Metta World Peace is a 16-year NBA veteran who was fighting for a job last week at Mecca World Hoops, another name for Santa Barbara when it comes to basketball training camps.
The Los Angeles Lakers launched a new era under head coach Luke Walton with six days of energetic workouts at UCSB’s Robertson Gymnasium. World Peace, 36, is the oldest of the 20 players currently on the roster. It is heavy on youth, featuring three years of high draft picks — power forward Julius Randle (2014), point guard D’Angelo Russell (2015), and small forward Brandon Ingram (2016) — with an average age of 20.
Walton, 36 himself, found the players to be highly motivated. “They play hard, which I love,” he said after a session. Most of the early work was defense, the aspect of the game based on effort. The theme on the offensive side is movement and sharing the ball, the style characteristic of the Golden State Warriors, where Walton coached alongside Steve Kerr. “It’s huge,” he said. “That’s how we expect to play this year. A lot of guys aren’t used to playing that way, but we’re going to keep harping on them.”