Following the abysmal 2016 campaign, the Los Angeles Angeles Lakers’ young core wasted no time getting back to work in the weight room, even dubbing themselves “The Breakfast Club” as regulars for early morning workouts.
One of those members is last year’s second-round pick Anthony Brown, whose season was cut short after a stress reaction in his right foot caused him to sit out the final stretch of the season.
However, Brown is now focused in on getting back to work and has even impressed strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco, who says the 23-year-old shares a similar trait to past greats he’s trained per Joey Ramirez of NBA.com
“With Anthony, the most impressive part is the consistency, the real long-term successful pros that I’ve had a chance to work with: Metta World Peace stands out to me, Pau Gasol is one. Obviously Kobe and Steve Nash. That quality and caliber of pro has a certain common denominator that you see […] Anthony has that in a way, some younger guys take time to develop that. He walked into the door with that. That, to me is the most important thing.”
DiFrancesco noted that the plan was to build up Brown’s upper body and hip strength to help him deal with the athletes that generally occupy the NBA’s wing positions:
“We really had a chance to rebuild and focus on what he needs to get moving forward,” DiFrancesco said. “The guys at his position are typically very good athletes and pretty well-built individuals. Going from college to pro, you feel that when you’re bodying up against these guys in a way that you can’t really explain until you’ve lived it.”
After playing four years at Stanford, Brown came into the league as a guy with “3 and D’ potential. However, Brown struggled to find his stroke averaging four points and two rebounds per game, while shooting just 31 percent from the field, though he was showing some signs of improvement before the injury.
With Duke’s Brandon Ingram the favorite to be drafted by the Lakers, as well as the team’s known interest in free agents such as Harrison Barnes, Brown could find it difficult to get consistent minutes without improvement this summer.
