16USA

Joey Ramirez

It was an eventful two weeks in Las Vegas for the Lakers, as the team’s young core wrapped up Summer League and USA Basketball training camp. Lakers.com’s Mike Trudell and Joey Ramirez both covered the team in Vegas and now discuss the biggest takeaways from the desert, including how D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram played against the U.S. National Team.

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Popcorn Machine: USA Camp and Summer League

LAS VEGAS — Four years ago, D’Angelo Russell and Devin Booker stood on this same court, watching off to the side while dressed in matching blue polos and white shorts.

Now, they wear “USA” across their chests as they compete on the UNLV hardwood against some of the best players in the world.

In 2012, Russell and Booker were part of a group of high schoolers who were able to sit in on a U.S. National Team practice before it went off to London for the Olympics. This year, as members of the USA Select Team, the young guards were tasked with scrimmaging the current crop of American Olympians.

“When we were here four years ago, we always knew that we’d be in this situation,” Booker said. “Obviously I didn’t know it’d be this early, but we’re blessed and fortunate enough of the opportunity.”

Booker was just 15 at the time, but both he and Russell, then-16, were confident that they would someday be playing against the likes of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, whom they watched with awe that day.

“It was unbelievable just seeing the level they were on,” Booker said. “I couldn’t imagine just playing against them. Now it’s crazy that I got the chance to play against Kobe and LeBron and everybody like that.”

Russell and Booker had actually met a year prior at the Nike Elite 100 Camp for some of the best high school players in the nation.

What began as an on-court rivalry rapidly evolved into an off-the-floor friendship that lasts to this day.

“We met each other at this camp and we dominated the camp,” Russell said. “Every since then, everywhere we went we dominated together. Either he was on a different team or I was on a different team. You would hear his name somewhere and you would hear my name somewhere.”

From there, as Russell put it, the two saw “each other blossom,” as both finished their time in high school as top-20 recruits, according to ESPN.

Despite Russell playing at Montverde Academy outside of Orlando and Booker attending Moss Point High in Mississippi, the two remained close. In his one year at Ohio State, Russell never crossed paths with Booker and Kentucky on the court, but their connection still didn’t take a hit.

“Now it’s definitely bigger than basketball between us,” Booker said. “We’ve done vacations together. I know his brothers, his family. I know his mind. It’s a friendship that’ll last forever.”

Keeping in contact is obviously easier in the age of social media and cell phones, but it also helps that Russell and Booker remained on parallel paths from coveted high school prospects to lottery picks to key members of the NBA’s future.

“I feel like we’re similar people,” Russell said. “Our input, our opinions, the way we go about our business, our dedication — I feel like we’re similar. So it’s easy to cope with a guy like that and just grow with him.”

Growth has been the key concept with both players, who are central to the futures of the Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

Booker says that Russell has been especially locked in over the past few months, saying “he’s going to be out for a mission next year,” after an up-and-down rookie season that culminated with being named Second Team All-Rookie.

Russell, on the other hand, has seen his good friend persevere through similar obstacles and come through as one of the NBA’s most exciting prospects.

“I’ve seen him go through tough times in college and I’ve seen him dominate,” Russell said. “To be here and be one of the young guys who is a face of his franchise — I’m a fan.”

Likewise, Booker considers himself “really proud” of Russell and the way he has grown from spectator at that USA camp in 2012 to participant in 2016.

That journey seems especially fast-tracked considering how Russell was then known primarily as the center of a viral video.

After the National Team finished practiced that day, Blake Griffin threw down an insane dunk, leading the teenager to stare wide-eyed into the camera and say the often-quoted line: “He ain’t even stretch doe.”

Now, the funny kid on YouTube is a central figure in the Lakers’ blueprint for the future. But for Booker, that day is still remembered simply as a cool experience for a group of high schoolers to share together.

“It was crazy,” Booker said. “It got bigger like a year later when it got viral on Twitter and things. The crazy part was he really didn’t stretch. He actually threw it off the backboard and went between his legs without stretching. It was unbelievable.”

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Friends Russell and Booker Return to USA Camp as Participants

LAS VEGAS — Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant have tasted gold before. But this year, they’ll have to earn that medal without LeBron James or Russell Westbrook or Chris Paul.

With Bryant’s retirement in April, the U.S. National Team will complete at the Olympics without him for the first time since the 2004 Athens Games, when it returned stateside with nothing but bronze to show.

As the Americans seek their third-straight gold medal in Rio de Janeiro next month, Anthony and Durant will serve as the team’s veteran leaders — a role that Bryant filled during the 2012 Olympics in London.

Bryant was 33 at the time — four years older than his next-closest teammate. This time around, Anthony, 32, is the most experienced player on the roster, while Durant, 27, is fourth.

Still, despite having a 12-man roster with eight players 26 years old or younger, Anthony maintains that he has less space to bridge between his teammates than Bryant did.

“It definitely was a gap between him and the rest of us,” Anthony said on Wednesday at USA Basketball training camp, laughing. “My gap is not that big. Kyle Lowry’s 30 years old. People underestimate that. People don’t talk about him being old.”

Nonetheless, Anthony finds himself in the same role as Bryant, whom U.S. National Team head coach Mike Krzyzewski credited with using the Games to set the tone for a new era of superstars.

Anthony now leads a crew of 10 new Olympians — with Durant being the only other to have played in the Games.

In two Olympic runs with Bryant, Anthony — who was just 20 when he was a member of the bronze team in Athens — studied the Laker’s unique way of locking himself in before tip-off, saying that “just the way his mind works” was the most impressive part of his game.

“For me, it was more his mental approach to the games and seeing him in the locker room before the games and seeing how he prepares for the games and for teams and for individuals,” Anthony said. “I took more from that than anything from his game.”

Durant, meanwhile, was Olympic teammates with Bryant only in 2012. But he, too, took away the same principle message: Bryant’s mentality was something to be adopted and tailored.

“His intensity and his focus is contagious,” Durant said. “I learned a lot from him. (We have) different personalities, obviously, but the way he approaches the game is something I learned and I tried to change up and tweak it my way.”

But what stuck most with Durant was Bryant’s mere presence on the team.

He was coming off a First Team All-NBA season that saw him rank second in the NBA in scoring with 27.9 points per game. As the elder statesman on a U.S. roster featuring the likes of Durant, Anthony and James, Bryant also deferred to the younger stars by taking only the fourth-most shots on the team.

“Kobe Bryant’s done so much in this league,” Durant said. “He didn’t have to play. He wanted to. He came out here and sacrificed everything. In 2012 he was just the greatest, man. He was a great leader. He didn’t care about shots — none of that stuff. He wanted to help us win and he was passionate about it.”

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Anthony, Durant Speak to Bryant's Olympic Influence

LAS VEGAS — For the past two weeks, the young core of the purple and gold have essentially been the Las Vegas Lakers.

Since arriving in Nevada on July 7, D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram have put their skills on display at both the Las Vegas Summer League and USA Basketball training camp, with Julius Randle joining them for the latter event.

Naturally, General Manager Mitch Kupchak oversaw his players’ performances during both weeks.

Kupchak sees the value in his young trio learning from five-time champion Gregg Popovich, who is the head coach of the USA Select Team. However, despite also getting to scrimmage against the U.S. Olympic Team, Kupchak acknowledged that there is only so much that they can gain from the four-day camp that concluded Thursday.&lt;/p

“It’s kind of mixed results in what you can expect in four days,” Kupchak said. “It’s not like they’re preparing for the Olympics. What they’re doing is being exposed to a great coach and his system. It’s an honor and they get to play against each other and, of course, the great competition that the Olympic team is.

“So I’m not sure if it’s going to lead to an experience that’s equal to maybe four to six weeks under Coach Popovich, but whenever you can spend any time with a coach like that it’s to be appreciated.”

Russell found himself at the center of both Summer League — where he averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists — and USA camp, where he was one of the most active participants in scrimmages and games of one-on-one.

It was a display of growth for a player whose 11.8 points on 37.7 percent shooting underwhelmed at Summer League last year. Kupchak sees Russell’s success in Vegas as  a symbol for the improvement that he expects from Ingram, who also had a slow start to his rookie season at Summer League this year.

“I think this summer was night and day compared to last summer (for Russell),” Kupchak said. “I think Brandon’s summer will be night and day to this year, and that’s just the progress of the young player. If they all continue to work — Julius and Brandon and D’Angelo — then I would expect a year from now that they’re all going to be a lot better than they are today.”

While the three former lottery picks all received plenty of attention for playing on the Select Team, Kupchak also found himself impressed by a 19-year-old Croatian whom he drafted in the second round.

Kupchak said that he “quite frankly” didn’t expect Ivica Zubac to play as well as he did at Summer League, where he affected both sides of the floor with 10.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and a 64.7 field goal percentage.

Zubac’s week struck Kupchak even more considering that he was unable to practice much leading into Summer League due to his contract’s paperwork needing to be finalized.

“He really only had one practice under his belt, and expectations were very low,” Kupchak said. “But once again, he’s a young player that’s gonna need time to develop as well. But I think he’s a little bit ahead of what we thought.”

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Kupchak Evaluates Lakers' Performances at USA Camp, Summer League

LAS VEGAS — Before this week, Julius Randle and Gregg Popovich hadn’t really crossed paths.

But in three days at USA Basketball training camp, Popovich — the head coach of Randle and the rest of the USA Select Team — has been pleased with the way the 21-year-old carries himself.

“I didn’t know him at all until he got here, and what I found out is he’s got a great sense of humor first of all,” Popovich said on Wednesday. “He’s a fun guy to joke with and he’ll joke back. And he’s worked very hard. He’s very coachable. He listens. He takes direction. So he’s been very enjoyable so far.”

Popovich and Randle share a common source of pride when it comes to representing USA Basketball.

The young Laker led the U.S. U18 team to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas championship in 2012, while San Antonio’s five-time champion will succeed Mike Krzyzewski as head coach of the U.S. National Team after next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.&lt;/p

“It’s just an honor to wear the USA across your chest,” Randle said. “It’s just a high standard, high accountability when it comes to this. Just an honor overall.”

In addition to the prestige of representing the country, this week at UNLV has also served as a classroom for Randle, D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram to study the games of some of the best players in the NBA.

All three constantly highlighted the need to bring a competitive attitude to scrimmages against the likes of Draymond Green, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

That hasn’t changed three days into the four-day camp.

“(It’s important to) be able to go against these guys and see where you are every day and just compete,” Randle said. “I’m a competitor and that’s what I love to do more than anything. Just to be able to compete is fun.”

The week has also given Randle a better chance to examine Ingram’s game. Randle practiced briefly with Ingram and the rest of the Lakers’ Summer League team two weeks ago, but he didn’t participate in the event itself at UNLV.

“This is really kind of like the first time I’m seeing him other than the practices,” Randle said. “You can obviously see he’s getting better every day (and) learning how to play at this level. He looks good.”

Someone who shares that sentiment is a former MVP currently at the center of the basketball world: Kevin Durant. Per Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver, the seven-time All-Star called Ingram “the first person that I can say that I can look at him and say I’m looking in the mirror.”

Popovich doesn’t see as identical a resemblance as Durant does, saying that now Durant has “gotta with (the comparison).”

Like Krzyzewski — Ingram’s coach at Duke — Popovich doesn’t see much merit in making parallels between one of the NBA’s top players and an 18-year-old who has yet to play a minute in the pros.

“They’re bodies are pretty similar, but it’d be pretty tough to compare somebody to Kevin Durant,” Popovich said. “It’s almost unfair. We’ll see as time goes for both of them.”

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Randle and Co. Focus on Competitiveness, Growth at USA Camp

LAS VEGAS — Mike Krzyzewski has five national championships and 970 victories — the most in NCAA history.

But he says that if it weren’t for Kobe Bryant, he wouldn’t be able to add two Olympic gold medals (and possibly a third next month) to his resume.

“In London, he was also an integral part of what we were doing and a key guy,”  Krzyzewski said at USA Basketball training camp on Tuesday. “But if we lose in Beijing, you’re not interviewing me right now. So I recognize that.”

That run at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 holds particular meaning for Krzyzewski, who recalled how the legendary Laker saved his team in the gold medal game against Spain.

In the fourth quarter, Bryant turned a one-possession game into a 118-107 victory by orchestrating one of the many clutch performances in his career. He scored 13 points with two assists in the final period, leading the “Redeem Team” to gold after the 2004 team came home from Athens with only bronze to show.

“With less than nine minutes to go, we’re up by two against Spain — there’s a lot of pressure on him,” Krzyzewski said. “He comes out and he was the Mamba.”

Krzyzewski implies that he might not have stayed on as the national team’s head coach if Bryant and Dwyane Wade hadn’t pushed the Americans to victory in China. After all, gold is the only medal that matters to the country that is not only the birthplace of basketball, but has won five of the last six Olympic titles dating back to the Dream Team in 1992.

Now, while preparing for his final Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Krzyzewski is able to look back on what Bryant brought to the program during his five years in red, white and blue.

Krzyzewski places Bryant on a list of current superstars who play the game with extraordinary intelligence that separates them from their competition. This common thread, he says, runs through the likes of Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving.

But Bryant’s influence didn’t stop now that Team USA is preparing for its first Olympics without him since that collapse back in 2004.

Krzyzewski credits his fellow two-time gold medalist with helping establish the group of stars that have continued to represent the country at the Olympics and FIBA World Cup.

“He was the alpha dog during ’08,” Krzyzewski said. “And we had a lot of other aspiring alpha dogs: LeBron, Carmelo and those guys. So how do you get that era and this era together? They did.

“And then in London, you start adding (Kevin Durant) and (Russell) Westbrook. Now you have three eras of alpha dogs, and they got it together. But Kobe set an example for that. He’s smart. Really smart and good. I love him.”

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Krzyzewski Recalls Kobe's Impact On USA Basketball

LAS VEGAS — Brandon Ingram is only 18 years old. He spent just one season at Duke under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

But in that short time Krzyzewski, who is also coach of the U.S. Olympic team, saw a combination of skill set and mentality that makes him predict that Ingram will someday become one of the NBA’s brightest stars.

“Brandon is very smart about people, about the game, and he’s a willing learner,”  Krzyzewski said on the second day of USA training camp on Tuesday. “I’m telling you, he’s a no-maintenance guy. I love that kid. I think he’s going to be very special (in) some time.”

Ingram’s brief career with the Blue Devils was enough for his former coach to extend an invitation to be part of the USA Select Team — a group of the NBA’s top young players who are tasked with scrimmaging the national team before its run at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Seeing Ingram suit up against some of the best players in the world reminds Krzyzewski of when those stars were in Ingram’s sneakers just a few years ago.

“When one of our own guys from Duke is good enough to be part of that process,” Krzyzewski said, “I look back — not that I’m saying he’s Kevin Durant — at Kevin Durant at 17 (years old) on a Select Team; Kyrie Irving at a young age, Klay Thompson.

“So now Brandon has that opportunity, and you learn from it. But I’m proud of him. I love Brandon. Brandon’s a no-maintenance, great guy.”

Meanwhile, the second pick of the 2016 NBA Draft tries to keep some perspective on the praise that his college coach heaps on him.

“I like compliments, but if you settle right now and not be the player that you’re supposed to be, it’s going to be really ugly,” Ingram said.

That inclination to shrug off his own hype is just part of the reason that those like Krzyzewski feel so optimistic about his future.

The coach even projects unwavering confidence about Ingram’s biggest critique: his slender, 6-foot-9, 190-pound frame.

“Everyone talks about him being thin,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s strong: strong-minded and strong-willed. And he’s stronger physically than people think.”

Now, Krzyzewski isn’t promising that Ingram will become a superstar the second he hits the Staples Center floor, instead citing that he will need an “adjustment period” while jumping from college to the NBA, just like he did when he went from ESPN’s No. 3 high school recruit in 2015 to ACC Rookie of the Year in 2016.

Krzyzewski recalls Ingram taking nearly a month to find his rhythm at Duke. In fact, he didn’t truly seem comfortable until the eighth game of the season, when he dropped 24 points on 10-of-15 in a victory over Indiana.

“After that, Amile Jefferson got hurt, so he was placed in an even more prominent role,” Krzyzewski said. “Then he just built. He is going to get so much better. The thing about him is he loves the process. He loves the game. He’s a great teammate.”

Ingram also loves his former coach, who he says still feeds him pieces of advice every day.

“Playing one year under Coach K feels like you’ve played for three years,” Ingram said. “I learned so much from him; gained a lot of wisdom and knowledge from him.”

Krzyzewski says that part of his message to Ingram is to “be himself and be instinctive,” and the rookie Laker has soaked it up.

“I’m not trying to be anyone else,” Ingram said. “I just know that being myself is what got me here right now.”

Krzyzewski forecasts a remarkable career for Ingram because he sees him as the type of player that shouldn’t “color with numbers.” He feels that Ingram should play and develop how he sees fit rather than feel pressured to play a certain way.

For a player so often compared to Durant, it means painting his own future rather than filling in the lines that someone else drew.

“Color it the way you think it should be colored,” Krzyzewski said. “With the really good players and the instinctive guys, you should always color that way.”

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Coach K Foresees Ingram Becoming 'Very Special Player'

LAS VEGAS — Heading into an event that brings together some of the best talent in the world, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle both focused on establishing a competitive mind set on day one at USA Basketball training camp.

The day’s action at UNLV concluded with games of one-on-one between established stars and rising talents, and each Laker brought that fire against the likes of Kyrie Irving, Harrison Barnes and Emmanuel Mudiay.

However, both Lakers were most animated when going against one another.

In Russell’s eyes, it was clear who the victor was.

“Obviously I won,” Russell said. “He knows I won. I came out with a W.”

However, Randle saw it differently, lightheartedly charging his teammate of needing to cheat his way to a win.

Randle even accused Russell of a most-heinous hoops crime: playing NBA 2K with the sliders turned up.

“I stand by what I said, but we’ll run it back tomorrow,” Randle said. “We’ll let you guys be the official scorekeepers. We’ll go from there.”

Surely, there will be plenty of future rematches not only on Tuesday, but over the final three days of camp.

This energy for competition is exactly why Russell, Randle and rookie Laker Brandon Ingram were chosen for the USA Select Team in the first place.

The Select Team is composed of the top young, American talent, and its primary purpose is to challenge the U.S. Men’s National Team in practice as it prepares for next month’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

And while the future Olympians stay sharp against the NBA’s next generation of stars, members of the Select Team are able to learn from players that they otherwise wouldn’t get to practice with.

“I’m just here with the greatest players in the league right now,” Ingram said. “I think it’s a great start to start of my career here and try to learn from these guys and see what they do well.”

For Russell, that meant getting to match up against Irving, who — at just 24 years old — recently added a championship ring to his collection of accolades that includes three All-Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year trophy and MVP honors for Team USA at the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

“He’s coming off a championship, so he doesn’t have to be here,” Russell said. “He’s taking the time out to be here and represent the country. I got the opportunity to go against him. We played a few one-on-one games.”

While Russell matched up against Irving twice during his rookie season, he nonetheless relished the opportunity to go after him again and again in Las Vegas.

In particular, he welcomed the opportunity to bump up the physicality against Irving and others without referees on the floor.

“It was fun, man,” Russell said. “Just getting the opportunity to compete against some of the top pros in the league. This is a blessing to be here. So many guys get the opportunity, but to be one of those selected few, I just want to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Randle and Ingram echoed their point guard’s sentiment. For Randle, it was also an opportunity to get a closer look at Ingram, whom he practiced with briefly in Los Angeles before the latter played at Summer League last week.

Randle singled out the 18-year-old’s poise and approach to the game, while Ingram left impressed by the composure of his fellow forward.

“He was being a leader out there today,” Ingram said. “He’s a strong, athletic guy and he was just attacking the rim and doing the things that he does well. It was exciting to play there with him and D’Angelo today.”