D'Angelo Russell (Photo : Mike Ehrmann | Getty Images Sport)
The Los Angeles Lakers has finally admitted that it's no longer a free agent paradise and is now building their young core.
Even with that admission, they still have the confidence to wait for Westbrook in 2017, as they declared here.
However, they still need to sell the product-which is young team on the basketball court. It's not about the city and the Hollywood glamor, as what the franchise has learned the past three years.
The main additions in the summer is Brandon Ingram, the no.2 overall pick and Coach Luke Walton and both will be tested in the Las Vegas Summer League (LVSL). Ingram has been singled out as his strength is being questioned, as reported by Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
"In Ingram's last two summer league games, opponents have changed up their approach and are instead aggressively pushing his 6-foot-9, 190-pound frame around, testing his strength and how he responds against brute force," Holmes narrated. "So far, Ingram hasn't responded all too well."
The physical play has resulted in bad shooting percentages for Ingram and this could be a cause for alarm for the Lakers, who took Ingram-a far consensus at the no.2 spot, because of his scoring ability.
But Holmes pointed out that Ingram is just 18 years old and he is "not surprised" at this tactic. "I think just for my size and my frame, they just try to test me and it's important for me to battle back and not just let them hit me but hit them also," Ingram said.
Ingram has resorted to become the aggressor, driving and attacking at every turn. But the Lakers know that Summer League is a testing ground and that in actual games, the physicality just gets tougher.
Which is why the signing of Timofey Mozgov suddenly made sense. The Russian center can set the screens and is a competent pick and roll player. The Lakers don't need him to be mobile-the young guys are capable of doing that.
Meanwhile, D'Angelo Russell has shown much of his talent and has a solid case for Summer League MVP. While he is still the primary playmaker, he has noticeably taken on a scoring role, as Mark Medina of the LA Daily News reported.
In the game against the Golden State Warriors summer team, Russell exploded for 26 points on a decent 9-of-13 clip, with an impressive 4 of 5 from 3-point range and 4 of 5 from the foul line.
While this is a very different set up from the real games (especially the real Warriors), it does show how much more confident he is now under Walton's system, even as assistant coach Jesse Murmuys took over for LVSL.
The Lakers, as Medina noted, "will ask more out of Russell because they see the possibilities as endless."
