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As Luke Walton molds the Los Angeles Lakers into a team that could play similar ball to the Golden State Warriors, the pieces that would allow him to effectively run his schemes are slowly falling into place.
Those weapons won’t come from new additions as two members of its young core are giving their coach reason to be excited.
In a recent piece by Mark medina of the L.A. Daily News, Luke Walton talked about the strides that Julius Randle and Larry Nance have had in terms of their shooting.
Randle spent part of his two-a-day workout sessions with an unrevealed shooting coach to make subtle changes to his stroke. As Lakers coach Luke Walton said, “it’s been very impressive to see his commitment this offseason to become a better shooter.”
While Nance provided more examples of his energy and leadership in Summer League, he often worked on both his 3-point shot and mid-range jumper at the Lakers’ practice facility. As Walton said, “he’s definitely a capable 3-point shooter and his mid-range game has been pretty consistent.”
If the need to stretch the floor, by way of their bigs, arises, the Lakers have Yi Jianlian to hit outside shots, so that will eat up on a few of their minutes.
Last season, neither of them shot the ball better than 28% from three point distance. But if they can develop a more consistent mid-range jumper, they will see a lot of run in Walton’s offense that figures to rely heavily on spacing the floor.
