In his introductory press conference, Luke Walton promised that being a Laker would be fun.
Sure, competition and hard work were to be staples, but what's the point of playing basketball if you can't enjoy it?
Judging from, well, everybody associated with the Lakers after a week in Santa Barbara, Walton's lived up to his word.
After a solid week of work on the court, Walton took his players and staff bowling on Saturday night in Santa Barbara. He took some time to pick the teams to encourage a bit of bonding; we'll have to check in after Sunday's practice to see who won.
Earlier on Saturday, practice concluded with a drill that typically isn't fun at an NBA practice: baseline out-of-bounds plays. But Walton put his players into four groups of five, and let each team run five consecutive plays, encouraging them to figure things out as they went along, adjusting to the defense.
The play was spirited, and the winning team sprinted around the court after getting a final stop.
“Not only do we want them going hard, but to me it's real important that you see what's happening and adjust during a game,” he said. “You start talking amongst each other on the court, and guys were really going after each other. I think we learned that there are so many layers to each play.”
A photo posted by Lakers Scene (@lakersscene) on Oct 1, 2016 at 4:09pm PDT
Games within practice are becoming a Walton staple. At Friday's morning session, things concluded with 1-on-1 and 3-point shooting contests.
Walton had the guards/wings and bigs split up into four groups at four baskets, with the winner at each hoop advancing to the semi finals at the center hoop.
Brandon Ingram and Nick Young represented the guards/wings, while Julius Randle and Tarik Black held it down for the bigs.
Ingram beat Young in a step-back jumper contest, and Randle took care of Black to advance to the final against the rookie.
Randle's tactic was rather simple, perhaps best summarized by Larry Nance, Jr., who lost to Randle in the initial grouping: “He bully-balled us to death.”
That's certainly what Randle did to Ingram, essentially shoving him out of the way – if more legally than he did to Gordon Hayward on screens to free Kobe at the conclusion of his 60-point finale in April – and finishing near the hoop to go up 2-0. Ingram forced a miss on the next attempt, however, then hit back-to-back jumpers to give him a chance to reach three first.
Ingram came up short on his next jumper, however, and Randle went back to what worked, drop stepping his way to the bucket and laying it in for the win.
Brandon Ingram beat Nick Young, and Randle beat Tarik Black to get to the 1-on-1 final. Randle won 3-2 with this bully move: pic.twitter.com/8aj42e7DOA
Rookie big man Ivica Zubac was another Randle victim. D'Angelo Russell, a pre-contest favorite, fell to the 6-foot-9 Ingram as the 19-year-old simply “shot over me every time.” Jordan Clarkson and Lou Williams were similarly shot over by Nick Young, before Swaggy P saw Ingram drain a fadeaway J just inside the 3-point line.
“I took it easy on him,” Young quipped. “Didn't want to mess with the rookie's confidence.”
The 3-point shootout was rather simple. Each player lined up around the arc of one basket, and shot in succession from one end to the other. If you made it, you stayed in for the next round. Miss, and you're out. A few guys went out with each trip around the world, until only Anthony Brown, Marcelo Huertas and training-camp invitee Travis Wear remained.
Brown and Huertas both missed, so a corner triple from Wear was good for the win.
After Saturday's practice, I asked Walton if he was pleased with the level of competition after a week's worth of training. He said the players have been “awesome,” that he couldn't be happier with the effort.
I followed up by asking what his group needs to work on most.
“Our spacing and the idea of continuing to play no matter what,” he said. “We haven't put a lot in, so what we're doing we're doing well, but every once in a while the spacing breaks down and everyone stops trying to figure out what to do. The idea is that there are no wrong cuts … just keep moving and go screen for someone else.”
With that said, to reiterate, Walton is quite pleased with his players.
“Their effort has been incredible,” he explained. “I think they've done a great job of starting the process of building a bond … I think it's been a successful week.”
Larry Nance, Jr. was among the pleased players.
“We've been both working hard and having a lot of fun,” he summarized.
That, according to Walton, is the idea.
A photo posted by Lakers Scene (@lakersscene) on Sep 29, 2016 at 9:41pm PDT
