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Head coach Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers stands on the sideline in front of D’Angelo Russell during the first half against the Milwaukee Bucks.
the Los Angeles Lakers star point guard D’Angelo Russell blamed Dennis Schröder’s presence on his strained relationship with coach Darvin Ham or his absence during his struggles in the Western Conference finals last season.
“[Schröder’s] “The relationship with Darvin is the reason I couldn’t have a relationship with Darvin,” Russell told ESPN in a report published on March 13.
“When I was struggling, I could have come to coach and said, ‘Brother, this is what we should do.’ Like, I can help you. Instead, there was no dialogue. … I just accepted it.
“And we got swept away and I’m here and he’s not. And I like our chances.
Schröder spent his first five seasons in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks where Ham was an assistant coach from 2013 to 2018.
Ham relied heavily on Schröder while Russell saw his minutes drop significantly as he struggled in the Denver series after playing a key role in the first two rounds against Memphis and Golden State.
Russell revealed that he was reluctant to return to the Lakers this season until Schröder signed with the Toronto Raptors as a free agent.
“They were saying, ‘We’re going to do everything in our power to try to keep you here,'” Russell told ESPN. “And I was like, ‘Are you all going to let me run wild, though?'”
D’Angelo Russell’s love-hate relationship with Darvin Ham
The ESPN story detailed the love-hate relationship between the Lakers’ starting point guard and their coach, which reached boiling point during a heated confrontation in the film room in January.
Ham got on Russell’s nerves when the coach demanded more effort in their execution, to which the point guard responded by demanding better plans.
“There are times when we agree to agree, agree to disagree or come to an agreement,” Ham told ESPN of his relationship with Russell.
“But it is not so much the dialogue that counts, but rather the access to this dialogue. And I can’t stress this enough. I can go to him and let him know how I feel and meet him halfway, or tell him I need him to come to me more, or [it can be] he tells me that I need to trust him more and follow his path more. And it’s a viable relationship.
The Growth of D’Angelo Russell
Russell became a better player thanks to Ham’s decision to move him to the bench in December. And the starting leader of the Lakers welcomed their disagreements.
“We played tennis with it,” Russell told ESPN. “I threw the ball back, he hit it to me. … It’s the season. This is what you use to develop 82 games, and we developed it.
Since Russell returned to the starting lineup in a Jan. 13 road loss at Utah, where he scored a season-high 39 points, the former Laker No. 2 pick has stepped up. challenge and became the undisputed No. 3 of the team, sometimes Option No. 1 when LeBron James seat a game.
Since then, over a 26-game stretch, Russell is averaging 22.5 points, 6.4 assists and 3.3 rebounds.
Russell said he did his homework and vowed to never be benched again in the playoffs.
“I’m ready,” Russell told ESPN. “I studied for this test.”
It remains to be seen whether Ham will lean on him this time without Schröder to lean on when things get tough in the playoffs.
But the high-stakes games in April and potentially May and June will reveal which Russell shows up.
Is this the Russell who capped a 44-point explosion against the Milwaukee Bucks with the game-winning floater or the one who was benched again in the March 2 loss to the Nuggets?
Alder Almo is a basketball reporter who covers the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors for Heavy. He has over 15 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is originally from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Learn more about Alder Almo
