It was a difficult season for everyone in the Lakers organization, but trainer Gary Vitti arguably had the toughest season of anyone. Faced with the task of rehabbing a training room filled with All-Stars, the Lakers fell way short of preseason expectations in large part due to injuries.
Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, Metta World Peace and the list goes on all spent hours upon hours with Vitti as it seemed like a Laker star went down every night.
Talking to Mark Medina of the LA Daily News, Vitti reflected on one of his toughest seasons as Lakers training camp gets set to start over the weekend:
I was afraid to go to work, said Vitti, who has trained a franchise that has won him eight championship rings in 12 NBA Finals appearances. You were always waiting for the other shoe to fall off. You don’t want to feel that way. You want to think positive.
Against the Spurs in the playoffs, the Lakers fielded a starting lineup that consisted of Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock, Robert Sacre and were eventually swept out of the playoffs.
However, coming into his 30th season with the Lakers, there seems to be a new excitement with Vitti as he sounds excited about the prospects of the season:
It was a very difficult situation, Vitti said. We were all over the place. This year will be much different.
Newcomers Chris Kaman, Wesley Johnson, Nick Young and Xavier Henry have all been at the Lakers training facility during the latter part of the summer as they try to get acclimated to their new surroundings. Seeing them play, Vitti believes the team will play with a new attitude this season as all the pieces hopefully fit.
While last season was one of the most difficult in his long career hopefully the Lakers stars stay on the court and not in the training room with Vitti.
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