The Los Angeles Lakers’ preseason schedule this year was supposed to be an opportunity for a new-look roster to start to gel, recommit to defense and a fast-break offense and give fans a glimpse of hope for the new season.
In particular, the last two exhibition games were supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the start of the regular season.
Instead, a few key players were unable to play, which threw those plans into confusion.
The Lakers won only one of their six preseason contests, which has resulted in fans fearing or even predicting yet another failed season.
But head coach Darvin Ham struck a tone of optimism when he assessed how the team did during its exhibition slate (at 0:14).
Darvin Ham assesses the #Lakers' preseason and the struggles of not having the whole squad due to injuries. pic.twitter.com/xvCIRekcpJ
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 15, 2022
“The biggest thing for us is to get whole. For us to have our guys available and ready to compete and go into the regular season with good momentum. Even though you go through…you suffer a loss like this tonight, opening night we’ll have AD (Anthony Davis), we’ll have Lonnie (Walker IV), ‘Bron (LeBron James). We got ‘Bron through the preseason injury-free. Pat Bev (Patrick Beverley) … It’s unfortunate Russ (Russell Westbrook) tweaked his hammy tonight, but we’ll check in back in on that in the morning. Dennis (Schroder) obviously has the issue with his thumb, but the biggest thing is for us to get back whole.
“I really feel like we made some really good strides and implementing our new system offensively and defensively and once we get our main guys back out there together in rhythm, things will be a little bit different for sure. And again, we’re at the starting blocks of a marathon so it’s gonna take some time.”
With Davis, James, Westbrook, Walker, Schroder and Troy Brown Jr., among others, missing some or all of the Lakers’ six preseason games, it’s hard to get a firm read on the state of the team.
The good news is Davis is expected to play on Tuesday when L.A. begins its regular season, while Walker looked great in practice over the weekend, according to Ham.
