Report: Lakers plan to keep Russell Westbrook

What you got? Subway of sportsman is Lamont. You back with another video, man. We got to talk about it. Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Lakers Russell Westbrook as training camp has begun for some teams or most teams and preseason games have started for some teams. It's starting to become the reality for Laker fans that Russell Westbrook as I've said for the last four months will be a Los Angeles Laker and that trading him just business-wise fiscally did not make any sense that the trades don't make any sense. I mean, obviously you guys are still hearing whispers about this new and reinvigorated trade with the Pacers and Buddy Hill, which people have been talking about for the last six to seven months, which hasn't happened. It's just being pushed by clutch points in aggregate media. Not really a real trade in the works. But as we approach the 2022-23 season, Laker fans are still running this question a muck in their minds. Will it work with Westbrook? They are judging Russell Westbrook based on what they saw last year a year that was dysfunctional for everyone from coaches to players to roll guys to even guys that they brought in off the streets. Everything was dysfunctional. There was nothing, nothing seemed to work in their favor when guys got healthy, another guy went down. When AD got healthy, another injury brought up. Even when AD was healthy, he was dealing with injuries that were undisclosed. LeBron James hurts the ankle again. Russ struggling with chemistry finding this role. Russ battling it out with fans, hearing Westbrook from everyone. Frank Vogel not bringing the same defensive intangibles that we've seen him bring with multiple teams. The loss of Jason Kidd offensively hurt this team. The offense failed them on many nights with regards to consistency and they couldn't figure out how to rebound as a team outside of coaching as a team. They were a very poor free throw shooting team. Everything that could go wrong for the Lakers last year went wrong. I can name 10 things that had a bigger impact on winning and losing games for the Los Angeles Lakers last year without naming Russell Westbrook. Yet when you're dealing with a myriad of casuals who are looking for the most low-hanging fruit that they can target. I guess Russell Westbrook is the easy target here. He's the easy target because many many Laker fans didn't want him. Remember the Lakers are striving for that perfect roster, that perfect fit. And that's not necessarily what you get in the NBA. So as we go into training camp, one of the teams that has just been discussed a ton is going to be the Lakers. And so I think to determine what letter grade you give the Lakers this season, you first have to determine okay, with the changes that they made to this roster, did they address their weaknesses to any significant degree? Right? It's going to be difficult for any team to go into the offseason, list all of their weaknesses or problem issues and fix them all. Very few teams can fix every problem in one offseason. But how many of these problems can you check the box on? So I think when you look at this Laker roster, we're going to go through some names here in a minute. When you look at this Laker roster, I think the number one thing that they were able to address was the youth factor. They were a very old team last year. And they've done a really good job of getting much younger. So obviously bringing in a player like Damian Jones, young legs, good defensively, active body, can rebound the ball. Well, is he going to come in and give you 20 points a game? No, but is he, can he be solid in spot minutes behind AD? Yes, he's proven it. Six years in the league. He is now had enough experience in this league to be a solid backup. All right. So when you look there, I like that move right there. They also brought Dwayne Behnken in the training camp. Obviously, he's a four-year pro. Dennis Schroeder. I really like that signing. So again, Dennis Schroeder going up on his ninth year in the league, right? He's still, he's still at that age where he can be youthfully used on defense. He can be an active live body on defense if coached up to that degree, but we've all seen what he can bring offensively when he's in the right system. So I believe now that I think Darvin Ham is going to do a much better job of assigning Rose than Frank Vogel ever was. I think that was probably Frank Vogel's biggest weakness. He did not know how to assign Rose. I think guys fell into Rose over time, but he didn't know how to from day one, assigned and dole out Rose for players. I think Darvin Ham, they brought Dennis Schroeder in for a reason. Many people thought when they brought Dennis Schroeder in, that meant Russ was getting traded and I said to myself, no, when they brought Dennis Schroeder in, it just tells me they're going to be using Russell Westbrook differently. Austin Reeves obviously blossomed last year. I think when you look for bright spots out of last year, Austin Reeves was one of the few bright spots. You're talking about a player who came in and played with max energy every single game. Did he make mistakes? Did he get beat on defense? Yes, but like I tell people time and time again, the easiest thing to coach in basketball is a player who gives effort on a consistent basis. And that's what he does. He's shown an ability to make shots. Hopefully during this offseason, he gets better right there. I'm a guy that I hope they eventually begin to utilize in the regular rotation. And I believe he makes the 15-man roster this year. The 7-1 center out of Virginia, Jay Huff. Very underappreciated big man who can make the three-ball consistently, but throughout training camp, if you've been watching the Los Angeles training camp scrimmages, he's now shown himself to be a much improved defender. You guys look out to see how to utilize Jay Huff. Obviously, they've signed him to an exhibit 10 deal. Let's see if they convert that and if he can make the 15-man roster. Obviously, they drafted Max Christie out of Michigan State. He still needs a little bit more development. I believe he spent some time in the the G League to get developed, get his body caught up. It looks like he can be a bit stronger, but I think maybe you can utilize him the second half of the season, especially if you start to deal with knick-knack injuries and you need to get bodies in to stay afloat. On the addition of Lonnie Walker. Now, the addition of Lonnie Walker brings a level of athleticism that the Lakers did not have. They did not have this before. Now, Lonnie Walker, similar to some of the guards they had last year, has shown in his career that he struggles mightily defensively, but he is an athlete. He is very youthful. He can make plays in transition. I mean, with only four years in the league coming out of Miami, I believe that Lonnie Walker can be that explosive punch off the bench, especially if they're up and they're ahead of teams and you're getting this guy out on breaks. I expect him to be in transition much more this year with a much more improved defense. I think that's where he can excel. Thomas Bryant. I expect him to be the starting center for this team, Thomas Bryant. Again, fifth year in the league, he's dealt with injuries almost every single year. I think the only question about Thomas Bryant is can he stay healthy? Coming out of Indiana, those wasn't issues, but then when he was in Washington, obviously, we saw him go down with the ACL injury last year. Struggled to get on the court. So again, we just have to see him be healthy, but he is a good young center. He finds himself back in LA. This is his second stint here. I believe he's a good fit. If he can stay healthy. Russell Westbrook. Again, you guys already know how I feel about Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook's one of the greatest players who ever touched a basketball court. All right. Why Laker fans are crying about having a guy that you can say is a top 75 player and he's not even out of his prime. He's just on the downside of his prime, but he's much better than most two guards in the NBA today. Darvin Ham's job is to find a way to make this work. I think that's any, I think that's the most difficult part of any coach's job and the best coaches are able to separate themselves from the pack when they can take teams like this, unorthodox rosters, and they find a way to make it coexist. Just like Emay Udoka did in Boston last year. A lot of people said trade Jalen Brown, including myself, or trade Jason Tatum because they can't coexist. He showed us that it can coexist even without a true point guard on that roster. So similarly, when you have LeBron, when you have AD, when you have Russ, and when you have the talent that they brought in, a good coach will find a way to make it work. Troy Brown is a underappreciated guy. I think he's getting really underappreciated by Laker fans. Laker fans, you guys have a gem in Troy Brown Jr. All right, this man, Troy Brown Jr. has had stints with the Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards when he was with the Wizards. Now he's had, he's had extensive time in the league now, four years, going on his fifth year out of Oregon. Now Troy Brown has something to prove because this is also going to be a year where he's going to have to prove he has staying power in the league. Right? But when he's shown an ability to score the ball extremely well, especially when guys are injured, he's shown that he can step up in an elevated role and not back down from the bright lights. I like what Troy Brown brings. Juan Ciscano Anderson was a great veteran presence to bring. Everybody keeps saying this Laker team is too small. They have all these guards. If you look at all of these players that they have, you're talking about players that are 6'6 or taller. Troy Brown, 6'6. All of the players that we're talking about. Thomas Bryant, 6'10. Juan Ciscano Anderson, a guy that could play three positions to two, three, or four. He can defend one through four. This guy who's been in a championship culture his entire career with the Warriors, he's bringing that into this Laker system. This is a guy that Darvin Ham is not going to have to coach up, coach up a ton defensively. This guy is ready to go defensively as is. He came from a championship culture. The only thing that he knows is championship caliber basketball. These are the types of players you want to put around LeBron James. Obviously, you have the two two-way contracts, Cole Swidler, Swider, and you have Scottie Pippen Jr. I love the signing of Scottie Pippen Jr. He does need a little bit more work. He was under, he was, he was underappreciated coming out of Vanderbilt because the Vanderbilt team was not very good. I expect him to be on the 15-man roster headed into the playoffs. Obviously, Winnie and Gabriel comes back again. They signed Pat Beverly. I love that move as well. He's a 6'1 guard. All Laker fans are crying that they have a small backcourt. Y'all need to pump the brakes. Your team is not as small as you think and you're bringing in one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, which addresses one of your weaknesses. Kendrick Nunn is back now healthy. They say he's looking lights out in training camp. Anthony Davis and LeBron James, what do we really need to say about them? LeBron James, who could arguably go down as one of the greatest players, the greatest player of all time. Anthony Davis, when healthy, has been looked at as a top-five player in this league. LeBron looks to still be in his prime. He does not look like he's going downhill whatsoever, like many Laker fans want many people to believe. This Laker team, is it a perfectly constructed roster? No. But when you're in the NBA, when you're dealing with salary cap construction and things like that, nothing is going to be perfect. Sometimes you have to work with the cards that are dealt to you, like Darvin Hamm is. He's working with the cards laid out in front of him and he didn't, like many Laker fans wanted him to, run around and make these panic trades that also may not work themselves. These trades may also present another level of problems and headaches down the line that the Lakers just don't want to deal with. Right? The Laker fans are calling for them to trade. Their two remaining unprotected first-round picks, but why? But why do that when you have a complete team in front of you? You just need to find a way to coach them up. So I appreciate what the Lakers did this year, not bending to the fan noise of just trade, trade, trade, trade until this looks right on paper. I think they just went and basically said, we're just going to run it back as is. We'll give you the supplemental pieces. You need to correct some things, but as constructed, LeBron, AD, and Russ are going to be the big three for this team and they expect them to come out and play at a high level. So, I mean, did they address their weaknesses? Well, let's start with their first. The number one weakness was youth. All right. There was a GM around the league that basically said the strategy to beat the Lakers is to play at extremely high pace for three quarters and there'll be two gas to compete in the fourth. That's exactly what they saw. So did the Lakers get younger? Yes, by bringing in Damian Jones, Dwayne Bacon will probably make this roster. He's a four-year player in this league with Troy Brown Jr. Lonnie Walker, Juan Toscano Anderson, players like that, even Kendrick Nunn back. You address the youth issue. So the Lakers got much, much younger defensively. Did they get better defensively, at least on paper? Well, when you bring in Juan Toscano Anderson, a great defensive wing at the small four spot, 6'6", but with a 7'2 wing spread. When you look at Pat Beverly, arguably one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, he can change your culture defensively. We've seen him do that with multiple teams. When you look at Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant, you're talking about active bigs who can block shots and can show themselves to be good defenders when coached up in the right way. Schroeder, who's already familiar with the system, can be a good defender at times. So did they address defense? Yes, they are much improved defensively. So those are the two things that glaringly stand out that they were able to address. Now, shooting is going to be a main concern. How effective can they shoot the three ball? When you look at teams like the Boston Celtics, well, the Boston Celtics were able to get to the NBA finals shooting 35% as a team from the three-point line. I think the Lakers should push for a similar margin. As a team, they need to be shooting around 34 to 36% from the three-point line. I think that will be a good number to push for and have a good balance of also attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line. Last year, they did an excellent job of getting to the free throw line. They did a poor job of converting on those free throws. they addressed shooting to a certain degree. I think Pat Beverly is an underrated shooter. Juan Toscano Anderson, also underrated shooter. Troy Brown can shoot the ball as well. Schroeder, also an underrated shooter. So I think, did they improve shooting to a high level? No. Are they better than last year? Yes, I do agree. Shooting-wise, they are better than last year. And with AD completely cured of the wrist injury that was hampering him, I expect his numbers to improve from the field as well. So, and then the last thing you want to talk about is rebounding. The Lakers got killed by rebounding edge almost every night against teams, especially on the offensive glass. When you bring in Damian Jones, I'm talking about big bodies, active bodies who can go out and pursue those rebounds. When you talk about Damian Jones, when you talk about Thomas Bryant, you talk about Juan Toscano Anderson with that 7'2 wingspan. Pat Beverly, for his size, is also a really good rebounder. We know what LeBron James and Anthony Davis can do. Yes, I believe they will be a much improved team rebounding-wise because they're bringing in the active bodies, guys that are known for rebounding, guys who can go in there and prevent other teams from getting a ton of second-chance points. And that's where they lost a ton of games last year by just simply giving the team more shots on goal than they were able to get. did they address as many problems as possible? Yes, they did. They didn't relent to panicking like most people wanted them to. They didn't make a whole bunch of weird trades that wouldn't make sense two or three years from now. They held firm. They're bringing in core integral players who can make this better. Darvin Ham has been adamant about this working. Darvin Ham believes that this will work. He said it on multiple occasions. Right? When we talk about it, four months ago when Darvin Ham was hired, Darvin Ham said he believes Westbrook can fit on the Lakers and he simply stresses the importance of making sacrifices. And when he says making sacrifices, I think that extends past Russell Westbrook. I think that also extends to LeBron James. LeBron James did a ton of scoring last year. He will need to sacrifice some of that scoring this year for success. He has to go back to the facilitator role, but that's all going to be predicated on everyone staying healthy. So let's go to some of the things that Darvin Ham has been saying, right? And he talked about some conversations that he's had with Russell Westbrook and he says, I say, yes, he says, Russ and I have had some really great one-on-one conversations. The biggest word, I think that came out of those discussions would be sacrifice. That was the biggest word, sacrifice. We're going to sacrifice whatever we got to do and it's not just rest the sacrifices. There's going to be sacrifices that LeBron has to make AD and down the line out the roster. So just as I just mentioned that word sacrifice is going to be key because they're all going to have to give up some element of their game that makes them comfortable for the betterment of the overall of the team. And he says again, we have to start on the defensive end and in terms of what everyone's role is going to be. He says, I'm going to expect Russ to be on the same tenacious high-energy player that he's been his entire career. A lot of it now may happen without the ball in his hands. Most of it now may happen on the defensive end. But again, we have to sacrifice. There's no achieving anything without all parties sharing the lobe, sacrificing and depending on one another. And so the pushback there is that Laker fans don't believe Russ can change. There are they are honed in on the point that Russ is Russ and he can't change. Darvin Hamm, your head coach believes he can change. I believe Russ can change his game to win a championship. We've seen great players do it time and time again. Again, those changes can't necessarily take effect if guys are consistently injured. If guys, if Kendrick Nunn, and Lonnie Walker, and Thomas Bryant all go down with injuries to start the season and then AD gets hurt, you can't expect Russ to play at that minimized role level with all of those guys hurt. His role is going to then change back to what we saw last year and then we could then potentially begin to see some of the problems we saw last year. So with, when guys stay healthy, if this roster is able to stay healthy, I predict that the Lakers will have a ton of success. And I believe, I like what Darvin Hamm is doing with the Lakers. He believes in Russell Westbrook, one of the best to ever pick up a basketball. He understands he has LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He's literally walked into one of the best situations a coach could walk in. Let Laker fans tell it. You would think, you would think the Laker fans had, if the Laker fans explained it, they have the Orlando Magic roster. If Laker fans explained it, you would believe, if you didn't see any names, you would believe that they were talking about the Houston Rockets. But Laker fans are leading you believe that this team, with LeBron, AD and Russ all healthy, with a new and newly invigorated youth on this bench, they will lead you to believe that this team is no better than a 7 or 8 seed in the West. It's crazy. But then it all goes back to how spoiled Laker fans have been over the years. Laker fans have been used to having the best of the best. They've been used to getting everything they want out of any trade. They win every trade. They get the players they want. They give up very little. They do a lot of finessing. And I think it's got into a point now where they went out and got a Russell Westbrook for LeBron James. Now it's time for you to make this work. You can't just because it didn't work in a very unorthodox year where a ton of guys were hurt. Frank Vogel didn't know how to coach the changes. You still got to run it back and make it work. But again, Laker fans, things are not all bad. Your team is much better than you are giving them credit for. I like what they're doing with the young guys. They have a nice core of guys who are very young. Obviously, I like them bringing in Dwayne Bacon. I'm curious to see what their final 15-man roster is going to be. I mean, if I had to predict, I would believe it would be Damian Jones, Dwayne Bacon, Schroeder, Austin Reeves, Lonnie Walker, Thomas Bryant, Russ, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Troy Brown, Pat Beverly, Kendrick Nutt, AD, and LeBron. Just kind of to start maybe throwing a few other bottom tier guys just to complete the team. But I like what they've done and I think the best thing that they did, I think the best thing that they did this offseason was not panic and make a whole bunch of stupid trades that would just hurt you in the future. But you guys, let me know what you think about the Lakers, man. Will it work for Russell Westbrook this year in LA? Will they be looking to move them by the trade deadline? If things aren't working properly and how much success do you think Darvin Hamm can have this year as the Lakers head coach? I believe he can get this team easily to the Western Conference finals, possibly to the finals. I think if he does that, it's a success. It's definitely a success. And then hopefully, you know, if things, if the road is paved perfectly, maybe they have an opportunity at winning it all. You never know. But I think this team is much better than people give them credit for. But you guys, let me know in the comments what you think, man. Cannot wait to go live, talk about all of these topics. I'll be watching the Lakers during the preseason just to kind of see what rotations they'll throw out there. I'll be also looking for the level of competition when we talk about Russ and AD. How locked in are these guys? How locked in are they on playing and capitulating to their roles? That's going to be key. So those are things just to look for as we head into the 2022-2023 NBA season. But it's FYM Sportsman. It's been another great podcast episode. Make sure you guys, man, give a shout out to Fit A. Make sure you guys go follow them on Instagram, man. The link to their Instagram is going to be in the description of the video. Man, they blessed us with a beautiful refrigerator stock full of Fit A. One of the best energy performance drinks on the market, whether you're an athlete, whether you're just going about day-to-day life and you're just trying to get through the grind at work, Fit A needs to be your drink of choice, man. 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