Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash Forging Partnership That Could Alter Lakers' Season

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers' season is going to be a success only if Kobe Bryant delivers redemption.   

And only if a long list of other things happen, too.   

Atop that list may be the only other two Lakers who have been dominant in the league, and the only two who can give this team an identity besides Kobe: Steve Nash, a two-time NBA MVP, and Jeremy Lin, who for three weeks became a phenomenon that transcended the league and the entire sports world.

If they can provide a superior level of point guard play at a time when the Lakers enter the season expected to be quite inferior at that key position, the team will have a foundation.

For all the attention that Byron Scott rightly intends to place on upgrading the team’s defense, that end is not going to be anything special. The Lakers had better be a consistently stellar offensive team if they're going to beat people, and the only way that happens is if Nash and Lin combine to orchestrate an attack the beautiful way they have before.

Interesting intangibles are at work here, too.

Despite how poorly things have gone for Nash as a Laker, there are those in the organization who would vouch for him as an even better guy than Pau Gasol. If Nash can have success here at the age of 40 after all his injury setbacks, he’s going to appreciate it to the nth degree—and imbue the Lakers’ locker room with a positive energy the team desperately needs if it is to overachieve.

Lin, 26, has been a well-appreciated teammate on his clubs in much the same way, being unassuming despite his outsized fame, truly wanting the best for those around him. Given the ardent interest throughout Southern California in Lin as an Asian-American, Lin having success would turn into its own fireball of momentum for the Lakers to ride.

Nash has long been a strong supporter of Lin, who came to L.A. last summer to take part in Nash’s charity soccer game.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press/Associated Press

Now teammates, the two already have begun forging a partnership, both working out at the Lakers' training facility Monday and again Wednesday to get started. The first full-team training-camp workout isn’t until Tuesday.

It’s journalistically irresponsible these days to string together the three words "Nash is healthy," yet he sort of is. He has shaken the nerve root problem that for a year-and-a-half inevitably zapped him from his back to his knees and prevented him from moving with any freedom.

If Nash’s body holds up this time, a scenario may unfold wherein Bryant might not have the most melodious redemption song of this Lakers season.

Bryant is set to play at least one more season, but Nash is planning for this to be it—and he has been such a non-factor as a Laker that it’s jarring, but fair, to witness how little spark there is over his impending farewell.

If his body allows, Nash still can be a magical player. In recent pickup games with Lakers teammates, Nash has been pain-free and tossing around that old fairy dust.

He has long since learned to thrive without physical advantages, and him simply doing what he does would change what everyone else does on the Lakers.

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For example, Jordan Hill would become a weapon when you combine his putbacks with his one other offensive skill: rolling hard to the hoop the way Dwight Howard refused to do when fleetingly paired with a gimpy Nash. Carlos Boozer is going to settle for jumpers at this point in his career, but he might actually make them via perfect pick-and-pop execution from Nash.

The Lakers remain hesitant to count on Nash, but this much has changed since the offseason began: They are now at least indulging hope when it comes to him.

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak went about building this roster almost as if Nash didn’t exist, because the nerve damage hadn’t abated to this extent and everyone knew that Nash could aggravate it just by rolling out of bed any morning.

That threat remains, which is why the Lakers signed journeyman point guard Ronnie Price on Wednesday with Nash, Lin and rookie Jordan Clarkson already on the team. Price, though, is only training camp insurance as the Lakers see how Nash holds up.

In the Lakers’ ideal world, Nash and Lin would play so well that Scott is forced to play them together, with Bryant, at crunch time—and the coach patches the defense together somehow.

But it’s not unrealistic that Nash carves up defenses and makes Bryant’s life much easier with the starting unit while the coaches try not to overextend either old man. The second unit is where the Lakers envision playing faster and being triggered by Lin storming through the paint to dish—most often to Nick Young and Julius Randle—or finish himself, as he does so well on the drive.

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Lin’s best days came under the brightest lights, remember, and he arrives in L.A. without all the pressure that followed him from New York to Houston. While Nash is enjoying a rediscovered physical freedom, Lin stands at his healthiest mentally in a long time—poised to tap back into his love for the game.

The Lakers will need that, and him, to help Nash and Bryant steer the committee of big men Scott will play this season.

Despite no Mike D'Antoni to help space the floor for Nash and Lin, as team icon Magic Johnson would surely attest, the point guard runs the show more than the coach.

The Lakers’ goal is not just to win again.

It is to be the Lakers again.

That means winning with star power.

So when it comes to the surprises the Lakers need sprung this season, this is where it starts, in the backcourt, where two players who have blown fans' minds before have a chance to do so again.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.