Lakers Head Coach Plans To Stick With Controversial Roster Decision

The Los Angeles Lakers hired head coach Darvin Ham because they thought he’d get the best of the roster. The Lakers are coming off of a bad season and they really had to make some changes. Ham decided to use Russell Westbrook from the bench.

Brodie is one of the most competitive players in the NBA. Will he embrace a bench role? Ham likes his performance from the bench and he will probably proceed with his plan.

REPORT: The Lakers will continue to “explore” bringing Russell Westbrook off the bench during the regular season.

(via @mcten, https://t.co/zt5fNhLnvD) pic.twitter.com/9443vc9c1N

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 16, 2022

“The Lakers’ most optimistic outlook for Westbrook is that Ham will get through to him in a way that Vogel couldn’t, and the nine-time All-Star will have a bounce-back season with some better effort defensively and better discretion offensively,” Dave McMenamin reported. “Ham closed out the preseason by bringing Westbrook off the bench, a lineup the Lakers will continue to explore during the regular season, sources told ESPN.”

Head coach Ham has great plans for the roster, Brodie is giving his best

Switching roles was an expected move, but Westbrook’s hamstring injury was definitely a surprise. The team listed him as day-to-day, hoping to have him on the field as soon as possible.

“After an examination, Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook is dealing with a sore left hamstring with no structural damage and will be listed as day-to-day, league sources tell @YahooSports,” Chris Haynes reported.

After an examination, Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook is dealing with a sore left hamstring with no structural damage and will be listed as day-to-day, league sources tell @YahooSports.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 16, 2022

Westbrook may not be in the best position at the moment. However, he will have to embrace this new role if he wants to win a title with the team.

Shannon Sharpe and many others still insist that Westbrook may be on his way out. The one-time NBA MVP didn’t join his teammates in the team huddle.

“I think I speak for a lot of Laker fans,” Sharpe said. “They’re about ready to be done with Russ, he doesn’t wanna be a Laker and the Lakers don’t want him. They don’t want him…I’ve never seen somebody wave off a huddle. I just know that when he gets the ball, I get anxious, I wanna turn the TV off cos I know something good is not about to happen. It’s frustrating.

“They made a mistake. The Lakers made a mistake, Russ made a mistake in wanting to come to the Lakers. This is not gonna work. As long as he’s on the team, the Lakers are not going to win a championship or really compete for a championship. I’m over this situation. Hopefully, they can get some value out of him running the second unit. I hope that’s the case. But it would be so much better if they were just able to part ways.”