The Los Angeles Lakers felt coming into the season that they could be championship contenders. With the expected growth of Austin Reaves and some solid additions around the duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, there was a belief that this team could make a real run.
However, things have not worked out the way they expected and the Lakers find themselves below .500 at the midpoint of the season at 20-21. The team knew they needed to build chemistry with this new group, but that has been a struggle as injuries have led to constantly changing lineups and rotations.
But those inside the locker room still believe in this group and Reaves feels there is still time to turn the season around. Speaking after the Lakers’ win on Monday, Reaves admitted the team isn’t where they want to be and noted the need for them to speed up this process of building chemistry.
“Obviously, record-wise, we’re not where we want to be,” Reaves said after the win. “I just talked the last three years about obviously wanting to win every game, which that’s not possible. But, we’re still trying to figure out chemistry and what works with who. Things like that. We just got to speed that process up and really just grind out wins.
“But I think Darvin [Ham] was saying the other day that we were in the same spot before this game as we were last year. So just got to be super locked in on every game from here on out and just change things.”
Head coach Darvin Ham recently made another change to the starting lineup, re-inserting D’Angelo Russell in the backcourt with Reaves and going with the group that started the season together. Whether that is the right move remains to be seen, but whatever the decision is, the Lakers must stick with it, have a consistent rotation and move forward from there.
There is still plenty of time for the team to get back on track as they did a season ago. Reaves understands the road will be a tough one, but he is ready to do whatever is necessary for the Lakers to get back to winning on a consistent basis.
Austin Reaves believes Lakers are ‘comfortable’ with return to original starting lineup
And to the point of having chemistry, Reaves feels the return to the starting lineup that began the season together is a good move. The guard noted the chemistry had begun building and feels the team is comfortable with the lineup.
“This is the lineup we started with this year and something that we feel comfortable with,” Reaves said. “We’ve have had some chemistry together and we like what we can do with this group.”
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