LA Lakers’ Darvin Ham points out areas team needs to improve in - “We have to make shots, it’s as simple as that”

The Los Angeles Lakers started the season 0-3 after today’s 106-104 loss to the Portland Trailblazers. This is not what the organization was expecting when the season began. Any team that features All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis is not expected to struggle the way the Lakers have. Coach Darvin Harm, in his first year, has been tasked with turning the team around after a disappointing 2021-22 season.

During media availability, Coach Ham addressed what he thinks the team needs to do to perform better. Ham said that the team needs to improve their rebounding and be able to defend without fouling. He also addressed the team's biggest issue, which is their shooting.

“We have to make shots, it’s as simple as that” - Coach Darvin Ham

Coach Ham acknowledged that the team is getting good shot opportunities but they are not making them.

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The Best Players are Playing Well

So far this season, the issue hasn’t been the team's top two players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. LeBron is averaging 27.3 points, 11 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game. Davis, meanwhile, is adding 24.6 points and 8 rebounds per game. It would be nice if Davis was a little more aggressive on the glass but these are still good numbers through three games.

As good as both of these two are playing, it is a lot to ask them to try to carry the Lakers all by themselves. The supporting cast will have to step up. James is in 20th season and will turn 38 years old this season. Asking him to do more than what he already is would definitely be too much to expect. It was expected that by now Davis would establish himself as the best player on the team but that has not happened yet.

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The Team Needs to Stop Shooting Threes

The team has acknowledged that they are not a great shooting team. Coach Ham said that they had to hit shots. James says the team is not full of “lasers”. In their last game against the Trailblazers, the team shot 6-33 from beyond the arc for 18.2% shooting. This is a game where they only lost by two points. Imagine if on 5 of those possessions they tried to get better shots.

The team overall this season is 25 for 118 from the three-point line. They are dead last in the NBA shooting 21% from beyond the arc. To give a comparison, the top 15 teams all shoot about 36.8 % from long distance. All of the top 5 shooting teams are above 41%. The Lakers are only getting 9 offensive rebounds per game, so they are not getting a lot of second-chance opportunities on those misses.

As simple as it may sound, the Lakers are not going to win if they can’t put the ball in the basket. The most basic element of the game is their key struggle point.