Lakers head trainer gives update on offseason player progression

Los Angeles Lakers head athletic trainer Tim DiFrancesco has had a busy offseason working with various members of the team, as documented on his active Twitter feed. In an interview with Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, DiFrancesco detailed the offseason work put in by " long list of regular customers: Julius Randle, Ryan Kelly, Jordan Clarkson, Jabari Brown, Anthony Brown, Larry Nance, Jr., D'Angelo Russell and Roy Hibbert," which he described as a longer list than most offseasons because most of the players on it also live in Los Angeles.

In terms of measuring the progress of individual players, DiFrancesco mentioned that Roy Hibbert "has been one of the most frequent weight-room visitors" and that the team is working on helping incoming rookie D'Angelo Russell "develop] his lower-body balance, strength and power." DiFrancesco also had an important update on the health of Julius Randle, who after missing essentially all of the 2014-15 season with a broken leg is now able to "tolerate appropriate progressions in workload volume/intensity without issue."

All of that is welcome news for fans, but the Lakers trainer saved his most glowing praise for sophomore guard Jordan Clarkson:

"Jordan has been able to add a few more pounds of muscle, and I have had a number of our coaches/other players tell me how he seems stronger than ever before while on the court. He's a true gym rat, so this does not surprise me. He has been working the sand hills pretty hard, too, so don't be surprised to see his already impressive speed/endurance improved as well!"

Clarkson and Russell, along with Anthony Brown, have already returned to training at the Lakers facility in preparation for the team's training camp tipping off in a few weeks.

The Lakers recently gave details on their analytics department, and DiFrancesco elaborated on how they would aid in his job as well:

"Each summer I work to evolve how we use training analytics and technology to influence the performance ecosystem of our players. I have really enjoyed working with our analytics staff on this ongoing initiative. It is a very exciting time to be a part of this due to how rapidly training analytics and technology is merging with sports performance."

After undergoing a lot of criticism for their front office's reported lack of analytics over the past year, the Lakers have been making a public effort to demonstrate that they have moved into the modern era of the NBA in terms of how they ingratiate advanced numbers throughout the organization, from basketball decisions down to the training staff. Incorporating this new information will be important for the team as it looks to move out of the Western Conference basement it has occupied for the past two season.