Preseason Game 1 Expectations from Byron Scott
Finally! After an eventful filled summer the Lakers are about to kick off their preseason Monday night in San Diego. Although it is only a preseason game, that doesn’t make the proceeding events meaningless. With a new coach, new players, and a presumably healthier Kobe Bryant, the Lakers and everyone else will get their first look to find out whether or not they have begun to step in the right direction.
After Sunday’s practice, Byron Scott gave a media interview explaining his expectations for Monday’s game. With defense being the glaring issue from last season, Scott made it no secret it’s going to be a priority for his Lakers when they match up against a Nuggets team that finished 9th in scoring last year:
“I want to see the intensity on the defensive end. That’s the number one thing…with that the number two thing is I want to see how we rebound on the defensive end as well. Those two things have to go hand in hand, and those are the two things that have been the biggest emphasis since training camp has started.”
Just in case you forgot, or have pushed last season’s awful defensive play to the deep recesses of your mind, the Lakers finished 28th in total team defense. Only the Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz found a way to play worse. I don’t expect to see a complete 180-degree turn after just a week of team practice, but it’ll be nice to see if the players are buying into Scott’s mentality.
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Unfortunately, the Lakers issues don’t stop there as they have been plagued by injuries the last few years, and losing Nick Young for about 8 week before being able to play a game is not what anyone wants to hear. Steve Nash recently tweaked his ankle the other day, but fortunately, it doesn’t appear to be a problem as Scott explained Nash has looked like his old self so far:
“No issues whatsoever. Shot the ball extremely well—just looked like Steve Nash. Made the other guys look better, gave them the ball right on the target and they were just making layups and jump shots and just made the game look easy today.”
Nash has had problems staying on the court ever since he was traded to the Lakers, but it sounds like he can still play a vital role for this team. Scott has already mentioned Nash’s minutes will be monitored, but it’ll be encouraging to see how he bounces back after only playing in 15 games last season.
It doesn’t matter whether the Lakers win or lose the game but how they do it does. Scott and company have been saying all the right things so far, but let’s see if they can execute what they’re preaching.
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