New Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham shares his feelings on embattled star Russell Westbrook at his introductory press conference.

Video Transcript

- Specifically on Russ, you know, a lot has been made about his fit with LeBron, and we didn't see it a ton last year with injuries. But how do you see those three working together? How do you see Russ fitting? And you do see him here, I guess, based on the way you're talking.

DARVIN HAM: Absolutely. I mean, just our running habits. And Russell-- don't get it messed up. Russ is one of the best players our league has ever seen. And there's still a ton left in that tank. I don't know why people tend to try to write him off.

I'm going to approach him like I do every player I've ever encountered. We're going to talk about our running habits, with the ball, without the ball. And again, the team, the rhythm of the team and trying to establish a rhythm with LeBron, Russ, AD.

And again, share the load defensively and offensively. Defensively is where you're going to see us make our biggest leaps and bounds. We have to commit to the defensive side of the ball or we don't have a chance to do anything. Our offense won't even matter if we don't get stops.