The LA Lakers are in a transition year — but this is a city with a big hoops legacy and they’re impatient for success. The attitude is that Kobe Bryant, love him or hate him, is finally finished — and the Lakers are looking to catch some rays now that the great eclipse wearing #24 is retired. Maybe the sun was always there and we just couldn’t see it, some Lakers fans are thinking. Suddenly there is a very interesting young team in purple and gold, and they just might have a BIG 3.
Sweet Lou Williams can score on anybody on either coast, as the veteran has consistently proven. In the backcourt with budding NBA star D’Angelo Russell, the tandem put up 58 points against the Nuggets in a 124-115 preseason victory. Add the immensely talented — and now truly healthy — Julius Randle to the mix and you add another 16 points in 28 minutes. All three players shot better than 53% from the field, with Russell hitting at 68%. Maybe these players are already way better and more seasoned that it seems? Would make sense in one regard: after all, rookie head coach Luke Walton enters his inaugural season with (by far) the most wins of any rookie head coach in history.
