The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their second straight victory on Wednesday night over the Dallas Mavericks. And for the second time in the last three contests, it was point guard D’Angelo Russell who led the team in scoring as he has been excellent since head coach Darvin Ham re-inserted him into the starting lineup.
Russell finished with 29 points, knocking down five 3-pointers in the win over Dallas and the guard has looked much more like his normal self as of late. Russell has seen his role fluctuate this season, as has been the case with many Lakers, but he and Ham have remained in constant communication, something the head coach appreciates.
“I just think his willingness to communicate, to share his feelings even though they sometimes may not be in agreement with mine. I totally respect that,” Ham said after the victory. “I’m all about communicating with the players and collaborating. To start with the communication, it creates clarity. You don’t have to go around guessing once you have that dialogue.
“The dialogue we’ve had in film sessions, he and I have had one on one, during the game, during shootaround, just trying to be as much as possible on the same page.”
That relationship and communication is huge for Russell as well and the Lakers guard admitted that he has been traumatized from past coaches.
“I’ve had a lot of coaches in my time,” Russell said. “I’ve told coaches that I’m traumatized from coaches. Because obviously I’ve had a bunch and some went well, some didn’t go so well. So for me to come here and learn with him and have an open mind, be coachable and things like that. He’s attacked it in the most respectable way for me, so a lot of respect there.”
These past couple of games has shown exactly what Russell can provide to the Lakers when he is locked in and Ham knows the team needs everything he brings to the table.
“He started out great and went through a little tough stretch, as we all do,” Ham noted. “We’re not gonna be hitting on all cylinders throughout the course of an entire season. Everyone has a bad night, bad week, bad month, what have you. But he’s fought through it and is playing with a really great rhythm. We need him to do that.
“His aggressiveness from the 3-point line, his ability to make plays in between, at the rim, the passing. He’s a dynamic player and we’re happy that he’s playing at that level and that he’s with us.”
One of Ham’s strongest suits as a coach is his ability to relate and communicate with his players and that has helped immensely in this case.
Darvin Ham not thinking about trade rumors; believes D’Angelo Russell can help Lakers
It has been a weird season for Russell with a lot of ups and downs, and of course his name has been thrown in in every trade rumor possible since he re-signed with the Lakers this offseason. But Ham and the rest of the team still believe in him and feel he can be a major part to the Lakers turning things around.
“We re-signed him because we knew he could help us. We still know he can help us, we believe in him,” Ham added. “Again, everybody keeps talking about, it’s that time of the year I guess with the trade talks. But again, everybody understands in this business that if there’s opportunities to get better, you’re gonna do that.
“But the reality of it is, we have what we had down the stretch last year as well as more firepower and guys who are a year closer in experience and playing with one another. So if we could stop looking around and just look at ourselves, within ourselves, there’s a ton of excellent basketball that we can play. And a ton of games that we can win with this group as it is constructed.”
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