Free agent additions Juan Toscano-Anderson, Lonnie Walker IV, Thomas Bryant, Damian Jones and Troy Brown Jr. are all role players who hope to make big strides in their development next season.
EL SEGUNDO — They’re younger, faster and maybe a little more athletic than last year’s crew. But the Lakers’ new crop of free agents have a few miles on their tires, too.. Here’s a bit of what we learned about the role players who will try to take a big leap next season:Before leaving the house on Saturday, Toscano-Anderson wasn’t sure about his wardrobe choice.
Toscano-Anderson talked at length about bringing positivity and work ethic to the locker room, cultivating what he called “an everyday guy” mentality from his college days at Marquette. Now 29, he’s had to grind for every minute he’s gotten in the NBA – and he plans to keep on doing it every day. While the Lakers have a lot to prove after their season out of the play-in entirely, the expectations will be much higher. A lot of that will be on the defensive end: Walker says he’s gained weight to about 215 pounds, and while he’s most comfortable guarding guards and small forwards, he will guard power forwards or stretch-fours if required. He also expects his shooting to pick up, with a reporter noting that he shot over 36% from 3-point range after the All-Star break.
The biggest question about Bryant is his recovery from a left ACL tear early in the 2020-21 season. He had played just 10 games with current Laker Russell Westbrook in Washington when he got hurt; last season, he was still on the path to recovery. This summer, Bryant said, he’s holding to the wisdom that the second year of recovery will go smoother than the first – “to be honest, my left feels even stronger than my right,” he said.
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