The Los Angeles Lakers took the court for their second day of training camp on Wednesday morning, starting to implement a little bit of offense into practice. Head coach Luke Walton said their morning practice was about 40 percent defense, and still non-contact, although 5-on-5 scrimmages are planned for the evening.
Larry Nance Jr. was in good spirits, after coming out victorious in a sprinting competition yesterday, beating out Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, V.J. Beachem and Kyle Kuzma. We’ve got quotes, notes and videos all below, so you don’t miss a thing from practice.
Quotes
Walton on upcoming scrimmages: “We’ve got a lot of competitions at a lot of spots, whether it’s a starting role or just playing time role or just making the team, good chance for us to get it in tape and break down the decisions we want to make.” 
Nance Jr. On Ivica Zubac: “He’s been in the gym, one of the most this summer, done an incredible job transforming his body and getting ready for this fast pace style of play, and I couldn’t be happier for him, you look at him and it’s night and day between this time last year and now.”
Nance Jr. On Ingram: “Confidence. Last time coming in, he was a little uncertain at the beginning of the year but towards the end his confidence picked up and he could show what he could do, and this summer, the work he put in along with Zu was incredible, in here every single day, in the weight room on the court and its really paying off and he’s kind of taken the role of, ‘I’m the guy, this is my team.'”
Nance Jr. on being the fastest Laker: “They matched like guys, so my first matchup was Kuz and I had to show him what we do to rookies around here, beat him, and the next was a real tough one against Ju (Julius Randle), edged him about by a little bit and I think it was VJ next, I got him and the strides took over, and I think there was a video of me beating JC (Jordan Clarkson), so I wear the crown for now. Luke bet against me, so that was the pushups you saw at halfcourt, he’ll learn not to do that.
Notes:
– Brook Lopez has not been cleared for contact (back spasms), and ‘probably’ will not play in their preseason opener
– Josh Hart has not been cleared for full-court activities (hamstring), although Walton said he looked pretty explosive to him (watched him do reverse dunks, back door cuts).
– Andrew Bogut is not able to practice with the team until his work visa goes through
– Walton said Randle looked great in practice, especially defensively, was ‘flying around,’ his ‘head was over the rim dunking,’ ‘light on his feet’
– Jordan Clarkson was given a player development sheet over the summer to work on certain things, and Walton said he came back stronger
– Nance Jr. said players are caring more about their defensive technique and form
Videos:
