Lakers Practice: Byron Scott Grades Effort, Wes Johnson Update

The Los Angeles Lakers finally had a light practice day on Tuesday morning after winning their first preseason game against the Denver Nuggets last night. Lakers spokesman John Black said Wesley Johnson is feeling well despite leaving last night’s game with a tendon strain in his knee. Lakers head coach Byron Scott did not seem concerned about Johnson.

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It was good to see Xavier Henry out on the practice floor today, walking through drills, but the Lakers did not have a physically demanding practice today. The majority consisted of watching film in the morning. Scott said Henry’s coming along slowly.

After practice, the theme was the same. Byron Scott’s practices made last night’s game seem easy, which is exactly what Scott was hoping for.

That’s the way it should be. That’s the way we were taught in the 80’s. That’s what I told Chris Paul back in the day when I had him,” Scott told LakersNation.com after practice. “I hope they do understand that by saying that means we’re [going to] keep practicing hard too, so the games are easy!”

Scott also said he’s been impressed with what he’s seen from both Ed Davis and Jeremy Lin and hinted that it’s possible those are the two first guys off the bench. After last night’s game, Lin said throughout training camp he’ll be focusing on how his strengths best fit in Scott’s system. Lin said today he knows one of his biggest strengths lies in turning defense into quick offense.

I think one thing I can bring as well is pushing the ball in transition. I think turning defense into quick offense is definitely something I’ve always loved doing and I can bring that here as well.”

Scott gave his team an A for effort in last night’s game and bordered around a B-/C+ in terms of execution.

The Lakers practice again tomorrow before taking on the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on Thursday.

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