A 20-year-old rookie on a deep, experienced team, Jalen Hood-Schifino likely won’t have a major role in his first NBA season, but multiple Lakers players pointed to this year’s No. 17 overall pick earlier this week when asked who stood out most at the club’s first practice, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
“I will give you one actually,” veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell said when asked about early camp standouts. “Jalen played really well today. Competitive. Made shots. Got after it.”
“Jalen looked really good today for his first day,” Austin Reaves said of the rookie. “So, super excited just to see what (he does).”
With Russell and Reaves penciled in to start, Gabe Vincent expected to play a major role, and Max Christie on track to get rotation minutes, it’s hard to see a clear path to regular playing time for Hood-Schifino in the backcourt as long as everyone is healthy. However, a strong showing in camp and the preseason could make the Lakers think twice about where he ends up on the depth chart.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- LeBron James was slowed in the spring by a foot injury that sapped him of some of his athleticism and explosiveness, but that hasn’t been an issue so far in camp, per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Teammate Jarred Vanderbilt said that James has been “a freight train,” while head coach Darvin Ham confirmed the foot injury is no longer affecting the four-time MVP, who isn’t looking like the NBA’s oldest player. “He’s 100% healthy,” Ham said. “He looks fine. He looks like third- or fourth-year LeBron.”
- The Lakers view the trash talk aimed at them by the Nuggets following Denver’s win over L.A. in last season’s Western Conference Finals as “motivational,” according to Anthony Davis, who said the team is looking forward to its regular season opener in Denver on October 24. “There was just so much of that going on it was like, ‘All right, we get it, y’all won,'” Davis said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “But me and Bron had some conversations like, ‘We can’t wait (to play them again).”
- Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times has noticed a change in Davis’ demeanor this fall, writing that the star big man appears more focused, determined, and vocal as a leader. “I think I’m going to be the second-oldest guy here now, so guys lean on me a lot, especially the bigs,” Davis said. “I feel like it’s my responsibility, being one of the leaders on the team alongside Bron.”
- Jovan Buha of The Athletic identifies 10 of the most important Lakers storylines to follow this season, including Russell’s future with the organization, whether Christie can make a leap, how the team will handle its stars’ workloads, and how frequently the coaching staff will use two-big lineups.
Having the depth to actually have questions of who plays where is honestly a good thing for the Lakers. Injuries are going to happen sooner or later, and that depth will be what keeps them afloat in the meantime. You can’t replace LeBron or AD, but you can work around their absence if you have enough pieces with synergy. Which I think they do.
last year the coach played AD and LeBron too many minutes. He needs to keep them at around 32 minutes a game. LeBron needs to rest a lot more because he faded in 4th quarter last year.
Kind of have to when you have no depth and Russ is your sixth man with no help around him. Russ is a high floor guy, but his ceiling is generally as good as the pieces around him, plus a bit. And by the time of the TD, they were all-in for a playoff spot.
Now that those problems have been addressed, they don’t have to do that anymore. Nor are they likely to.
We will see. ham needs to tell LeBron he is the coach not Lebron. Bench depth was not that bad. warriors had the same problem but still rested their players.
On-court adjustments often fall to the experienced players. I don’t see that as an issue. You see it all the time, especially on teams with less HC experience.
Now if it was Pelinka having to tell LeBron he’s the GM, not James, that would be a different story. A competent GM, LeBron is not xD
The depth prior to the trade deadline was awful. You had Troy Brown Jr. starting 45 games on a team that wants to contend. Patrick Beverly started 45 games at SG. Kendrick Nunn was their best bench guard. Their frontcourt was okay between Thomas Bryant and Damian Jones, but the backcourt and wing was thinner than rice paper lol.
Sounds like the warriors season starting 2 way players and navigating through so many injuries.