It’s the second day of Lakers camp in El Segundo, CA and the team is making progress. Phil Jackson explained that the team is not allowed to play contact basketball for more than three and a half hours based on league rules and the purpose is to simply run through the offense and get a grasp of how things operate the majority of the time. The players are allowed to run drills and walk through offense and defense sets.

The first injury of the season occured when Sasha Vujacic attempted to pass by DJ Mbengs on the baseline and rolled his ankle on the final step of the drive. “I think he’s going to be alright. It’s one of those weird ones. There’s no swelling, but he’s had some obvious discomfort and he can’t get any strength out of it,” said Head Coach Phil Jackson. The injury was compared to that of Luke Walton last season however Sasha is expected to make a full recovery in the very near future.

On a positive note, Andrew Bynum is rumored to be looking very good. He has bulked up and is in great condition. Phil Jackson noted that he seemed a bit tired, but Bynum shrugged off the comment saying that Phil was “probably just trying to motivate me.” We all know Jackson is one that knows how to motivate alright!

A side note on Kobe Bryant. After deciding to forgo surgery on his pinkie finger this offseason and play out the entire 2008-2009 season without repairing the ligaments, he has now also opted to play without tape. This has the potential to backfire and cause a new injury to occur to the finger however Kobe’s shooting touch and ability to palm the ball is once again present.

A few more positive notes include Phil Jackson’s comments regarding Josh Powell. “He’s impressed us a lot. He’s coming in playing hard. He’s got a lot of tenacity. He refuses to be boxed out. You’ve got to really put an effort into keeping him off the boards. He’s creating a lot of problems with our big guys, they know they’ve got a tiger down there after the rebound. He seems to have an idea of what we’re trying to do even though he’s only been here for one day. He seems relatively comfortable playing in our offense.”

In addition to this, Trevor Ariza is also rumored to have improved his jump shot. Known to be a quick slasher through the paint, Ariza has developed what the coaching staff is referring to as “an adequate jump shot that will keep the defense honest.”

Overall, on day two, things are looking pretty good and the Lakers are all on the same page, the page leading to victory in June.