TORRANCE TRIBUNE October 13, 2016 Page 5 Lakers Prepare for Season of Maturation By Adam Serrao As the beginning of the 2016-17 NBA season steadily approaches, all eyes in Los Angeles are naturally turning toward the hometown Lakers. The story of the season for the Lakers will have to deal with the end of the Kobe Bryant era and how the team moves on without their once-in-a-generation, Hall of Fame star. A 17-65 overall record was literally the worst season that the Los Angeles Lakers have ever experienced in franchise history, so logically, there is nowhere for this team to go but up. Now that the distractions surrounding the team should certainly be at a minimum, new head coach Luke Walton and the Lakers young core can now turn their focus to the overall development of the team as a whole. Kobe’s farewell tour was certainly one for the ages, and in a season of mediocrity, it brought at least some entertainment value into view. Despite the send-off of one of basketball’s all-time greats, however, there is no denying that the atmosphere surrounding the team somewhat resembled that of one seen at a circus. “He deserved it; it was his time,” Lakers starting point guard D’Angelo Russell said of Bryant’s season long departure from the team. “We put everything we had, expectations for everyone else, on hold. We gotta get through Kobe’s farewell tour and then we can continue with our process. So we kind of accepted that.” Now that the farewell tour is finally over and the circus surround the tour has officially left town, this year now becomes a year of progress and maturation for a young Lakers team that must take a step forward within a competitive division and an extremely competitive league. Along with Bryant leaving the team, so does previous head coach Byron Scott. Enter Luke Walton and a new playing style and new feeling in the locker room. “I feel like everyone’s buying in and wants to take steps forward in winning and coming together as a team,” Russell continued. After an obviously rocky rookie season in which Russell has insinuated that his growth was stunted by Scott, the point guard has thus far been one of Walton’s most vocal supporters. With an entire year now under his belt, Russell is just one of the Lakers players who expects to take major steps forward this season. “I think D’Angelo is young, but at the point guard position he’s starting to realize the importance of having a voice and being a leader in that spot, which I think he has the skills to do,” Coach Walton explained. Russell will be only 20 years old this season, but looks to learn from a long a frustrating first year in the league to mature and get better going forward. In addition to Russell, the Lakers have a young core of high draft picks in rookie Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle, in addition to a pair of young players who are outperforming their expectations and draft status in Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. Despite the expectations for the players on a team that has relied heavily on the draft in recent years, none of the Lakers players selected have ranked in the top 15 first-andsecond year players in Player Efficiency Rating. That means that Russell, Ingram and the rest of the Lakers bunch still need a ton of time to develop, grow, and hopefully one day pan out into what they are expected to become. Coming off a 17 win season, this year – a year in which expectations should be extremely low – should provide the perfect opportunity for the young team to do precisely that. What’s good news for the Lakers young core is that the incessant feeding of Kobe Bryant will now be eliminated from the team’s game plan. This year, there will certainly be much more opportunity to accumulate stats and efficiency for everyone else involved. In addition to the players all looking to prove themselves, so too is Walton in his first year of coaching. Walton came from a winning team (a team with the most wins in NBA history, actually) and is out to prove that he can create the same culture for a team that has gone 151-243 since the departure of Phil Jackson in 2011. While anything more than 17 wins will be considered successful with the way things have gone for the Lakers lately, doubling up their win total from a season ago is not out of the realm of possibility and with the talent inherent on the team, should, in fact, be expected. In a league full of teams like the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and even the Los Angeles Clippers, expectations for the Lakers to make the playoffs this season should certainly be tempered. This year is a year of maturation for an extremely young team with extremely young stars. If the Lakers take a step forward, specifically in the win column, they may finally begin to recruit high-quality players from other teams around the league. While the current core of young players on the team is certainly deserving of high expectations, the addition of a top-tier veteran could certainly expedite an otherwise lengthy process of getting back into the class of elite teams for the Lakers. This year shouldn’t be looked at as a championship year for the Los Angeles. With added success and a step forward, though, it could certainly lead to a season like that sooner, rather than later. • Warriors Claim First Place Over North High By Adam Serrao There isn’t any better way to begin Pioneer League play than with a cross-town rivalry battle to decide the first place spot in the division. That’s exactly the matchup we had last Friday night at North High when the Saxons took on the West High Warriors. The two most successful teams in their division up to this point certainly put on a show. Ultimately, it was West High, behind starting quarterback Drake Peabody, who came away victoriously on the night and with a 14- 10 win, took control of the Pioneer League. The West High Warriors are becoming professional when it comes to competing in close games this season. After a 34-33 win at home against Culver City to start the season, the Warriors held on for a three-point win over Carson two weeks ago and now, took the game down to the final minutes over their rivals from North High last Friday night. After failing to score a point in the first half of the game, the Warriors found themselves down 10-0 at the half and things weren’t looking good, to say the least. The Second half was a different story. Behind Peabody, West rallied, put together a few drives, and stepped up big on defense to get back into the game and ultimately, rally for the win. “We made a couple of adjustments but stuck to the game plan and just came out hard and fast in the second half,” Peabody explained. Peabody was held to limited time on the field two weeks ago against Carson due to a hamstring, which figured to give the senior more problems this week. “It hurt, but I was able to play through it,” he said. Peabody carried the ball for 73 yards on the ground while passing for 86 yards and a touchdown to lead his team. An 18-yard touchdown run in the third quarter helped Peabody get his team on the board and cut into North’s lead at 10-7. With momentum still on their side at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Peabody aired it out for a 46-yard completion to Shige Kato before converting another touchdown to Kyle Reinsch from short distance. Just like that, West was up 14-10. North didn’t give up after their fast start, though. Quarterback Glenn Searcy and running back Saeed Galloway teamed up to put the Saxons’ first points on the board in the game. A touchdown was added to the team’s earlier field goal when a 16-yard run by Galloway led to Searcy’s short-distance touchdown scurry. “I liked the energy in the first half,” North coach Todd Croce explained. “We were far from perfect but played with a lot of heart and emotion.” Unfortunately for Croce and the Saxons, the energy that was present in the first half was sacked by the West High defense throughout the entire second half. With less than three minutes remaining in the game, Galloway showed up on defense for North High causing a fumble and a recovery. Shortly thereafter, the team’s star running back took the ball for a 20-yard run on the other side of the ball to give his team some life, down just 14-10. The Saxons took the ball all the way to West’s 1-yard line and it looked like North was going to punch it in with Galloway and come away with the victory. Just like they had done against Carson, though, the Warriors came up with a stop when it mattered most. Galloway was stuffed at the goal line with just inches to go, giving the ball back to West. The Warriors were able to come up big on defense again and hold on for another close win to improve to 4-2 on the season, while taking a share of first place in the process. Searcy rushed for 40 yards and threw for another 109 yards in North’s (3-3) loss. Galloway finished with 100 yards on the ground. Kato had three catches for 56 yards for West while running back EJ Hatter rushed for 57 yards after an ineffective first half that saw the Warriors amass a total of only 94 yards. The Warriors will move on to play Centennial at home Friday night while North hits the road to take on Leuzinger. Torrance High The Torrance Tartars ruined the Centennial homecoming game by going on the road and finally getting their first win of the season with a 28-6 blowout of the Apache’s. It couldn’t have come at a better time for head coach Rock Hollis and company as it was the first league game of the year. It was Torrance’s defense that led the way on the day, holding Centennial to just one score all night long. On the offensive side of the ball, quarterback Ryan Carroll and running back Ethan Meyers did all of the damage to send the Apache’s to 0-6 on the year while simultaneously tying the Warriors for first in league play with their win. Hollis and the Tartars will look to breakout and keep their streak alive Friday night at home in a rivalry game against the South High Spartans. South High The South High Spartans have hit a rut early on in the season that has continued into the team’s first game of league play against the Leuzinger Olympians. Last Friday night at home against Leuzinger, the Spartans were only able to manage one touchdown on the night as they fell by a final of 56-7 for their third loss in a row. South was down 28-0 by the start of the second quarter and 42-0 by halftime. The Spartans didn’t score their first points of the game until less than one minute remained in the third quarter. Carl Richardson returned a kickoff 94 yards for the touchdown. The Spartans (2-4), under first year head coach Matt Mishler, will have to get things turned around quickly if they want to stand a chance at competing in this year’s Pioneer League. They’ll attempt to get headed in the right direction this Friday night on the road in a rivalry game against Torrance High. • Up and Adam Police Reports from page 3 Battery-Simple 10/1/2016 7:41 AM 5300 BLOCK TORRANCE BLVD Suspect punches victim in the face Burglary-Residential 10/1/2016 3:30:00 AM 700 BLOCK BORDER AVE Suspect(s) enters unlocked garage/ unknown if property loss at time of report Theft 10/1/2016 2:00:00 AM 300 BLOCK CALLE MIRAMAR Suspect(s) forces open laundry machine coin box and takes property; cash Burglary-Auto 10/1/2016 12:10 AM 2700 BLOCK 232ND ST Suspect(s) enters unlocked vehicle and takes property; camera lens, sunglasses, purse, registration, charger, vaporizer, pictures, paperwork Burglary-Auto 9/30/2016 10:00:00 PM 2100 BLOCK 162ND ST Suspect(s) enters vehicle by unknown means, ransacks/ no loss Battery-Weapon/Agg 9/30/2016 9:26:22 PM 24600 BLOCK CRENSHAW BLVD Suspect bites victim’s thigh Battery-Simple 9/30/2016 5:15:00 PM 24200 BLOCK WALNUT ST Suspects punch victim in the face Auto Theft-All 9/30/2016 5:00:00 PM 3700 BLOCK 180TH PL Stolen vehicle: ‘96 Honda Civic Burglary-Residential 9/30/2016 10:00:00 AM 2300 BLOCK 179TH ST Suspect posing as Torrance City worker contacts residents, asks them to escort her to the rear yard regarding installing an electric pole so accomplice can enter residence and take property; jewelry Burglary-Residential 9/30/2016 8:30:00 AM 3900 BLOCK 234TH PL Suspect(s) kicks open door for entry, ransacks and takes property; safe, computer, leather clutch, two handguns, jewelry Vandalism 9/30/2016 4:25:00 AM 2700 BLOCK CABRILLO AVE Suspect intentionally damages headset Theft 9/30/2016 9:00:00 AM 3800 BLOCK 226TH ST Suspect(s) takes unsecured property from parking garage Burglary-Commercial 9/29/2016 9:30:00 PM 2400 BLOCK 205TH ST Suspect(s) attempts to pry open door; no entry, no loss Theft 9/29/2016 9:23 PM 22700 BLOCK CRENSHAW BLVD Suspect(s) takes property from drop box/ check Theft 9/29/2016 6:40:00 PM 3500 BLOCK CARSON ST Suspect(s) defeats lock and takes property from locker; gym bag Burglary-Auto 9/29/2016 6:00:00 PM 500 BLOCK VIA LA SELVA Suspect(s) enters vehicle by unknown means and takes property; remote Auto Theft-All 9/29/2016 5:00:00 PM 400 BLOCK VIA LOS MIRADORES See Police Reports, page 8
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