Lakers News: Darvin Ham Leaning More On Young Starter For Defense
With his top defenders Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent still on the shelf through at least mid-March, and solid two-way wings Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince now demoted to bench roles, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has been leaning on starting shooting guard Austin Reaves to step up on that end of the hardwood, as Khobi Price of The Orange County Register writes.
Reaves accepted the task of guarding Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during LA's convincing 116-104 victory over the Thunder on Monday.
All-NBA Lakers forward LeBron James, for one, was impressed by the 6'5" swingman's coverage.
“He just took the challenge,” James said. “Obviously, Shai is one of the best players that we have in our league, so it’s just trying not to put him at the free-throw line because that’s where he gets a lot of his points from too. Austin was sensational from the start to the finish, whenever he was out on the floor just trying to play the ball and making Shai and making [Jalen Williams] take tough shots and we’d just try to protect him on the back end.”
Can Reaves actually be counted on to step up defensively over the course of, say, a full best-of-seven playoff series? Time will tell. But hopefully, Vanderbilt and/or Vincent will be back by then.
