10/15/06 - Walton: Lakers at elite level, L.A. is hoping to challenge Dallas in West, By Ross Siler, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — With the departure of Devean George this summer, Luke Walton is now one of only three holdovers from the Lakers team that lost to Detroit in the 2004 NBA Finals, along with Kobe Bryant and Brian Cook.
Every time Walton, the former Arizona star, has come to training camp, the Lakers have had a different look from the season before.
He was a rookie on the Finals team with four probable future Hall of Famers and thought, "I was going to win a championship just walking in the gym."
The draft-lottery season after the Shaquille O'Neal trade came next, followed by Phil Jackson's return as coach and an agonizing seven-game loss to Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs last spring.
The Lakers have not broadcast their expectations this season — Kwame Brown said it would be a "letdown" not to reach the second round — but Walton thinks the Lakers have as good a chance of advancing to the NBA Finals as any Western Conference team.
"We feel like we're at that level," Walton said. "We don't feel like there's a team out there that's just better than us. We feel like when we're playing at the top of our game we can play and beat anyone else in the league."
The only proof Walton needed came after watching Phoenix lose to Dallas in six games in the conference finals. The Lakers also will bring back at least 11 players from last season's team, which learned to play together in the triangle offense.
"As a team and a unit, you have a lot more confidence in each other," Walton said. "As opposed to last year when so many times the whole season, we were losing close games because we didn't really have that confidence about us. We had it about Kobe, but not about us as a team."
For his part, Walton is hoping to get through October healthy, as opposed to the past two years.
He is wearing compression leggings on the court to keep his hamstrings warm through all the stopping and standing of camp. Walton suffered a strained hamstring in the exhibition opener last season and went on to miss 11 regular-season games.
"My body feels better this training camp than it has since I've been in the league," said Walton, who averaged a career- best 19.3 minutes last season.
His role also has yet to be defined. Walton moved into the starting lineup at the end of last season, but the Lakers signed free-agent forward Vladimir Radmanovic in July, likely sending Walton back to the bench.
"With the way our team is set up," Walton said, "we have so many different versatile players that I'm sure we're going to use different starting lineups."
Walton is comfortable both as a starter and floor leader of the second team. Playing with the starters gives Walton a chance to settle into the game; coming off the bench usually lends itself to team play without the stars on the court.
Retooling the Lakers
The Lakers made two major acquisitions in the offseason, picking up free agent F Vladimir Radmanovic from the Clippers and trading for Pistons G Maurice Evans.
Vladimir Radmanovic - F • 6-10 • 234 • 5th year, 2005-06 season: 9.8 ppg,4.6 rpg, 39 percent shooting on threes
Maurice Evans - G • 6-5 • 220 • 3rd year, 2005-06 season: 5 ppg, 2 rpg, 14 minutes per game