The Los Angeles Lakers are smack-dab in the middle of a youth movement. Monday afternoon was a major step in that process, as rookies-to-be D’Angelo Russell, Larry Nance. Jr. and Anthony Brown were officially introduced.
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Two things were hammered home during the introductory press conference: They’re incredibly excited to be Lakers and they’re main focus will be building chemistry to grow together. There was talk of a family environment and Russell hit the nail on the head with this quote, via the Lakers’ official twitter account:
D'Angelo on his fellow rookies: "The chemistry that we build on the floor will help us grow together."
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 29, 2015
Combine these youngsters with those returning from last year (Jordan Clarkson and Tarik Black) and the Lakers have a pretty strong core moving forward. That they’re all ready to grow together speaks to one of the most crucial aspects of basketball: chemistry. Without it, a young team taking on the NBA is nearly impossible. With it, that daunting task becomes much less so.
We as Lakers fans have to opportunity to watch all these kids grow together. When you think of the bond fans have with Kobe Bryant, it’s largely there because we had that same opportunity and he took advantage. We can only hope one, two or all of these guys handle that situation as smoothly.