On September 27, Beijing time, Lakers ushered in the media day of the new season. James , Thick eyebrows and Westbrook were interviewed and took the makeup photos of the new season. What did they say during the media day?
James: Stay on the court + do a good job in defense
2022-23 season will be James's 20 season. He sighed: "Oh my God, it's been 20 years, I didn't expect how long I can play in the league... When I was 18 years old, I didn't know much about the professional league, so I can only continue to study it and focus on my own growth. I want to continue to improve so that I can play basketball as long as I want, and have an impact on this sport... 20 years later, I can say that I did it myself."
Last season, the Lakers missed the playoffs . James said that when the playoffs began, he was on vacation in Maldives . "Every day, I hate that feeling... I wake up at 2 a.m. every day, watch all the playoffs of the day, and then start training immediately."
talks about his goals in the new season, and James said the most important thing is to maintain attendance. "As one of the team's leaders and core, being able to stay on the court and play healthily is the most important part." In the past four seasons, he has played 55 games, 67 games, 45 games and 56 games respectively. As for the team's primary goal, James said it was to "do a good defense." During this offseason, James renewed his contract with the Lakers in advance for 2 years and $97.1 million. Speaking of this, James said: "I came here because I believe this team and stay here now. It's that simple. I am loyal to this team."
When talking about Thick Brows, James said: "My expectation for AD is to see AD do AD and become the player with both offense and defense." When talking about whether Westbrook is suitable for the Lakers, James said with confidence: "Absolutely, for him, this will be a very good season, and we are with him."
In this season, James' biggest milestone goal is to surpass Jabbar and become the historical scoring leader. He is still 1326 away from unlocking this achievement. "'Wow', sitting here, knowing that I'm about to break the record that may be the most popular in the league, I express my awe and humility for it. This is a very historical moment, as long as my family and friends are there, that's the most important thing for me."
Davis : Target plays 82 games
Last season, Thomas Brow played only 40 games due to injury, and he was very frustrated because two injuries were uncontrollable factors. That also means that James, Westbrook and he spent too little time playing together. Data shows that the three of them only played 21 games together. "My new season, James and Westbrook, both feel pressured, and we have to accept it."
talked about his health, and Davis said: "From the training plan, I did the same thing in this offseason as last year's offseason. I was uncontrollable when I suffered two injuries. Once someone was pressed on my knees, and the other was landing on someone's feet. This year's offseason gave me more time to recover."
talked about his communication with coach Hamm, Davis said: "I had a good conversation with him, most of which were about defense. He hoped that we would be one of the best defensive teams in the league, and we exchanged our own opinions and ideas."
Davis said that his goal this season is to play a full 82 games. For him, this is indeed a big challenge, because Davis has played the most seasons in his career so far, with never playing 82 games. He also said that he would tell Westbrook to "be yourself" before every game. “I told Westbrook to be himself and hope he will be more aggressive, which is a trait that made him successful in NBA, and Westbrook and I discussed this summer what works and what doesn’t work, and I’d love to see what happens.
Westbrook: It is very helpful to communicate with James and Mei
Like in an interview with Woj, Westbrook said: "It doesn't matter whether the Lakers need me here. My job is to be a professional player and compete as usual." He also said that he communicated with James and Mei during the offseason. "That was very helpful, and was able to talk and understand what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it."
Westbrook said that he had established a good relationship with the new coach Ham, "This is very important to me."
However, the careful fans still took a photo with the Big Three and saw the obvious difference between Westbrook and last year's photo. When taking a photo together last season, the three of them stood very close, but this time, Westbrook always kept a certain distance from Zhan Mei. Seeing this, someone wrote: "Look at the body language here. James and Davis are very close to each other, and Westbrook always keeps himself away from them. Photographers have allowed Westbrook to stand closer, but Westbrook still ensures that he keeps his distance from them. 90% of the communication is non-verbal."
Other contents of Lakers Media Day
When asked by reporters whether Westbrook has locked in the starting position of the new season, Ham said: "We still have a long way to go about this matter, and we have several choices." General Manager Pelinka emphasized that he is willing to take out two first-round picks to trade, but the premise is that the transaction must make the team substantial reinforcement.
Lakes' latest injury situation
Lakes' official website reporter Mike Trudell brought the current injury situation of the lineup -
1.Nun can fully participate in confrontation training.
2. Troy Brown's back is currently sore and can only do non-confrontational training.
3. Lonnie Walker has an ankle injury, limiting his actions in the early stages of training camp.
4. Schroeder has not arrived yet (visa issues, etc.)
