Lakers’ Nick Young to play vs. Atlanta off the bench

"Lakers host their annual Media Day in El Segundo, CA. Monday September 29, 2014.  (Thomas R. Cordova-Daily Breeze/Press-Telegram)"

“Lakers host their annual Media Day in El Segundo, CA. Monday September 29, 2014. (Thomas R. Cordova-Daily Breeze/Press-Telegram)”

ATLANTA –Amid the gloom that has engulfed their worst start in franchise history, the Lakers (1-9) are welcoming back a positive presence that could both change their mood and add to their win column.

His name is Nick Young. His nickname is “Swaggy P.” The Lakers say his surgically repaired right thumb is fully healed. And they believe Young will significantly bolster the Lakers once he returns in a reserve role for tonight’s game against the Atlanta Hawks (5-4) at Philips Arena.

“Nick is ready to go. I know his mouth is,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said, laughing. “There was a lot of talking today.”

The Lakers feel confident Young will back up his words. He averaged a team-leading 17.9 points per game and hardly showed any problems both creating and taking shots. Scott remains adamant Young will play as a reserve at least for the next week after sitting out the past six weeks with a broken right thumb. But the Lakers expect Young will ease the offensive burden off Kobe Bryant, who has averaged a league-leading 27.3 points albeit on 37.7 percent shooting.

Even if Young isn’t going to mistake anyone as an elite defender, the Lakers hold out hope he can still boost the team’s league-worst defense. Young showed more commitment last season as a defender, including taking a game-winning charge in a regular-season game last November in Detroit.

“He’s an energy giver. He’s one of those guys when he’s on the floor and in practice, there’s a lot of energy and he enjoys the game,” Scott said. “He enjoys a certain passion that you have to enjoy being around. He’s not an energy taker. That’s a plus. Obviously the fact that he can beat people off the dribble and create shots for himself and create shots for his teammates. All of those things help as well. I’m anxious to see him out there.”

Young’s presence may cheer the Lakers up. But not enough for Scott to lament the latest on forward Ryan Kelly, who will miss at least six more weeks because of a torn right hamstring. He has only played three games this season because of overlapping injuries to his left and right hamstring.

It’s unbelievable he tears his right hamstring in the same leg, but a different place,” Scott said. “It’s really unfortunate. I feel really bad for Ryan because he worked so hard to get back. We were very cautious and made sure we took our sweet time in getting back and making sure that we did everything possible.”

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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