Adou Thiero said the biggest thing that changed for him this offseason was simple: he was healthy. After missing Summer League last summer and being out to start the regular season while recovering from knee surgery, the second-year player said he finally got a chance to compete this week in training camp.
That matters now because this is the stretch when the Los Angeles Lakers begin sorting out who can help them right away. At Lakers Media Day, Thiero said the whole summer was about making sure his body was right, staying on the floor and giving himself a chance to play, a shift that also drew praise from JJ Redick for the way he developed.
Thiero said the work was not just about getting back on the court. He said he built off what he showed during Summer League, where he felt he played pretty well and improved game by game, then carried that into summer workouts focused on understanding the offense and his role. The goal, he said, was to keep growing while being available enough to show it.
That is where the bigger test remains. Thiero said he needs to be a point-of-attack defender to carve out a rotation spot, and he described that job in plain terms: guard the best player on the other team, stay in front and make the night difficult. He said he wants to play hard every chance he gets, but hard play only matters if his body holds up long enough for the minutes to follow.
Thiero was frank about the equation. Availability, he said, is the best ability, and there is no opportunity without it. That is the part that gives his offseason progress weight and also the part that keeps it unfinished. If his health holds and his defense keeps translating, he could move from showing flashes last year to fighting for a rotation spot, with even a starting role not out of the question.
