Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from their preseason opener

Other notes and final thoughts

The player that impressed me off the bench besides Kyle Kuzma was point guard Tyler Ennis. When he replaced Lonzo on the court, the pace didn’t slow down and Ennis was constantly making smart passes and setting up teammates. He is the best operator of the pick-and-roll on the Lakers’ bench and should lead the second unit even when Josh Hart returns from injury.

We talked about the offense throughout this piece, but halfcourt scoring will be hard to come by for the Lakers. They don’t have a great deal of shot creators, so if their transition numbers are low like they were in this game, their offense will struggle at times. This is why the Lakers are counting heavily on Ingram and Randle to take the next steps in their games.

Ivica Zubac made his case for backup center with a quick eight points in the first half, making some nice post moves and dunking with authority over Gorgui Dieng. He missed his lone attempt from deep, but it’s always a positive to see a player finding ways to improve. The Lakers could improve on their 3-point shooting as a whole after going 5-for-30 from deep this game.

The Lakers rebounded the ball well as a team with six players snatching down at least five rebounds on the night. Controlling the defensive glass is key to kick starting transition opportunities and they were on par in rebounds with a Minnesota team that is built to dominate the boards.

Next: Top 10 candidates for 2017-18 Defensive Player of the Year

In closing, it was just exciting to see the players back on the court. These two teams carry great intrigue into the season and they played at an impressive pace for their first tune-up game.