Montrezl Harrell did not even have to jump on a plane to join the Los Angeles Lakers (coming from the other side of Staples Center) with the expectation to be the backup big man, major contributor off the bench and play a big role on offense as a scorer.
And that has been the case for most of the season.
However, there was a kind of mini-revolution when the Lakers managed to snatch All-Star center Andre Drummond off of the buyout market. Things changed rapidly and, despite the longing to have him on the roster to bolster their championship chances, some discontent arose.
It was Marc Gasol who raised some doubt regarding the impact of Drummond’s addition on his role on the team.
Marc saw his playing time decrease drastically and, despite remaining committed to the team, he manifested his displeasure with the situation. Little made head coach Frank Vogel’s statements that they needed all three big men and all of them would have a role. Gasol was not convinced.
In part to keep Gasol involved and happy, Vogel had to recently juggle with the big men’s minutes, considering he had to grant Drummond a certain amount of time to get comfortable with the team and their schemes.
For this reason, he had to take the decision to deliver Trezz with two DNPs through the last 20 days.
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But Harrell did not blink. He accepted the situation without complaining and he was always on the front line cheering for his teammates from the bench and keeping them and himself engaged. He understood what the head coach (who, by the way, deserves a lot of credit as well for how he managed to handle the situation, keeping all the three of them involved) asked from him and that everything is for the greater goal. He acted as a true professional doing the best for the team.
Unlike Gasol, Montrezl Harrell did not say a word about his new role on the Los Angeles Lakers and let the court talk for him.
His playing time has also been considerably reduced since (going from 24 minutes per game to 16), but it does not matter. He keeps giving his best effort whenever he steps on the floor, without ever complaining about when or how much it happens. Everything is just for the team’s sake, for the ultimate prize.
Night in and night out he steps on the floor with an aggressive mentality, crashing the boards, attacking the basket, taking charges and blocking shots, without ever minding if he has received enough minutes or enough touches.
After all the bad-mouthing about the former Sixth Man of the Year in light of the Los Angeles Clippers’ surprising elimination last year, he deserves great recognition for how he is acting on the Lakers side.
We hope all his demeanor and sacrifices are not in vain and the purple and gold will manage to qualify for the playoffs and make a deep run in the hunt for the back-to-back championship.