“Lakers host their annual Media Day in El Segundo, CA. Monday September 29, 2014. (Thomas R. Cordova-Daily Breeze/Press-Telegram)”
The giddiness in Jeremy Lin’s voice rose as he gushed about Byron Scott’s intense training camp, praised Steve Nash’s preparation and detailed the difficult task in guarding Kobe Bryant.
But Lin hardly showed much enthusiasm about Nick Young’s “Swaggy P” nickname, making it clear he does not call Young that when a reporter referred to Young’s alter ago when asking about his sprained right thumb.
“I call him Nick young and I don’t remember when it happened,” Lin said.
What does Lin have against “Swaggy P?”
“He’s super cool, but I find it ridiculous everyone comes in and calls him Swaggy,” Lin said following Friday’s practice. “He has to earn it! Maybe he has. But I just got here.”
Young reported that he has ordered rookies Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson to address him by his nickname. He said his mother occasionally calls him that, too. On the Lakers’ whiteboard, someone wrote the word “Swaggy” and indicated Young took 1,000 shots.
“For all we know, he probably wrote that up himself,” Lin said. “He did not shoot 1,000 shots. There’s a security camera so if it shows he did that, then I believe him.”
Three years before arriving here in Los Angeles, Lin lived under an glowing spotlight stemmed from the “Linsanity” he created in New York. So Lin is used to the hype surrounding his unexpected breakout season and becoming the first American-born NBA player of Taiwanese descent.
So forgive Lin if he does not consider Young’s prolific scoring, eclectic fashion choices and Hollywood personality as worthy of a nickname.
“He has to do something that I see that when I look at him, he glows with swagginess,” Lin said. “I’m not there yet. He’s hilarious. He’s really cool. Just out of respect for him eight years in, if he wants to be called Swaggy P, I guess I will. But other than that, I’ll call him Nick Young.”
After all, Lin reported few players ever call address their colleagues by their nicknames.
“No one calls me Linsanity. No one calls Kobe the Black Mamba,” Lin said. “That’s why I think it’s ridiculous that people call Nick Young ‘Swaggy P.'”
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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com