Category: Los Angeles Lakers Blog

Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting on a key member of the Lakers youth movement:

This summer, Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott came to Julius Randle with an order.

“I told him every time he gets a defensive rebound, I want him to push it,” Scott said Sunday following his team’s 126-83 preseason win over Maccabi Haifa at Staples Center here.

It’s not typical for a 6-foot-9, 250-pound power forward to have the green light to initiate fast breaks all by himself.

“True,” Scott said with a smile.

But that’s precisely what Randle has done on numerous possessions throughout this preseason, and his agility, athleticism and ball-handling skills have been one of the biggest highlights — and biggest surprises — for the Lakers, continually impressing his teammates, coaches and fans alike.

Here’s the Los Angeles Daily News reporting from the virtual hospital waiting room that is Lakers training camp:

The ice bag stayed firmly wrapped on Anthony Brown’s right shoulder. Lakers trainer Gary Vitti stood nearby finalizing plans for Brown to receive an MRI at a nearby hospital after the Lakers’ rookie small forward bumped his shoulder through a hard screen.

“It’s not horrible,” Anthony said in an interview with Los Angeles News Group. “I want to take precaution. So I sat out. But it’s not horrible.” …

Lakers guard Jabari Brown will receive x-rays on Monday after feeling pain in his right hand. Lakers guard Marcelo Huertas missed the team’s preseason loss to Utah on Sunday because of a strained right hamstring, as did Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. with back spasms. The Lakers also nursed ailments considered to be minor, including point guard D’Angelo Russell (bone bruise in right foot), forward Metta World Peace (strained left calf) and forward Nick Young (back spasms).

Jordan Clarkson and D`Angelo Russell developing chemistry

Here’s ESPN Los Angeles with an early look at chemistry development between key members of the Lakers’ future:

Part of the reason the two players seem to mesh well is that they believe their skill sets complement each other more than they overlap.

“His mentality is more [to] score,” Russell said. “I’m looking to pass, and he’s in a position to score most of the time.”

Said Clarkson: “We’re two totally different players. He’s an excellent passer and I’m real aggressive and it just kind of comes together.”

The players also come together outside of basketball.

“We hang [out] a lot off the court,” Clarkson said, “so it kind of makes it easy on the court.”

“We just relate to each other,” Russell said. “He’s not one of those real serious vets that you can’t crack a smile around. He’s a young dude, second year, still learning, still growing. Me, the same way. I’m a goofy guy, he’s a goofy guy. So we kind of complement each other.”

D’Angelo Russell nursing minor bruise in foot

There are always lots of very minor semi-injuries in NBA training camp and preseason. Most won’t mean anything. And here’s one setback that hopefully is gone and forgotten very quickly, reported by the Los Angeles Daily News blog:

The Lakers absorbed their first injury of the 2015-16 season, with rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell missing the end of Thursday’s two hour morning session at Stan Sheriff Center because of a bone bruise in his right foot. Russell does not know how the injury happened, but he downplayed the severity of the injury. Russell also expressed optimism he will play in the evening scheduled later for Thursday.

“I feel fine, I’m doing the proper icing and taking care of it,” Russell said. “It’s just a little bruise.

Still, Russell conducted his post-practice interview sitting on a chair.

The game has changed in Los Angeles these days. Perhaps it’s temporary. But in recent seasons, including this upcoming one, the Clippers are the big contender while the Lakers are in transition and far closer to the bottom of the Western conference than the top. For Laker fans, it’s an adjustment. Here’s the Orange County Register with more:

The rules of being a Lakers fan used to be so easy. You would watch as wins accumulated, cheer for superstars and, if the season didn’t result in an NBA championship, find comfort in the knowledge they would be in the hunt next year.

But supporting the Lakers has become a more nuanced affair the past three years, as Kobe Bryant’s career has slowly, but certainly, neared its end. For example, it was fair to wonder last season whether it was better for the Lakers to win, or enhance their lottery hopes by losing.

The last superstar has scarcely been on the court. So maybe you’ve had to learn what else is on TV on Sunday nights, a window previously reserved only for the 16-time champions.

The biggest change now is that supporting the Lakers requires patience, a virtue that will become even tougher this week when Bryant takes the floor for his 20th, and perhaps final, Lakers training camp.

Built around Kobe Bryant, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Lou Williams, Julius Randle, Brandon Bass and Roy Hibbert, the Los Angeles Lakers should be far more interesting this season than last. Making the playoffs in an extremely difficult Western conference is a very tough goal to achieve, but this squad has young talent worth watching. As for expectations? Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting:

The Los Angeles Lakers strive to win championships, and any season that doesn’t end with champagne is considered a failure. Such is their success.

But after missing the playoffs for two straight seasons and coming off a franchise-worst 21-61 mark last season, expectations are different entering the 2015-16 campaign.

“There’s always going to be pressure to win a championship — and every year that’s going to be our goal,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said at the team’s facility here Thursday, a few days before the Lakers head to Hawaii to open training camp next week.

“But we’re realistic in who we are and we do feel we do have an interesting mix of older players and younger players and we think we can win a bunch of games and hopefully be in the mix somewhere down the line.”