Larry Nance Jr. was only drafted into the NBA by the Los Angeles Lakers a year ago but he has already seen many come and go around him. The team has had its difficulties on and off the court, but Nance wants to forget about the problems and move forward.
The Wyoming graduate is seemingly pleased by the collective he is working alongside this summer.
“I've really enjoyed going to the gym and seeing the faces and people that are with us now. That's kind of the culture change that's going on,” Nance told Alex Kennedy on the Basketball Insiders podcast.
The forward believes that the appointment of new head coach Luke Walton has made a difference.
“Since Luke has gotten here, our culture has kind of changed. Now he is on the court working with us, and the assistants are on the court working with us, and kind of implementing in our game what they'd like to see in our offense. He just brings a whole new young, up-tempo, refreshing feel to everything.”
Changes have also been made on the Lakers roster. Big man Timofey Mozgov and experienced two—way forward Luol Deng were picked up in free agency. Jose Calderon made his way to California in a trade. Nance believes that the new acquisitions can have a positive impact on both on-court performance and the team dynamic.
“You hear guys like Luol Deng, Jose Calderon, Mozgov, and it's just like ‘they're true pro's pros.' They just come in and just get it done every single night, good locker room guys, guys that really are great cornerstones to establish a culture. I mentioned that they're really good locker room guys and things like that, but they're pretty darn good players as well. Mozgov is an NBA champ, so we've got really good pieces that we brought in.”
The twenty-three year old knows that many have already counted his team out due to their performance in recent years but he feels as though they have the attributes to take people by surprise.
“All of us saw that ESPN came out and said ‘oh, you guys are supposed to finish last in the Western Conference.' We all kind of scoffed at that because I think we're going to be better than people think we are. So we take stuff like that and use it is motivation, so I don't know if there's an exact number (of wins) that we want to hit, but it's going to be higher than what most people think.”
Whilst the goal for the Lakers will be to improve as a team, Nance, Jr. values the importance of team morale and appreciates the shift in mind-set taking place in LA.
“Basketball is supposed to be fun, it's a game, and it's getting back to that point.”
Follow Us
Subscribe