1. STAY HEALTHY
The fourth, final, and arguably most important goal for Lonzo, this season, is to stay healthy! Achieving any of the previous goals can only occur if he is on the court. Now, obviously, injuries happen and they are out of your control sometimes, our most hated rival across the country found this out the hard way last season.
Staying on the court should be Lonzo’s No. 1 priority. This roster is already more random than expected, the last thing the Lakers need is to have inconsistent starting lineups due to injuries. This goal actually applies to the whole team.
Ingram has been in and out of injuries his first two years in the league and that needs to change this year. The only player on last year’s roster that played all 82 games was Julius Randle and he has accepted a lesser role on a short-term contract with the New Orleans Pelicans (that is tad amount of bitterness you’re hearing in that sentence).
Last season alone, Lonzo missed 30 games and Ingram missed 23. We need these guys to be on the floor developing their game and learning how to play with each other. Sitting on the bench in street clothes talking about Fortnite and scrolling through Twitter isn’t the way to get there.
This is also under the assumption that Lonzo recovers from knee surgery as scheduled and is healthy to start the season like Rob Pelinka said. So listen to Marco Nunez, the Lakers athletic director, when he tells you something. Stretch significantly before and after every game, practice, workout, and shoot-around. Hell, these guys should be stretching pre and post-coital at this point.
Next: Lonzo Ball 2018 Offseason To-Do List
The Lakers are one of the few teams that are set up to win now and win later. The only way to maintain that capability is staying healthy. The 2018-19 season should be one Lakers fans remember for years to come. But for now, sit back and watch the Long Summer run it’s course, before you know it, opening night will be here.