The Lakers offseason has been all about injuries. The three former all-stars on the roster, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Steve Nash, have all spent the offseason rehabbing from injuries and all three will need to be at their best if the Lakers are to make some noise in the Western Conference this season.
We have been seeing updates on the status of both Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol throughout the summer, but Nash has been relatively quiet throughout the offseason. Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak spoke to the media today and said Nash has been 100 percent for a while now:
Nash has been practicing and scrimmaging at 100% for about a month, month and a half now. We want to keep it at that level.
Nash’s shooting and court vision will go a long way towards elevating this Lakers roster. However, he is now 39 years old and, even at 100 percent, his body can’t do everything at the level it used to. Kupchak knows this and is hoping to reduce Nash’s minutes on the court:
Kupchak on Steve Nash: “We’re not expecting 35 minutes a game for Steve” … He mentioned Farmar/Blake to create PG by committee
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) September 25, 2013
With two veteran backups, the Lakers are in a much better position to keep Nash’s minutes down while he’s healthy, and still have reliable play from the position should Nash go down to injury again.
The health of the Lakers will be the key to everything this season, and chief among them will be that of the point guard who knows this system in and out. As long as Nash can stay at this level for the duration of the season, the Lakers will be greater for it.
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