When Lakers’ training camp began in late September, one of the positional battles I was most looking forward to was Damian Jones vs. Thomas Bryant to determine who would be the team’s primary big man (non-Anthony Davis division). I was intrigued for many reasons, but chief among them was that neither of these players was named DeAndre Jordan (and, to a lesser extent Dwight Howard), and both offered the possibility of a massive upgrade to the center rotation compared to last season.
Heading into camp, the speculation (and word around the facility) was that Jones had a leg up in that competition.