Lakers News: Darvin Ham Has High Praise for Cam Reddish, 'The Kid is Special' https://t.co/jRaUU2EGhh
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) November 4, 2023
A surprise start in Wednesday night’s win was the first step in a really impressive outing for Lakers wing Cam Reddish.
The former lottery pick that has struggled to find a home around the NBA, bouncing from Atlanta, to New York, to Portland, has found himself being a fairly important rotational piece for the contending Lakers just a few games into the season.
In Wednesday’s overtime thriller, Reddish played 37 minutes, and while his eight points, four rebounds, and four assists won’t jump off the screen, his defense did.
Using his 6’8″ frame, 7’1″ wingspan, and recently added mass in the offseason, Reddish has evolved into a really solid defender.
Here’s what Head Coach Darvin Ham had to say about Cam’s time in LA thus far, per Broderick Turner of the LA Times:
“The kid is special. The only thing he needed was consistency.”
“Just a program that’s going to put their arms around him and encourage him to constantly get better, simplify things and he’ll respond in the right way, which he did tonight. He’s been awesome since he’s been an L.A. Laker.”
via Broderick Turner, The Los Angeles Times
Ham’s quote demonstrates the resounding confidence that he and the Lakers organization have in Reddish, which is a great sign for his career to potentially resurge in purple and gold.
Defensively, Reddish was used in a number of ways, but especially on both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George who were having terrific shooting nights.
While the two of them remained productive, Reddish passed both the fans’ and Darvin Ham’s eye test with regards to his defensive effort and performance, suggesting that if Cam’s contributions were any less than what they were, the Lakers might’ve fallen short, as George and Leonard would’ve had even more impressive performances.
Reddish rose to the occasion on a night where the Lakers were down Taurean Prince, Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, and Rui Hachimura, indicating that he could be a plug-and-play guy for this team down the stretch.
There’s something to be said about how a 6′ 8″ guard with 7′ 1″ wingspan could be the perfect fit to play alongside LeBron, AD, and Chris Wood with DLo or Reaves at point.
That could be the Lakers ultimate starting lineup when we get to the playoffs. Two bigs, switch everything, dominate paint and glass. This could be the direction we see Ham take the Lakers.