The Los Angeles Lakers have a few training camp battles to watch heading into the season. One of them is between Julius Randle and Larry Nance.
One of the great things about the Los Angeles Lakers this coming season is the depth that they now have. At multiple positions, the Lakers go at least two players deep. This depth will create a lot of competition in camp and help push players to be better.
At the power forward position, the Lakers have a bit of a logjam. Both Julius Randle and Larry Nance are returning from last season with power forward being their natural position. As teammates last season, Randle and Nance battled for minutes last season, with Randle having the edge.
This season will be no different for the two, as they will continue to push each in practice to earn more minutes. Recently, Randle talked about the relationship with Nance to Daniel Starkand of LakersNation.com
"“We’ve always pushed each other, whether it’s we know we’re about go in some 5-on-5 action and we look at each other and are like: ‘Let’s go.’ We know we are going to push each other and it’s an advantage.”"
These battles between Randle and Nance resulted in both players have career-years last season. With both players coming off the best seasons of their careers, they will be looking to accomplish that once again in the 2017-18 season.
One of the interesting things to watch this season will be how the Lakers construct their lineup and rotations. As the NBA moves toward positionless basketball, players like Brandon Ingram could see time at the power forward position.
In addition to Ingram potentially playing at the power forward, the Lakers also have an impressive rookie in Kyle Kuzma. Kuzma’s natural position is at power forward, but he has been working on playing small forward as well likely to help earn some extra minutes.
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It will certainly be interesting to see how the battles between Nance and Randle shape up. Entering his third season, Nance might be able to take a big step forward in his development. For Randle, this is a contract season for him, and he will certainly be looking to prove that he is a starter in the NBA.