Lakers training camp: Carmelo Anthony doesn’t care about his role

The Los Angeles Lakers finished their third day of training camp Friday afternoon, their penultimate practice before their first preseason game.. This was the third day in a row the Lakers have played 5v5 as Frank Vogel continues to educate players on their systems and workouts, which I’m sure will take more than a few days given all the rolls in the list.

Either way, this unknown team seems to be having fun getting back to work and getting to know each other. Even the “old bosses” are getting more and more enthusiastic, including Carmelo Anthony, who spoke to reporters on Friday.

Carmelo Anthony is okay with everything the Lakers need from him

Many new Lakers have preached the idea of ​​sacrifice, knowing that the size of their roles on previous teams may not be the same on this talented Lakers roster. This idea applies as much to Carmelo Anthony, 37, as it does, say, Malik Monk, 23, as almost everyone will have to sacrifice (even the three Lakers superstars) if the team is to compete for a championship. .

When Anthony was asked after Friday practice to start or leave the bench this season, he continued to exhibit that mantra.

“I don’t know, man. I had to adjust to that last year, ”said Anthony when asked if he would start or leave the bench. “It was cool after getting my feet wet and figuring out what my role would be on this team. It’s the same here.

“With this team, I look at them a bit like the United States team,” continued Anthony. “There is so much talent that you have to understand what works together, what doesn’t and how it works together, and how it fits together. And again, at this point man, whatever we have to do, let’s do it. I can’t sit down and say “I want to start” or “I want to get off the bench”. Whatever it is. I had the experience of being a holder for 17, 18 years and I had the experience of leaving the bench for a year. So it’s not something I think about.

Yeah, that’s right, guys. The 2021-22 Lakers are as good as Team USA. You heard the man.

Some may scoff at the idea of ​​Anthony agreeing to leaving the bench for, say, Trevor Ariza and / or Wayne Ellington (two players who would be likely to start), but that’s not not new territory for him. As he said, Anthony had to accept a full-time reserve role with the Trail Blazers last season after starting almost every game he played with them the previous season. At the time, Anthony admitted that it was difficult for him, saying at the time that it was difficult to “swallow that pill”.

The Trail Blazers certainly have top talent in the form of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, but the talent of this team was nothing compared to the combined talent at the top of the Lakers’ roster with LeBron, Davis and Westbrook. On top of that, the roster goes deep all the way to the bottom, much deeper than the Blazers last season.

If Anthony ends up accepting the situation in Portland, then he should have no problem with the role he will receive in LA. He said the same when asked if he had even discussed his role with Vogel and the coaching staff.

“No, I didn’t,” Anthony said. ” I do not even think about it. Whatever you want, let’s do it. I don’t even stumble over it at this point. It’s let’s go. Let’s go win.

That said, the Lakers’ roster is set in such a way that Anthony should come close to the 24.5 minutes per game he saw last year. While Rob Pelinka has definitely added shooters in the offseason, there may still be a need in that department on this team given Russell Westbrook’s lack of 3-point shooting, which will force opposing defenses to pack the paint. more than they usually would.

Anthony should play often when you think of his ability to provide shots (40.9% out of 4.7 attempts at 3 points per game last season) combined with his experience as a 4-player. With him in 4, you can always surround Westbrook in a bench formation. with proficient shooters at 2 and 3 and get by with that spacing, even if you have a non-shooter at 5 like Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan.

And even though Anthony finds himself at close to 20, 15, even 10 minutes per game, it’s reassuring that he says he’s ready to do anything to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time, and that is all the more heartwarming since it is not the first time that he has made a personal sacrifice for the betterment of his team.

Frank Vogel “excited” by Lakers offense

Our resident Ted Lasso also spoke to reporters after practice on Friday. In the virtual scrum, Lakers reporter Mike Trudell asked Vogel if clarity and cohesion was hard to achieve given the team’s widespread roster turnover this offseason, with just three returning players.

“Well that doesn’t change for me and my coaching team. It changes for new guys, ”Vogel said. “They have to be familiar with the way we do things. But, like I said, they get it very quickly. We do some things offensively differently that we all find out, deal with, just try to make the best use of this year’s staff, trying to adapt it to their strengths and weaknesses. It’s something that excites me and I feel our guys are on the same page as well.

And if there’s one area Vogel struggles with as a coach, it’s attacking. He received his well-deserved praise for his work on the Lakers ‘defense (ranked No.1 in defensive rating last season despite Anthony Davis’ absence for nearly 3 months), but he struggled to place the team near the top of the league. offenses even with LeBron and Davis heavily involved (No. 11 in the offensive standings in the 2019-20 regular season, the year the team won the title).

Russell Westbrook should certainly help in that regard, but LeBron, Davis and the Lakers coaching staff will need to adapt to integrate Westbrook into their system. It’s a lot easier to plug in and play with a player like Dennis Schröder (although it didn’t work out well either) given his respectable 3-point shot. Vogel will not only have to come up with specific lineups to cover Westbrook’s poor shot, but he will have to change the fundamentals of how the Lakers play offense.

Considering the team’s aspirations this season, it’s refreshing to hear that they’re already doing all of this on day three of camp.

Notes and updates

• Frank Vogel gave us some bad (but not surprising) news, claiming that LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Trevor Ariza will not be in the Lakers’ opener on Sunday against the Nets. He added that Anthony Davis will play, but only in the first quarter.
• Carmelo Anthony appeared to have a black eye when he spoke to reporters on Friday. When asked, Anthony joked that they should “Ask Anthony Davis” as it looks like he may have inadvertently caught a bullet in Davis’s face.

• Anthony seemed to be in the mood for a joke overall, as he had a few jokes to ask him if he had thought about how long he would play. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said Tom Brady would play until he was 50, with Anthony responding with “Brady has an offensive line” among other jokes.

• Kendrick Nunn also spoke out after Friday’s practice, explaining why he signed with Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports and what the coaching staff told him about his role this year.

The Lakers will practice again on Saturday before hosting the Nets in their first preseason game on Sunday.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on itunes, Spotify, Stapler Where Google Podcasts. You can follow Donny on Twitter at @donny_mchenry.