Over the last couple of years, the Los Angeles Lakers have accumulated an intriguing level of young talent. Their combination of lottery picks and reliable veterans yielded impressive results to start the season, but things have since come back down to earth.
The Lakers have lost 12 of their last 13 games and seem to have gotten away from what got them off to such a good start in the first place. Inconsistent effort on both ends of the floor have plagued the Lakers and while veterans such as Lou Williams, Luol Deng, and Nick Young have had some great performances, the young players like D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Brandon Ingram have struggled.
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A 13-year veteran, Deng understands that there is a growing process, and spoke about that challenge after the Lakers’ loss to the Charlotte Hornets via Lakers reporter Mike Trudell:
“Part of the game is just knowing how to play together,” Deng said. “We just played a team that’s been together for a while, and you can see they really know how to play together. That’s our challenge. When you have a new coach, a couple new guys and a young team, the frustrating part throughout the year is the up and down.”
Deng, however, expressed confidence that the Lakers will ultimately figure things out:
“At times you’re going to play great and everyone gets excited, but where you have to be understanding is that it’s a process … we’re going to become a good team as long as we do the same thing every day.”
One thing that has been constant from everyone on the Lakers is that they will eventually figure things out. Head coach Luke Walton has always maintained confidence that the team will be fine and both Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell spoke about the team not quitting despite the recent slide.
The Lakers have the right attitude and work ethic to turn things around. Deng and the rest of the team understand that this is a process, and they all agree that the end results will be glorious once they figure it out together.