Coach Darvin Ham praises Wenyen Gabriel but doesn't gives him enough playing time

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently sitting in the 10th spot of the Western Conference with a 35-37 record and on the need of winning most of their games left in the regular season to make it into the postseason.

Wenyen Gabriel has been one of the best role players for the squad, but still, coach Darvin Ham needs to give him more time on the court, even after Gabriel has proven himself every time he gets the opportunity.

Still, coach Ham has praised the forward talking about the impact on the basketball floor. At least this past Friday night, Ham kept him in the game the entire fourth quarter against the Mavs.

"Just his energy," Ham said of Gabriel. "He has a great nose for the ball. … He tries to defend; he tries to protect the rim. It was just a difficult foul call at the end with the verticality. I don't know what else they want these players to do in terms of defending the rim. He's just a spark plug. Another one of our spark plugs. His size, his ability to run up and down the floor. Clean up loose balls and get offensive rebounds, putbacks. He really defends well, and he showed all of that tonight. That's why we stayed with him."

Wenyen Gabriel numbers as a role player for the Lakers

Gabriel is currently averaging 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in just over 15 minutes. The soon-to-be 26-year-old has cracked double-digit rebounds three times this season, two of which have been in the last two games.