ESPN

On March 18 of last season, Darius Morris didn’t get into the game until the last three minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers’ blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns. Coach Mike D’Antoni stuck to a seven-man rotation on the second night of a back-to-back, and Morris didn’t figure into his plans.

Two days before that, Andrew Goudelock was playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and picking apart the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the L.A. D-Fenders, with 33 points and 12 assists in a 15-point win.

Five weeks later, Morris and Goudelock made up the Lakers’ starting backcourt for Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. They put up an admirable effort -- Goudelock finished with 20 points and three steals, Morris had 24 points and six assists -- but the Spurs still embarrassed the Lakers, winning by 31 points on the Lakers' home floor.

The Lakers started the season with a Hall of Fame-bound backcourt of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, backed up by a D’Antoni favorite in Steve Blake and a pure, space-the-floor shooter in Jodie Meeks.

They ended it with two former second-round picks playing close to 40 minutes apiece in a playoff game.

Even with the rash of injuries the Lakers experienced last season -- trainer Gary Vitti said it was the worst string of bad luck he’s seen in his 20-plus years with the team -- the Lakers clearly had to address the guard position in the offseason.

Part of that process was upgrading from Morris (who remains an unsigned free agent after L.A. cut ties with him) and Goudelock (who signed a one-year deal to play in Russia after shining with Chicago’s summer league team).

Here’s a look at how the Lakers’ depth chart at guard should shake out next season:

1. Kobe Bryant

Even as a 35-year-old coming off of Achilles surgery and entering his 18th season in the league, Bryant is still the sun the Lakers' planet revolves around. He’ll be looked to to jump-start the Lakers' offense, whether in scorer or facilitator mode (hopefully more of the latter), and instill the belief that L.A. can actually accomplish something in 2013-14 outside of jockeying for draft lottery status. While Bryant will still surely play more than any other guard in the Lakers' lineup next season (when he's ready to return from his injury), it will be up to D’Antoni to manage his minutes better than last season. Bryant played 38.6 minutes per game in 2012-13, including an average of 45.6 minutes in his final seven games leading up to the injury. Just like the sun sets, Bryant and D’Antoni will have to figure out a way to pace themselves, perhaps by borrowing a page out of Gregg Popovich’s book and sitting Bryant on the second night of back-to-backs like the Spurs often do with Tim Duncan.

2. Steve Nash

Not only is Nash older than just about every player in the league -- he’ll turn 40 during the season -- he’s older than some of the top executives, as the Denver Nuggets hired 36-year-old Tim Connelly to be their general manager in the offseason and the Suns, Nash’s former team, brought on 33-year-old Ryan McDonough as their GM. Nash has already proved to be an ageless wonder, however, and as long as he can put his hip and groin injuries behind him, he will be relied upon to run D’Antoni’s offense the way the two hoped could have happened last season. Just like Bryant, however, there should be a minute cap for Nash. He averaged 32.5 minutes per game last season with only Blake providing consistent relief. The addition of Jordan Farmar, who at 26 is nearly a decade and a half Nash’s junior, will make it easier to cut into those minutes.

3. Jordan Farmar

Once upon a time, Farmar left a Lakers team that had won back-to-back championships because he didn’t want to continue to play behind an aging point guard in Derek Fisher. This time around, Farmar is joining a Lakers team that suffered back-to-back early exits in order to -- wait for it -- back up an aging point guard. Despite that, it seems like a natural fit for Farmar to return to the Lakers and play in a system that is better suited to his dribble-drive game than Phil Jackson’s triangle offense ever was. He will play both the 1 and the 2 at times and could really show his value if Bryant misses any portion of the season while still in recovery.

4. Steve Blake

Blake is the incumbent here, but it will be difficult for him to maintain his primary backup spot if Farmar comes in and performs to the best of his ability. The good news for Blake is there will always be time for him and his brand of hard-nosed, on-ball defense, and if D’Antoni gives Bryant and/or Nash the second night of back-to-backs off, there could be major minutes to be had. Plus, D’Antoni told ESPN 710 radio in Los Angeles that he plans to play an 11-man rotation. If the coach follows through with that plan, there will certainly be a role available for Blake.

5. Nick Young

Young has played shooting guard for the majority of his six-year career, but the Lakers think he’s capable of playing small forward. “Nick’s size, ability to create his own shot and athleticism make him a versatile player who will give our lineup multiple looks on the floor,” GM Mitch Kupchak said in the news release announcing Young’s signing mere minutes before the team used the amnesty clause to waive Metta World Peace. So, while Young will inevitably get some time at guard, he’ll more than likely be the team’s starting 3 when the season opens up.

6. Jodie Meeks

Meeks’ role will likely be hit-or-miss -- he’ll stay in when he’s hitting his shots and sit when he’s missing them. Like Blake having his value challenged by the addition of Farmar, Meeks will have to fight against becoming redundant with the addition of Young.

7. Xavier Henry

Henry, a former lottery pick by New Orleans in 2010, has the right frame at 6-foot-6 to play swingman, but hasn’t gotten the rest of his game together enough to stick in the league yet. Henry has a training camp invite with no guaranteed money, according to a league source, so his first priority is making the team, let alone cracking the rotation.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent forward Shawne Williams, the team announced Tuesday. Williams' contract is one year deal for the veteran's minimum (worth approximately $1.1 million) but is only partially guaranteed, according to a league source.

Williams last played in the NBA for the Brooklyn Nets (then the New Jersey Nets) in 2011-12, averaging 4.5 points and 2.7 rebounds in 25 games. The 6-foot-9 forward, drafted with the No. 17 pick out of Memphis by the Indiana Pacers in 2006, has career averages of 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16.4 minutes in 215 career games (23 starts) for the Pacers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and Nets.

The 27-year-old Williams had the best production of his career playing under Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni for the Knicks in 2010-11. That season, Williams averaged 7.1 points and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 40.1 percent on 3-pointers.

ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley previously reported Williams' invite to Lakers training camp in July.

Michael Beasley was waived by the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, putting the talented, yet troubled, 6-10, 235-pound former No. 2 pick on the market.

With the Los Angeles Lakers lacking a proven small forward on their roster after using the amnesty clause on Metta World Peace, it's only natural to wonder if Beasley might be a good fit in purple and gold.

Here are four questions to consider before that can happen:

1. What is the waiver process for Beasley?

Beasley was owed $6 million by Phoenix in 2013-14 and $6.25 million in 2014-15, but only $3 million of his '14-15 deal was guaranteed. Beasley agreed to a $7 million buyout with the Suns, according to Sports 620 KTAR in Phoenix. If any team out there chooses to claim the remaining $7 million on his contract, they'll retain Beasley's rights. That's unlikely to happen.

The way this usually works is a player clears the 48-hour waiver process and then the bids come in, with teams free to use their mid-level, mini mid-level or biannual exception to try to entice Beasley to come on board. The Lakers do not have any of those exceptions available to them. They used their entire mini mid-level exception on Chris Kaman and do not qualify for the biannual exception because of their luxury tax situation, so all they could offer Beasley is a veteran's minimum deal worth approximately $1 million.

There is a chance that a team like Philadelphia, which has not yet met the minimum salary requirement for the 2013-14 season could take on his full salary to meet that basement level, but Philly could just wait to sign other free agents to account for the approximately $10 million in salary it has to acquire without bringing in someone like Beasley with his off-court background into its young, impressionable locker room.

2. Will the Lakers be interested in Beasley?

As one source familiar with the Lakers thinking said, "There's a reason why Phoenix cut him." Even though Beasley is just 24 years old and has career averages of 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in just 26.4 minutes per game, it was his arrest on suspicion of marijuana possession in August that seemed to be what ultimately pushed Phoenix to go in another direction.

However, Beasley had off-court issues before this summer and that didn't stop the Lakers from pushing hard to get him in the 2011-12 season. Twice that season, the Lakers thought it had deals in place to acquire the lefty forward from Minnesota, and twice those deals fell through, the second time just seven minutes removed from the trade deadline.

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has shown in recent seasons that once a player catches his interest, that impression doesn't fade easily. Kupchak said that the Lakers had designs on acquiring Steve Blake for years stemming from an great pre-draft workout with the team in 2003. They finally got Blake in 2011. The same goes for Nick Young. Kupchak came close to getting Young for years before having it all come together this summer.

3. Should the Lakers want Beasley?

In a word, yes. Even though the team made some savvy pick-ups with potential in Young, Wes Johnson and Elias Harris to try to fill the void at small forward left by World Peace, none of them are proven players at that position. And yes, Kobe Bryant is just about as good at playing the three as he is at the two at this stage of his career with all the post moves he's developed, but Bryant's health for this season is still very much in question.

Getting Beasley at the minimum for 2013-14 would not only allow the team to keep the financial flexibility for next summer that it so covets, but it would give Mike D'Antoni another offensive weapon to work with. This is a guy who has a career high of 42 points, a guy who once put up 22 points and 15 rebounds in a playoff game, a guy who has a 34.5 percent career mark from 3, but has shot 36.6 percent or better from deep in three out of his five career seasons.

Don't discount the appeal of Beasley's ability to shoot it, either. The Lakers drafted Ryan Kelly in the second round primarily for his ability to stretch the floor with his long-range accuracy, but the team has been discouraged by the rookie's progress during the summer, according to multiple league sources. The Lakers doubt that Kelly, who missed summer league while recovering from multiple foot procedures, will be ready for the start of training camp.

Beasley could fill out a couple check marks of what the Lakers are looking for.

4. Should Beasley want the Lakers?

This answer isn't as straight forward. While Beasley has already made approximately $25.9 million in his time in the NBA, according to BasketballReference.com, he did have to agree to give up a guaranteed $2 million over two years in the Phoenix buyout. He could make that money back and then some by signing with a team that offers him the mini mid-level exception of $3.2 million. If he signs with the Lakers for the minimum, he loses $1 million. That might seem insignificant when you've already made $26 million, but $1 million is $1 million, especially for a player whose future in the league is far from certain.

So, financially maybe the Lakers aren't the best fit for Beasley.

However, style of play wise, L.A. could be perfect for him. Not only are D'Antoni's open-court sets suited for his game, but Beasley had his best season as a professional while coached by Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis when he was the head coach in Minnesota in 2010-11.

Not only that, but the Lakers have had success in recent seasons in salvaging guys' careers who were rich in talent, but poor in opportunity (think Shannon Brown, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Hill, Earl Clark).

And the opportunity should be plentiful in L.A. at small forward.

The Lakers plan to roll out some shirt-sleeve alternate jerseys next season, including one in black – should a team with the tradition and iconic uniform look of the Lakers mess with their look like this? Or is tradition just another word for “old”?

The Forum

The Los Angeles Lakers are a team on the rebound. The recovery process after Dwight Howard’s departure may not be brief, and it probably won’t be painless. Time will likely heal all wounds, but it’s hard to imagine the Lakers will be better off in the short-term.

But what holds true for the team doesn’t necessarily apply to the individual. Even though they occasionally flirted with great chemistry as a pair, Pau Gasol might actually be better off without Dwight Howard this season.

Part of that has to do with Gasol likely being better off, period. Last year, Gasol languished through 49 injury-riddled games, averaging career lows in points per game (13.7), field goal percentage (46.6), and PER (16.7). If he’s healthy, you’d assume there would be some return to the mean.

Howard’s exit might speed along that process. Last season, when the two big men shared the floor, Gasol averaged .92 PPP (points per possession) on 46.1 percent shooting from the field. In his 707 minutes without Howard, however, those numbers improved to 1.07 PPP on 47.8 percent shooting.

Of course, a big part of that improved effectiveness had to do with the spots on the floor from which the touches originated. With Howard on the floor, Gasol had 28 percent of his shot attempts come from within 0-3 feet, and 22.3 percent come from 3-9 feet. Without him, those numbers jumped to 31.8 and 26.9 percent.

It’s simple -- when Gasol was closer to the rim last year, he was a better scorer. Gasol averaged .87 PPP in post-up chances last season, compared to .83 PPP on spot-up jumpers. That’s atypical for most players today, but that’s how good Gasol is with his back to the basket.

Unfortunately, the spacing issues with Howard just didn’t allow Gasol to get on the block very often, and the number of touches he received in the post dropped considerably. In the 2011-12 season, 28.5 percent of Gasol’s shots came from the post. In 2012-13? That number fell to 24.4 percent.

So should Gasol be playing the majority of his minutes at center this season, despite the offseason signing of a more conventional center in Chris Kaman? It should certainly be an option.

Here’s a big reason why. When Howard was off the floor last year, Gasol posted a solid defensive rebounding rate of 22.6 – the same number as Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah and a better number than mammoth centers like Nikola Pekovic, Roy Hibbert and Kaman. Gasol may look a little soft, but he can more than handle his own on the glass. Truth be told, his post defense (only .75 PPP allowed last year) was pretty good as well, even though his declining athleticism and foot speed and didn’t help much in the way of rim protection.

Kaman shares a lot of those same issues, and his health is also a constant concern. But for a team who needs to score the ball a ton to account for what should be a pretty bad defense, the offensive chemistry in the frontcourt will be particularly important.

That being said, the two big men should be able to co-exist together, primarily because Kaman is an excellent mid-range shooter. Kaman’s jumper is a weapon he’s relied on more and more over the years, and considering his deficiencies as a post passer and finisher around the rim, it may be his only viable weapon left. Hypothetically, Kaman’s ability to stretch the floor should allow Gasol to assume his rightful position on the block and get more touches with more space to operate. Actually getting the touches is important, though: Gasol’s usage rate somehow declined last year when Howard was off the floor from 21.7 to 20.8.

Gasol’s role may be a little ambiguous in Mike D’Antoni’s system, and that kind of speaks to a larger point. Call it the burden of skill. Because he can seemingly do everything well offensively -- facilitate, shoot, score around the rim -- Gasol is often charged with filling in the gaps of his frontcourt partners, regardless of whether or not it’s optimizing his own production.

Gasol’s identity (is he a 4 or a 5?) also seems to change based on his surroundings -- he’s sort of a basketball chameleon. His ability to play with virtually anyone during his prime made him a champion. Now a little older, and with a little more scoring responsibility, the goal for the Lakers accompanying frontcourt players should be to complement Gasol, and not the other way around.

For the Lakers to rebound successfully this season, they’ll need Pau Gasol to help out and fill the void left by an absent big man. He’s done it in the past, he did it in brief moments last year, and he’s still capable of doing it now.

But the question is this: Will the Lakers have the means to help the helper?

Stats from ESPN.com, NBAwowy.com, MySynergySports.com, and Basketball-Reference.com were used in this post.

Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers might have 23 Pacific Division titles since the NBA created the league classification at the start of the 1970-71 season. And true, the Los Angeles Clippers have only one, coming last season. However, in the “What have you done for me lately?” sports world we live in, the Lakers’ “Showtime” history won’t give them a leg up on the lads from Lob City this year.

The story of the five-team Pacific Division for 2013-14 is one of the haves (Clippers and Golden State Warriors picked to finish second and sixth, respectively, in ESPN.com’s Summer Forecast of the Western Conference), the have-nots (the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns were picked 14th and 15th in the West in the same survey) and the Lakers, who fall somewhere in between.

With the Clippers coming off the most successful regular season in franchise history and adding Doc Rivers to the fold, the boys in red, white and blue are primed to back up their first Pacific Division title with another one, continuing the trend over the past decade of teams getting hot in the division and staying that way (the Lakers won five straight division titles from 2007-2012 and the Suns won three straight before that from 2004-07).

ESPNLosAngeles.com broke down each of five teams’ prospects heading into this season, including a take from both an anonymous Western Conference scout for the teams’ on-court plans and from an anonymous Western Conference front-office executive looking at the direction each franchise is headed.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS
2012-13 record: 45-37
If absorbing Dwight Howard’s departure wasn’t enough for the Lakers to digest, the best three players remaining on the roster -- Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol -- all enter the new season with serious health questions. How will Bryant respond to Achilles surgery as a 35-year-old? Will Nash, at 39, be able to keep his body on the floor through the rigors of an 82-game season? Is there anything left in those 33-year-old knees belonging to Gasol? And is Mike D'Antoni the right man to try to keep it all together? Still, the Lakers trudged ahead without Howard, making a couple of high-talent, low-budget pickups while maintaining their coveted cap space for the summer of 2014.

Players Added
Rookies: Ryan Kelly, Elias Harris (undrafted free agent)
Free Agents: Jordan Farmar, Wesley Johnson, Chris Kaman, Robert Sacre (re-signed), Nick Young

Players Lost
Free Agents: Earl Clark, Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison
Waived: Metta World Peace (amnesty)

Scout’s take:

-- "They’re going to be back playing more of Mike D’Antoni’s style, which is a lot of early offense, playing the pick-and-roll, playing to Steve Nash’s strengths. You got a guy in Jordan Farmar who is going to be able to play in that style. He’s quick, he’s athletic, he can play point guard. Nick Young is an athlete, a guy that can get up and down the court and can really score coming off the bench. Wes Johnson is a guy who can space the floor for them, hopefully."

-- "I don’t expect them to be a strong defensive team. They’ve got a lot of older, veteran guys. I just don’t know that that’s the strength of Coach D’Antoni. I think he’s a tremendous offensive coach and I know his philosophy is, ‘Well, if we outscore the opposing team then we’ve played good enough defense.’ He’s basically said that in the past."

-- "I do expect the Lakers to be competitive again. I think they’re a playoff-caliber team. I don’t know if they’re going to be one of the top-tier teams in the West."

-- "I do expect Kobe to be back playing at a high level. I know there’s uncertainty with the Achilles' heel. Just with his talent and his drive, I expect him to be back at a high level. I would almost worry about him pushing it too far, too fast. I think they’re going to try to force him to come back kind of slow. Don’t try to take on the world right away.

"Kobe, to me, is going to thrive off of his smarts and his experiences. He’s always been one of those guys that’s just been like a sponge. I think that’s what separates him from the average player or even a very good player. I think this is just another challenge for him. He’s like [Michael] Jordan in that way where he’ll almost make up motivation, make up something to help get him motivated.

"I would not be surprised for him to be back at an All-Star level. I don’t know if it’s going to be next season, it could be, but I could definitely see him being back as an All-Star because that’s just in his DNA."

Exec’s take:

-- “It’s kind of a year where I’m sure they don’t know what’s going to happen and the rest of the league doesn’t either. A big part of it is where is Kobe going to be at? If there’s a guy you don’t want to doubt, it’s him. If he’s anywhere near 100 percent, you can’t count those guys out to be in the playoff hunt at the very least."

-- "I think they’re trying to get through with a team that can probably be competitive this year and see where they’re at health-wise, and then next year they obviously got a ton of flexibility to kind of re-mold that franchise.

-- "Dwight being gone, it hurts you from a talent standpoint, but it might help from a chemistry standpoint -- just from the outside looking in. If you have Nash and Pau both healthy and Kobe is anywhere near 100 percent, I think they’ll see more rhythm with that offense."

-- "I think Nick Young will be a good addition off the bench for them, if they bring him off the bench, give them some punch."

-- "I don’t know if they have the depth to contend for a top five or six seed in the West, and if Kobe is not anywhere near 100 percent, I think it could be a challenging year for them."

-- "They'll see where they're at. At this point I don’t think they want to think about that possibility [of stripping down the team] right now. I don’t think that’s how they think. Their aspirations are a lot higher than most teams every year, and I’m sure they want to see where Kobe’s at come Jan. 1 and see where the team’s at. If they get to the point where it’s the trade deadline and they can tell their team’s not going anywhere, I’m sure they’ll at least consider something with Pau or any other pieces they might be able to move for a longer-term piece."

-- "I think all of this comes back to where Kobe’s at -- healthwise, mentally -- because I think they’re going to factor in how he views what’s the short term and long term with them because he’s been such a statue of that franchise for so long. I think it will be something that they feel their way out as the season goes along on that."

Lakers 2013-14 prediction: 44-38

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Dave Shore and Arash Markazi break down the difference of opinion between Jim and Jeanie Buss on Dwight Howard.

Will the Lakers make the playoffs this season?

It’s a key question of the offseason, but it’s one usually answered with more questions. Is Kobe Bryant healthy? Is he the same Kobe? Are Pau Gasol and Steve Nash actually on the floor? Is Phil Jackson involved somehow?

With so many unknowns, the consensus has been that the Lakers will miss out on the postseason this year. In a recent ESPN.com panel, the Lakers were not only pegged to miss the playoffs, but were ranked 12th in the Western Conference.

It seems a little unsettling -- particularly to Kobe -- if only because the shift from known entity to wildcard happened so quickly. While it’s difficult to predict where a team with so many question marks will finish, we can look at the precedent set by teams of a similar makeup and style.

Healthy or not, maybe the only thing that’s safe to assume right now is that the Lakers will be a below average defensive team.

The first (and biggest) reason for that is the loss of Dwight Howard. Although he was far from the one-man defensive anchor he was in his Orlando days, Howard still had a positive impact defensively last season, as the Lakers allowed 5 more points per 100 possessions when Howard was off the floor than they did when he was on the floor. Last year was a poor defensive effort by Howard’s standards, but it was still among the league’s best.

Maybe losing a great defensive player could be overcome on its own, but let’s not forget that the Lakers ranked 20th in defensive efficiency last season with Howard. It’s also tough to ignore that Mike D’Antoni has only coached one above-average defensive team (better than 15th in defensive efficiency) in ten seasons, or that Pau Gasol and Steve Nash are both now a year older. New additions Nick Young and Chris Kaman aren’t exactly renowned for their defensive prowess, either.

Add all that up, and it would be somewhat of a miracle for the Lakers to finish above 15th in defensive efficiency this season. Assuming that miracle doesn’t happen, where does that leave the Purple and Gold?

A look at the offensive and defensive efficiency marks for the playoff teams of the last decade is a good starting point.

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Granted, the 2012-13 season was pretty crummy for every Los Angeles Lakers player, but consider the plight of Jodie Meeks.

After two and a half solid seasons in Philadelphia, where Meeks established himself as a valued contributor on playoff teams, the sweet-shooting guard signed with L.A. at a discount with the hopes of winning a ring.

While he witnessed his teammates go down left and right with injuries as the season wore on, Meeks fortunately avoided any health problems. With Kobe Bryant out with a torn Achilles tendon, it was Meeks who was on the court at shooting guard in Bryant's place in the regular-season finale against the Houston Rockets, driving baseline and throwing down a game-sealing dunk in overtime to secure L.A. the seventh seed in the postseason.

But whoever was holding the purple and gold Voodoo doll spared Meeks only for so long. He suffered a third-degree sprain in his left ankle in the Lakers' opening playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs, ending his season three games sooner than his team did after the Lakers' decimated roster was swept by the Spurs.

"It was really bad timing," Meeks told ESPNLosAngeles.com in a phone interview from his offseason home in Atlanta on Monday. "I was very frustrated just because, selfishly, I was like, ‘Man, I can get as many shots as I want now and I can’t even play.’

"I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to kind of showcase what I could do on a more productive level because the guys were hurt."

As this upcoming season approaches, all Meeks wants is that opportunity again.

(Read full post)

On Thursday night at the Nokia Theatre, there was an event called Kobe Up Close. The details: Jimmy Kimmel was going to interview Kobe Bryant for an hour, they were selling tickets for anywhere from $25 to $200, and all proceeds went to fight homelessness through Kobe and Vanessa Bryant's charity organization, which is partnering with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to help serve underprivileged families in Los Angeles.

Grantland »

LOS ANGELES – Nick Young wasn’t very happy when he heard where the Los Angeles Lakers were ranked in ESPN’s Summer Forecast.

“We’re ranked 12th in the league?” he said, slightly puzzled.

Well, not exactly, more like 12th in the West, right behind the New Orleans Pelicans to be exact.

“What? No! Out of teams in the West?” he said, now more upset than puzzled.

“That’s very disappointing,” Young said. “I’m upset just hearing that right now. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens this season. We’re going to be ranked higher than that by the end of the season.”

Young, who grew up in Los Angeles and played at Cleveland High in Reseda, Calif. and at USC, is no stranger to having people doubt him but didn’t think that would be the case after joining Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash with the Lakers.

“I’ve been the underdog for so long,” Young said. “I’m upset and ready for the season. How are you going to be ranked that low with Kobe and Pau and Nash? There’s always going to be haters and we just have to keep proving them wrong.”

As much as Young is looking forward to playing alongside three future hall of fame players this season, he’s just as excited about re-uniting with his longtime friend Jordan Farmar. Farmar, who went to Taft High in Woodland Hills, Calif., tried to recruit his travel-ball teammate to UCLA with him in 2004 but was unsuccessful. The two have finally connected nearly a decade later back home with their favorite NBA team growing up.

“I talked to Jordan Farmar about that,” Young said. “We talked about it on the phone. We sat down and talked and then texted and called. This was a chance for us to really do something special and make that name we’ve wanted to make in the league. I grew up being a big-time Kobe fan and before him it was Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones and before that that it was Magic and Kareem. I grew up with the Forum. I’m from L.A. To play for the Lakers after growing up and watching them is amazing.”

Both Young and Farmar took less money to play for the Lakers this season but it was an easy choice after they talked to each other. Although Young had to sacrifice slightly more as Farmar claimed the No. 1 jersey they both wanted, while Young settled for No. 0.

“It was an easy decision,” Young said. “Who doesn’t want to play for the Lakers? Of course, I had to sit down and talk to my family and talk to my agent but I really felt like this was the best opportunity for me. Even though I had more money other places, I just felt like the chance to play in the spotlight and back home was too good to pass up.”

Young spoke to ESPNLA.com while at a "Call of Duty: Ghosts" multiplayer reveal event at L.A. Live, where he played the game with Anthony Bennett and DeAndre Jordan against U.S. Marines in attendance.

At the event Young, who played for the Clippers two seasons ago, was already talking about the Lakers and Clippers’ opening night game on Oct. 29 with Jordan.

“I told D.J. to be ready opening night,” Young said. “We just got to come out and play. I know that pride factor is going to kick in. We got the talent, we got the players, we just got to really show it.”

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak covers the health of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, Dwight Howard's departure from Los Angeles, Mike D'Antoni, Phil Jackson, Jeanie and Jim Buss and more. Listen

Forward Elias Harris has agreed to a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers announced the deal Wednesday.

Harris spent the past four years at Gonzaga, averaging 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds last season while earning all-conference honors for the second time.

After going undrafted, Harris was a versatile contributor for the Lakers during summer league play in Las Vegas last month. He averaged 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds while starting five games.

The 6-foot-8 Harris is from Speyer, a city in southwest Germany. He played for the German national team in the 2010 world championships and the 2009 European championships.

Lakers center Chris Kaman also has played for the German national team.

Jordan Hill missed nearly two-thirds of the Los Angeles Lakers' 2012-13 season, 53 games to be exact, mostly because of his back and hip. But Hill also was absent from other games when the 6-foot-10, 235-pound energy force simply wasn’t given a chance.

While Hill was unable to go for a significant portion of the schedule because of a herniated disk in his lower back and surgery on his left hip, what about those three consecutive games in December when he didn’t play even though he was perfectly healthy?
This hardly received the same attention as when coach Mike D’Antoni didn’t play Antawn Jamison for seven straight games later in the season and Jamison spoke up about it. Hill, who would tie Steve Nash for the unofficial but all-important Most Supportive Teammate award, kept quiet.

When the season was over, however, Hill asked D’Antoni -- who coached the player in New York before the No. 8 pick was shipped out of town just months into his rookie season -- what he needed to do to stay on the floor next season.

“He talked about what I need to work on for this coming summer,” Hill told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “My jump shot -- he definitely wanted me to work on my outside jumper.”

The experiment to turn Pau Gasol into an outside-oriented big man blew up in D’Antoni’s face last season. But in Hill, who has played eight fewer seasons in the league than Gasol, the coach found a much more malleable subject.

“That’s mostly what I’ve been focusing on this whole summer, not so much the post work because I know I can go down to the block and easily get an offensive rebound and putback,” said Hill, who ranked sixth in the NBA last season in rebounds per 36 minutes (among players who played 25 games or more), according to BasketballReference.com. “We got Pau Gasol that can focus on the paint and we got Chris Kaman that can focus on the block. So I just want to be a stretch 4. Just try to spread the floor a little bit, just show a little range. I’ve been working on it the whole summer, trying to focus on that, on my 3-ball. It got a lot better. I’m just ready to put it all together and showcase it.”

Hill, who shot 61.8 percent inside of 5 feet last season en route to a career-high 6.7 points per game average, did not fare as well the farther away from the basket he went. According to NBA.com Stats Cube, Hill shot 35.7 percent from 5-9 feet last season and 30.8 percent from 15-19 feet. And he missed the only two 3-point shots he attempted (in fact, he’s 0-for-9 on 3s for his career). However, there was signs of promise. He shot 50 percent from 10-14 feet and 42.9 percent from 20-24 feet, but the opportunities were limited (fewer than 10 attempts during the season from each of those spots).

Hill has traded Mikan drills around the basket for ballhandling exercises meant to help him develop a one-dribble, pull-up jumper. He's also practiced the footwork required for pick-and-rolls. Not just playing the part of the man setting the screen and diving toward the hoop, but also flaring out in pick-and-pop scenarios, and even working on curling off the pick as a screen-recipient rather than a screen-setter.

"I’m just trying to do a variety of stuff that will help me spread the floor and get great shots," Hill said.

The location of Hill’s offseason home is helping his outside improvement. It just so happens that Hill spends his summers in Atlanta, the same place as teammate Jodie Meeks. The sharpshooting Meeks, who was third on the Lakers last season with 122 made 3s (behind Metta World Peace’s 141 and Kobe Bryant’s 132), doesn’t necessarily coach Hill’s shot, but he does motivate Hill.

“Jodie’s not him telling me I need to follow through, but we always have competition shooting,” Hill said. “He’s definitely going to win a lot, but I’ve definitely won a couple. So when I do competition shooting with him and I win, I get the confidence that, ‘OK, my shot’s falling now. I can shoot better now.’”

The key to survival is adaptation. Hill is trying not only to carve out a niche within D’Antoni’s system but also to expand his game in hopes of extending his career.

“Now, in my head, it’s just like, ‘Man, I just got to try to keep my body healthy,’” said Hill, who has appeared in only 187 of a possible 312 games in his four-year career.

After returning for a brief stint in the playoffs less than four months after undergoing hip surgery that was supposed to sideline him for six months, Hill said he feels 100 percent as he tries to teach his body new tricks on offense.

"I feel great," Hill said. "I feel good on [the hip]. I’m walking around with no pain. I’m jumping, I’m strong. I’m doing spin moves. I’m doing everything right now that involves my hip, and no problems."

Nor does Hill have any problem recognizing the true value he brings to the Lakers. No level of offensive ascension that Hill achieves will cause him to sacrifice his dedication to defense. It remains the priority.

“Oh man,” Hill said, between two audible sighs, when asked what went wrong with the Lakers’ shoddy pick-and-roll defense in 2012-13.

For Hill, the first step in neutralizing the opponent is recognizing where the biggest threat lies. The crop of point guards controlling the ball in today’s NBA might be the best collection of talent the league has ever seen at that position. Meanwhile, you can count the number of game-changing centers playing today on one hand. It is the responsibility of the big men to help their guards.

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