Coach Mike Brown Excited To Start 1st Full Season With Lakers
LOS ANGELES (CBSla.com)The Los Angeles Lakers are getting ready for training camp that begins on October 2nd as they get ready to contend for another NBA Championship.
Lakers head coach Mike Brown will have a lot more time to prepare his team whereas last year, the season didn't begin until December 25th due to the NBA lockout.
"Last year, everyone went through it. With the lockout happening and then all of the sudden the season was upon you, so there were a lot of obstacles we all had to overcome," said Brown. "Being a new guy in that situation, it made it a little tougher. But at the end of the day, our guys rallied together and we had a descent season."
Brown will have many new faces in the Lakers locker room with the acquisitions of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks.
"All these guys are good guys. That's one thing you hope for. You talk about Dwight, Steve Nash, Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks are already great people and with the mix with ours, it will all work for itself. The guys have come early this year and have been working out since August, on and off, and it's been a fun environment to be around."
Last week, the Lakers said Howard will not be ready for the preseason opener on October 7th in Fresno, but Brown didn't seem discouraged as he started rehabbing with one of the best trainers of the NBA, Gary Vitti.
"He's fine. He's a competitor that hadn't faced a situation any other time in his career, so he's extremely hungry to be out there. We just have to make sure we don't rush him. We want he comes back at full strength. We don't want this to be a recurring problem, so he's doing the steps correct way, but being who he is, he wants to get out in the floor very, very bad and sooner than later."
