While the Pistons’ acquisition of Jodie Meeks raised some eyebrows early in the offseason, the Lakers’ dropoff in long distance shooting may prove his value. Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times notes that Los Angeles hasn’t hit a three-point shot in three straight preseason games, as Jeremy Lin, Nick Young, and Ryan Kelly have all missed time. Here’s more from the purple and gold:
- Steve Nash tells Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com that he feels better physically this year, despite being sidelined this week with no timetable for a return to practice or game action. “I expected things to happen; it’s inevitable with everything I’ve gone through that there’s going to be issues adapting back to the game,” Nash said. “On the other hand, I did get through seven or eight hard days well, which I didn’t do last year. So there is some improvement, and if I can adapt continually once I heal up here, I’ll be back on course.” Nash missed most of last season with injuries, and the 40-year-old has acknowledged that the primary reason he didn’t retire was to keep the $9.7MM in earnings from the final year of his contract.
- Head coach Byron Scott discussed the potential for Nash to be shut down this season with Holmes. “I really don’t know what the future holds for Steve right now,” Scott said. “The one thing I do know, like I said, in talking to him, [is] he wants to play. He wants to play badly…I think we are all fearing it throughout the year, we didn’t know when this might take place, we didn’t know if it was going to be November or March.”
- Lakers rookie Julius Randle has struggled at times this preseason, and the forward tells Joe Ramirez of NBA.com that he’s okay with being pushed harder than other players by Scott. “He’s still a baby, so I’ve been a little hard on him at times. But it’s the NBA,” Scott said. “But every now and then I forget that he’s 19 years old and he has a lot to learn. It’s not that he’s not willing to learn. It’s just that he has to put forth the effort. It’s a lot harder here than it was at Kentucky. This is the big boys’ league. That’s the bottom line.”