Lakers Practice Report: 10/21/09
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Lakers center Andrew Bynum suffered a minor rotator cuff strain in Tuesday night's 113-107 win over the Golden State Warriors. Bynum did not practice Wednesday due to the injury but is being listed as probable for Thursday's game against the Denver Nuggets in Anaheim.
"My training staff hasn't anticipated anything that would prohibit him from playing, but we'll see what it's like tomorrow," said head coach Phil Jackson.
Bynum has been the team's leading scorer and rebounder this preseason, averaging 20.3 points and 7.7 boards in just over 30 minutes of play per game. The big man's production on the offensive end has been solid, but Jackson would still like to see some things worked out on the defensive side of the ball.
"There are about four or five defensive things that really got to me. that's where I want to see that improvement," said Jackson. "Offensively he's doing great. He's dunking that ball and getting that ball to the basic and he's doing a good job."
Gasol and Walton Return to Practice
Today's practice didn't put a heavy physical toll on the team as they did some running and conditioning drills before getting into some light contact work.
Injured forwards Pau Gasol and Luke Walton both participated after missing the past couple games.
"I put them through practice today. We'll see how they react to that tomorrow. They looked okay," Jackson said.
The absence of front line rotation players hasn't given the rest of the squad much of a chance to work on defensive schemes and rotations, something they'll work on versus the big front line of Denver over the next two days.
Gasol Video
For more on what it takes to repeat and how the Lakers plan to stay hungry, check out the Pau Gasol video to the right.
