NBA championship in the bubble less than two years ago? Or that there’ s no better duo than LeBron and AD when they are healthy? Have they forgotten how difficult it was to surround three superstars with rotation players when all you’re able to pay is the league minimum or how lack of depth doomed the Lakers when hit with untimely injuries?

Right now, the Nets’ Kyrie Irving is the Lakers’ Plan A and the Pacers’ Myles Turner and Buddy Hield their Plan B. The only question is whether the Lakers are making a mistake by once again going for a Superstar Big Three. There appears to be disagreement in the front office whether the Lakers should trade point guard Russell Westbrook for another third superstar like Kyrie Irving or opt for depth via multiple rotation players.

There’s no question a healthy Kyrie Irving would make the Los Angeles Lakers a championship contender on the court if his off-court pyrotechnics and personal idiosyncrasies didn’t get in the way of his playing every game. The issue is whether the Lakers might be smarter trading Westbrook for multiple legitimate starters and rotation players who could unlock and unleash LeBron and AD rather than costing them critical touches and shots.

There’s a strong case trading Russell Westbrook to the Indiana Pacers for Myles Turner and multiple legitimate rotation players could be the Lakers’ smartest move as it could unleash untapped greatness in LeBron and AD.

Myles Turner Unleashes LeBron James and Anthony Davis

Myles Turner is the floor spacing, shot blocking modern center the Lakers need to make Darvin Ham’s 4-out offense and drop coverage defense work and free LeBron James and Anthony Davis to become their best versions.

If the Lakers want to have success offensively, they need a center who can stretch the floor and create spacing with his 3-point shooting and setting screens, and being a force in the paint for easy lobs, dunks, and put backs. While Turner is 26-years old, he’s made 391 out of 1,121 for 34.5% from deep in 7 years in the NBA. The Lakers’ only other stretch center, 25-year old Thomas Bryant, only made 92 out of 263 for 35.0% from deep in 5 years.

Besides being the proven stretch center the Lakers need offensively, Turner’s also the league’s top shot blocker and rim protector, averaging 2.3 blocks per game for his career and leading the league in blocks last 2 years. There’s discussion with the Lakers brain trust right now whether Turner’s defensive impact alone could even be more important for the Lakers than Irving’s shot creation and scoring. L.A.’s rim protection would be elite.

But even more important than the direct impact Turner will have on the Lakers offense and defense is the impact he will have in transforming and unleashing the games of the superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Starting Turner at center allows the Lakers to move James and Davis down a position, giving them a positional size advantage over the player they’re matching up against and giving L.A. the versatility to play both big or small.

Unlike Kyrie, who would take touches and points away from LeBron and AD, Myles Turner with his ability to stretch the court and protect the rim unlocks and unleashes superstars James and Davis to become their best.

LeBron James Conserves Energy As Lakers’ Stretch Power Forward

One of the biggest advantages of the Lakers trading for Myles Turner is it allows Darvin Ham to move both LeBron James and Anthony Davis down a position so they have a significant size advantage at their new positions.

The Lakers commitment to starting two bigs raises the question of where LeBron James and Anthony Davis play? While both can play either forward position, the Lakers should play James at the four to conserve his energy. Chasing bigger wing scorers around picks as a three is the last thing the Lakers want LeBron James doing in the season he turns 38-years old. The time has come for LeBron to become the Lakers’ stretch four or point four.

While the Lakers don’t want LeBron wearing himself out on defense, they do want the ball in his hands a lot on offense. With Westbrook playing point last season, LeBron saw his assists fall to 6.2 per game, lowest in 10 years. This season, expect LeBron to have the ball in his hands a lot more than last season as he continues to evolve into a point four who leads the team in assists and a stretch four who’s an NBA top-ten volume 3-point shooter.

One of the major changes in the Lakers roster this season is going to be a premium on size. While the NBA is increasingly turning to small ball, the Los Angeles Lakers have clearly zigged while everybody else was zagging. While the Lakers will start games with a front court of 6′ 11″ Myles Turner at the five, 6′ 9″ LeBron James at the four, and 6′ 10″ Anthony Davis at the three, they may close games with a small ball lineup with AD at the five.

Darvin Ham’s challenge is not just to find the best position for each player personally but the best position for each player that makes the team better. For the Lakers, point four and stretch four is that position for LeBron James.

Anthony Davis Becomes Lakers’ Leading Scorer and Wing Defender

While rim protection remains a major defensive goal, the most important defender in today’s game is probably the 6′ 7″ to 6′ 10″ 3&D wing defender who’s responsible for guarding the opposing team’s leading wing scorer.

One of the benefits of trading for Pacers center Myles Turner is it allows the Lakers to dedicate Anthony Davis to become the bigger wing stopper on defense that the Lakers and every single other NBA team desperately needs. The lack of a quality 6′ 7″ to 6′ 10″ wing defender to guard bigger scorers like Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic, Khris Middleton, and Paul George has been one of the Lakers major weaknesses the past 3 seasons.

Anthony Davis is one of the few two-way superstars in the NBA today. He can literally play and defend all five basketball positions on the court at all three levels, including the paint and low post, midrange, and 3-point line. With Turner and James protecting the rim, Davis can lock down the opposing team’s best bigger wing scorer and force him to give up the ball or take a contested shot against one of the best 1-on-1 defenders in the league.

Offensively, Davis will also be able to dominate smaller defenders by taking them into the post or midrange for easy turn around jumper. Playing the three, he will be able to face up and beat his defenders off the dribble. The spacing provided by surrounding Anthony Davis with two bigs and two guards who are all excellent 3-point shooters will enable Anthony Davis to have the greatest season of his career and maybe his first DPOY as a Laker.

With Turner as their stretch five and James their stretch four, the Los Angeles Lakers can play Anthony Davis at the three, where he can be the team’s leading scorer, defensive wing stopper, and face of the franchise.

The Lunacy Behind the Los Angeles Lakers Keeping Russell Westbrook!

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When considering bringing back Westbrook, the Lakers would be wise to remember the astute words of Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

While nobody knows what they are planning to do this offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers have been publicly and privately adamant that they prefer to bring Westbrook back rather than spending any draft picks to move him. This is despite having hired a rookie head coach in Darvin Him and Russ’ salary making it impossible for the Lakers to find players with the requisite size, shooting, and defense to complement their three superstars.

When you understand how daunting a challenge it would be, you can’t help coming to the conclusion it would be pure lunacy for the Lakers to even consider bringing back Russell Westbrook under any circumstances.

1. Russell Westbrook Is Not Going to Become a Pit Bull on Defense

The Lakers’ head coach Darvin Ham has made it clear that defense will be his priority with the Lakers and he expects to challenge Russell Westbrook to become an aggressive pit bull leading the team’s defense next season.

Anybody who has watched Russell Westbrook on defense the last few years of his career can immediately see the disconnect between what Darvin Ham wants out of Russell Westbrook and what he’s likely to get based on history. Ham must be thinking he’s getting the OKC Thunder version of Westbrook as a point guard if he thinks Russell can become the tip of spear for the Lakers’ defensively like Jrue Holiday was as the point guard for the Bucks.

The Lakers better be successful in moving Russ this summer because they’re making a crazy mistake opening the season thinking Westbrook will become an elite defender. Russell Westbrook is not Jrue Holiday.

2. Keeping Russell Westbrook Prevents Lakers Building Deep Roster

If the Lakers do not trade Russell Westbrook and his $47 million expiring contract, their only path to trading for a legitimate rotation player would be by packaging Talen Horton-Tucker, Kendrick Nunn, and their two picks.

That should be enough to net the Lakers a budding young player like 23-year old guard Gary Trent Jr. or 24-year old small forward OG Anunoby but then their small portfolio of trading chips would be completely exhausted. The Lakers could also sign a second rotation player with their $6.4 million taxpayer MLE but would then like last season be forced to build out the rest of their roster with unproven or veteran minimum salary players.

Keeping Westbrook will result in the Lakers adding just two legitimate rotation players (1 via trade and 1 via free agency) compared to the 5 they could add (3 via trade and 2 via free agency) if they instead traded Russ.

3. Keeping Russell Westbrook Limits Lakers Access to Free Agents

The Lakers’ rebuilding this summer has focused on trades since they’re over the cap and will only have the $6.4 million taxpayer MLE available to use on free agents. But that could change if the Lakers trade Russ.

Were the Lakers able to trade Westbrook, THT, and Nunn while taking back $10 million less in annual salary, they could get under the $155 million hard cap, which would give them greater access to this year’s free agent class. They could then use the full $10.3 million MLE and the $4.1 million BAE and be able to receive free agents via sign-and-trade transactions. They would have an additional $8.0 million to spend on free agents if hard capped.

Trading Russell Westbrook gives the Lakers access to young free agents like Isaiah Hartenstein, Tyus Jones, Gary Payton II, and Otto Porter, Jr. whom they might not be able to sign without trading Russ and hard capping.

4. Keeping Westbrook Could Cause LeBron James to Reject Extension

One rumor that’s made the rounds is LeBron does not want the Lakers to bring Westbrook back. The word is he knows signing Russ was a mistake but is not willing to sign an extension if Pelinka doesn’t fix problem.

Fixing the problem means one of two options: the Lakers either include a pick to move Russ or waive-and-stretch him to they can get under the hard cap and supplement what they get for Russ in a trade with free agents. Push come to shove, there’s no way the Lakers can finish this offseason with Russell Westbrook still on the roster. No matter how you spin it, that would signal a complete failure of the Lakers front office to build a winning roster.

The Lakers greatest fear has to be bringing back Russell Westbrook raises the risk that LeBron James to leave the Lakers as an unrestricted free agent next summer to a dangerous level that the Lakers should avoid at all costs.

How Darvin Ham Could Dramatically Change the Direction the Lakers Take

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The Los Angeles Lakers may have struck surprise gold in hiring Milwaukee Bucks’ assistant coach Darvin Ham to be their next head coach, a move that’s received universal praise and raised expectations about his impact.

With a veteran team coming off a horribly disappointing season, most NBA pundits expected the Lakers to hire an experienced NBA head coach or to delay their search until one like Quin Snyder or Doc Rivers became available. The Lakers instead smartly opted to hire the candidate with the greatest charisma and upside despite never having been a head coach before and mainly spending his time as an assistant coach in player development.

There’s strong evidence that indicates that Darvin Ham is going to become a major part of the executive brain trust making decisions for the Lakers, which is great news for an organization that needs dynamic leadership. Ham has the kind of intelligence that gains immediate respect, the type of personality that builds trust and confidence, and the elite communication skills to inspire Lakers’ stakeholders at every level from player to owner.

Unlike their previous coaching search that ended up hiring Frank Vogel, the Lakers avoided the public gaffes that resulted in hiring their third choice as head coach and having their entire hiring process rudely second guessed. Darvin Ham will start his tenure as Lakers’ coach with a longer contract and more power, independence, and influence than previous coach Frank Vogel had even after winning the NBA championship in the bubble in 2020.

So let’s look at how Darvin Ham could dramatically change the direction the Lakers take, including the possibility of his coaching Westbrook, whether Anthony Davis will play center, and whom the Lakers pursue this summer.

How Will Darvin Ham Affect the Lakers Russell Westbrook Decision?

The latest rumor making the rounds is that Darvin Ham’s answer to the question of what he would do to make Russell Westbrook work with LeBron James and Anthony Davis won him the job as the Lakers next head coach.

The Lakers have supposedly told potential trade partners they’d rather bring Russell Westbrook back next season than give up a first round draft pick to trade him, though they’re willing to take back long-term contracts. This doesn’t mean the Lakers are suddenly going to hold onto those picks and eventually use them. It just means they would prefer to use those picks to acquire valuable young players rather than just to dump Westbrook.

While it’s not a slam dunk that the Lakers will be able to find a trade partner for Russell Westbrook without giving up a draft pick, there will probably be teams willing to take on Russ’ expiring contract to dump salary. Ultimately, the last thing the Lakers should want to do at this point is ask first year head coach Darvin Ham to deal with trying to rehabilitate Russell Westbrook while learning to be an NBA head coach for the very first time.

That’s why all of the talk about bringing back Russ is posturing. Considering the concerns about LeBron’s age and AD’s ability to stay healthy, next season could be the Lakers best opportunity this decade to win #18. Ironically, I would not be surprised to find out Darvin also advised the Lakers that keeping Westbrook would make it difficult to surround James and Davis with the kind of shooting and defense needed to be a champion.

While the Lakers continue to push the idea that they’re going to keep Russ, in the end there’s just no way they’re going to ask rookie head coach Darvin Ham to take on a no-win situation like making Russ work LeBron and AD.

How Will Darvin Ham Affect the Offense the Lakers Run Next Season?

What will the Lakers’ offense look like under new head coach Darvin Ham? Look for an heavy emphasis on spacing, ball movement, and five-out sets designed to create driving lanes for James and Davis to attack the basket.

Darvin Ham was hired by the Lakers in part because of his success with the Bucks in creating the great spacing that was essential to unleashing Giannis Antetokounmpo and helping Milwaukee win the 2021 NBA Championship. The challenges facing the Bucks and Lakers are similar. The Lakers hope Darvin can build an offense to unleash LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the same way the Bucks’ offense unleashed Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The big question facing Darvin is whether to start games playing small with AD at the five or have the Lakers acquire a dynamic young stretch center like Isaiah Hartenstein so they can pay five-out with two bigs like the Bucks. Expect Ham to want to start games with two bigs but close them with small-ball-on-steroid lineups with AD at the five. That’s the perfect formula for the regular season with both big and small options available for the playoffs.

Considering injury concerns for James and Davis and how the undersized Lakers struggled in the paint and on the boards last season, moving James and Davis down a position against smaller players should benefit them. Finally, the versatility to play two-bigs with a center like Isaiah Hartenstein plus James and Davis or small-ball-on-steroids with a lethal 3-point shooting wing like Jerami Grant plus James and Davis could be a difference maker.

Expect Ham, as the Lakers new head coach, to push the team to build a roster with championship versatility to play two bigs like the 2021 Bucks and small-ball-on-steroids with AD at the five like the 2020 Lakers.

How Will Darvin Ham Affect the Defense the Lakers Run Next Season?

What can the Lakers expect their defense to look like under Darvin Ham? While they may be done with Frank Vogel, they may not be done with the pick-and-roll drop coverage that was the heart of his defensive philosophy.

The Lakers under Darvin Ham will likely play pick-and-roll drop coverage on defense like the Bucks with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Lakers during the regular season when they won the title in 2020. While drop coverage was a successful for the Bucks and the Lakers during the regular season, both teams ended up playing small-ball-on-steroids lineups in the playoffs to take advantage of Antetokounmpo and Davis.

Schematically, when the Lakers go two bigs, they’ll play pick-and-roll drop coverage. But when they go small with Davis at the five, they’d be better off switching everything and counting on their positional size and physicality. The versatility to eat up minutes playing pick-and-roll drop coverage with two bigs to start games but closing with a small-ball-on-steroids lineup playing switch everything could be the Lakers’ perfect defensive formula.

Building a roster that can play both big and small is challenging. Starting games with a center but closing them with a wing essentially requires the team to have six starters with the center and wing sharing the fifth slot. For Darvin Ham to be able to start games with two bigs, the Lakers will need to trade for or sign a dynamic young center like Isaiah Hartenstein. They will also need to trade or sign a legitimate defensive wing like Otto Porter, Jr.

Expect Darvin Ham to play a similar defensive style to that of Frank Vogel. The Lakers rely on two bigs lineups during the regular season and rely more on their small-ball-on-steroid lineups when they get into the playoffs.