I had the pleasure of attending the rookie team's open practice at the L.A. Convention Center this morning. You won't be shocked to hear that as practices go, it wasn't the most rigorous or disciplined session. It basically went like this: "Coach" Kevin McHale spent about 30 seconds discussing something or other with the players, they then spent maybe five minutes doing some basic motion-offense sets, and then everyone just goofed around for a while, challenging each other to three-point shooting contests and the like. Norman Dale probably wouldn't be too impressed.
But that's fine. Even though it was nothing substantive, it's fun to see these guys operate in a low-intensity, pick-up setting. They seemed to enjoy catching up with each other. Fellow SoCal bros Landry Fields and Jrue Holiday exchanged pleasantries in what appeared to be an especially jocular fashion.
Meanwhile, Greg Monroe dropped in an impressive finger-roll.
And John Wall worked on his baseline jumpers.
Ask me, this crew seems well poised to knock off the aging, decrepit sophomore squad. Let's just hope Kevin McHale isn't authorized to make any trades.