Mark Medina for the Los Angeles Daily News recently sat down with new Lakers coach Byron Scott at the team’s El Segundo practice facility and wrote, “Scott will spend training camp figuring out his starting lineup, which he says will currently feature Nash, Bryant, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill.”
Nash, who will turn 41 in February, played just 15 games last season due to chronic back issues compounded by nerve root irritation from a leg fracture that occurred October 31, 2012.
It has been two years of trials, tribulations and setbacks for the two-time MVP, and it’s difficult to see how he can sustain a starting role at this point in his career.
Meanwhile, the Lakers traded this summer for a much younger player who could prove to be part of a long-term plan.
Los Angeles absorbed the remainder of Lin’s salary when it acquired him from the Houston Rockets. Shouldn’t L.A. want to make the most out of this one-season test drive?
Lin will earn $15 million, of which only $8 million will count against the team’s cap. Nash will earn $9.7 million. Each player is entering the third and final season of their respective contracts.
In other words, each comes with a substantial price tag, but youth offers a more hopeful upside for a team in the formative stages of a rebuild.
All this isn’t to say that Scott’s mind is completely made up before camp even begins.
Lin’s time in the NBA has been relatively brief— just 215 games over the course of four seasons. And despite the halcyon days of his brief Linsanity moment in the sun with the New York Knicks, th...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
