Nick Young expects a war between him and Kobe Bryant in practice, from Eric Pincus of LA Times: “Young is excited about his first season with the Lakers, after signing a two-year deal in July (second season is a player option). “I grew up a Laker fan,” said Young. “Kobe [Bryant], Shaq [O’Neal], Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones — now I’m playing in that purple and gold.” He looks forward to playing with Bryant — “It’s going to be war sometimes in practice.” Young talked about getting his passport in order for the Lakers’ preseason trip to China and watching Bryant on the treadmill daily, rehabbing his Achilles’ tendon at the team’s practice facility. Young is an off-season regular at the Lakers’ gym, battling player development coach Mark Madsen in practice. “He was trying to kill me today,” said Young on Madsen. “It was fun though — I’m just going over the plays and putting shots up, trying to get my conditioning right.”
Pau Gasol is now running on grass, from Pincus: “Gasol underwent “FAST technique” procedures May 9 after struggling with knee pain throughout the season. He also received stem cell injections to help stimulate the regeneration of tissue in his knees. The Lakers forward/center spent about three months recovering before starting the rehab process in the weight room, on the exercise bike and in the pool. If Gasol feels no discomfort running on grass, he’ll continue to increase his activity with the goal of being ready to go by opening night Oct. 29 (against the Clippers at Staples Center). Gasol missed 33 games last season with knee and foot problems. He also suffered a concussion against the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers are hopeful that Gasol will have a strong year with a bigger role in the offense, now that Dwight Howard has moved on to the Houston Rockets.
Despite drawing interest from various NBA teams, Ivan Johnson has decided to go overseas, from Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York: “Free-agent forward Ivan Johnson has signed with the Zhejiang Chouzhou basketball club in China, agent Jeremiah Haylett confirmed to ESPN.com. While Haylett wouldn’t disclose financial details of the contract, he said it has no opt-out clause and it’s only for the duration of the CBA season. “It’s a 3½-month season,” Haylett said. “We plan on coming back to the NBA after the CBA season.” Before Johnson inked his Chinese deal, the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers all were in talks for his services. The 29-year-old Johnson, who became an NBA player in 2011 and has played only for the Atlanta Hawks, was initially campaigning for a mini mid-level contract.”
- Coach Nick of Bballbreakdown explained the concept of “Horns”, used by many teams around the league:
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.