Summer League Leaves Lakers Fans Excited
- Updated: July 17, 2016
Yes, I know Summer League doesn’t mean a whole lot. And we have a ways to go to have a successful season, but the early glimpses we’ve had of the Los Angeles Lakers in Summer League are exciting.
It’s been a looooooooong three seasons full of losses (on the court and our players). Fans are back to supporting the Lakers though and it has me wanting the season more than ever.
Larry Nance Jr. slammed some dunks into the core of the Earth, Ivica Zubac swatted balls into oblivion, Brandon Ingram showed us his basketball intelligence, and D’Angelo Russel? Well, he still has ice in his veins. And the whole team isn’t even there! We still have Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, Timofey Mozgov, and Luol Deng to look forward to!
Mitch Kupchak heard your cheers, Laker Nation. And he is hoping your excitement will carry over into this season.
Despite finishing with a 3-2 record in Summer League, the players are happy with the visible improvements. Following an….interesting….post-game interview earlier in the week, D’Angelo spoke to media again and said the following:
“I think we learned a lot. A lot of guys went forward, a lot of guys stayed the same, and a lot of guys went backwards. But as a team, I feel like we showed that we’re on our way. As a team, we didn’t go backwards. That’s all that matters right now.”
Russell averaged 21.8 points on 48 percent shooting from the field to go along with 6.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in four games.
New Head Coach, Luke Walton said the following of Brandon Ingram:
“Brandon’s great. He’s a very intelligent basketball player, which I love, for someone his age. You can see when he plays, he’ll go to attack, and if it’s not there, he doesn’t have to look for other players. He knows where they’re at. He’ll obviously continue to learn the NBA game. He’ll learn how to play against the guys that are being physical with him and trying to bump him off spots. I think the more he does, the better he’ll be at it, naturally. He can play multiple positions. He can shoot. He can drive. Very high potential for Brandon.”
When asked how he felt about the whole tournament, Walton said,
“I think summer league has gone great, but I’m looking at more than just the games, like practice, how hard they’ve worked and how they’ve embraced competing, whether it’s a summer league game or practice and the drills. [I’m looking at] their acceptance of wanting to win. Even if it’s a defensive drill or anything, they want more. They keep asking for more. They keep coming in the gym every day and working. Overall, I’m thrilled with all of them.”
Is it October yet??
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