Somewhere in in the world — California, Nevada, or beyond — Snoop Dogg, Mike Tyson, J.R. Smith, and millions of other Americans are smiling. They might even be enjoying a puff and “passing it around.”
Despite the mounting list of recent accolades, the Lakers have had a glaring problem on offense. Los Angeles has shot poorly from both the field and from distance with an inability to seemingly get into any type of offensive rhythm. In fact, the team has shot 40.1 percent from the field and a mere 23.3 percent from deep.
With LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Dwight Howard all held out of the Lakers’ third and final scrimmage against the Washington Wizards on Monday afternoon, Lakers’ head coach, Frank Vogel opted to give rotation players, newly added team members and the Lakers’ spirited young core extended minutes.
On the first night of the Los Angeles Lakers’ arrival to the NBA bubble in Orlando, FL, newly signed J.R. Smith took to Instagram Live to give his followers a behind-the-scenes look into what players were experiencing. He lightheartedly criticized everything from his view of the parking lot to the size of the blanket the NBA provided pointing out that it was too small for most NBA players who are well above average height. He questioned how players were expected to stay healthy with the bags of candy that were placed as snacks in each players’ room. He went on to show his teammates in the hallway simultaneously grabbing their first meal and ran through the dinner menu. Before long, Smith shared with his captive audience that he was instructed to shut it down.
The Los Angeles Lakers have signed guard J.R. Smith as a Substitute Player for the NBA season restart, it was announced today by Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.
The Lakers general manager and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka joined a conference call on Tuesday with reporters to discuss the team’s plan as they look ahead to the NBA resuming in Orlando on July 30. He explained that the Lakers would replace Avery Bradley who opted out of joining the team for personal reasons.