Lakers’ Jeremy Lin, Nick Young provide comedy at Lakers’ All Access event

"Los Angeles Lakers players Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Lin and Nick Young (l-r) share the stage during the panel discussion portion of the 11th annual Lakers All-Access event at Staples Center January 6, 2015.(Andy Holzman/Los Angeles Daily News)"

“Los Angeles Lakers players Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Lin and Nick Young (l-r) share the stage during the panel discussion portion of the 11th annual Lakers All-Access event at Staples Center January 6, 2015.(Andy Holzman/Los Angeles Daily News)”

The 11th annual Lakers All-Access event started out on Tuesday evening like they always do.

Time Warner Cable SportsNet play-by-play announcer Bill Macdonald has hosted the event and asks Laker legends and current players and coaches nearly everything. Memories of the Lakers’ glorious past. The endless storylines surrounding the Lakers’ current season. And some fun questions as well.

But this year, the script was rewritten. The Lakers’ Nick Young, Jeremy Lin and Wayne Ellington represented one of the panels, and that segment soon turned into the equivalent of an improv comedy sketch mostly headlined by Young and Lin. Below is the rundown:

Macdonald:
“Here’s the Swagasaurus, the Swagalicious General. How many shots you miss last night? Where’s that ‘IDM?’ Come on, I love the ‘IDM’ though.”

Young:
“I look good, don’t I? Damn I’m looking good these days.”

Macdonald:
“Who’s the worst dressed guy on the team Nick?

Young: I’m sitting next to him (motions to Lin)

Lin:
“Nick wears spandex as pants. So I don’t know. He’s struggling on his side of the locker room. It takes him 30 minutes to get his jeans on.”

Macdonald:
“Nick, did you hear Byron Scott’s imitation of you?”

Young: “He did it up here?”

Macdonald: “He came hard with it.”

Young:
“Tonight?”

Macdonald: “Like right now, 10 minutes ago. Do you have an imitation of him?”

Young:
“Nah man, I got to get in the games sometimes.”

Macdonald:
“Exactly. That’s what he said. He said, ‘If you come with an imitation of me, then there goes your playing time immediately.”

Nick, I said to Byron it’s 10 games in and nothing is going right. Then you bring the Swag Factor back. Did you see that with this team that they weren’t having a whole lot of fun? What’s that all about in bringing that to these guys?

Young:
“What’s it like to bring the Swag to the team? I think they need it. It’s just me being me and it tends to wear off on my man Jeremy Lin and Wayne started hitting some 3’s. That’s all that matters. As long as we’re doing our thing and talking trash, you’ll see me hitting 3’s and jumping up and down the court. That’s cool, right?”

Lin: “Yeah, first couple nights he came back, he couldn’t sleep too well. He had too much swag on. He’s right. The most important thing is we go out and have fun. It’s a game. We all play on the same unit, coming off the bench and bringing energy. As long as we’re doing that, moving the ball and having fun, that brings smiles to our faces.”



Macdonald:
“Jeremy, are you okay with that? At first you were like, ‘Oh man I don’t want to go to the bench.’ It’s good chemistry you got going on now. Are you cool with it now?”

Lin:
“We have a cool group and we love playing together. We started to figure things out and how to bring the energy, extend the lead or cut the deficit.”

Macdonald:
“How’s your car, Swag?”

Young:
“It’s great. Today was a sunny day. So I had the top down on my low low, hitting switches, just being me. I had the shades on. It felt good.”

Macdonald:
“Jeremy what car are you driving these days?”

Lin:
“I don’t have a girlfriend ready to buy me a car for Christmas. I’m behind on that. Nick has a different car every day of the week. I guess I’m behind.”

Macdonald:
“She’s running the show, isn’t she? Jeremy and Wayne, what do you think?

Ellington
: “Iggy.”

Lin: “I feel like Nick definitely talks 90 percent of the time. But the 10 percent that she talks probably means the most. I don’t know for sure. It’s just speculation. You have to ask Nick.”

Young:
(long pause) “What about these Lakers? We’re playing great. Obviously we’re trying to win every game. It’s tough.”

Macdonald: “What kind of rapper are you?”

Young:
“I’m more of an R&B singer. I’m more of about setting the mood right. You play me when you want to relax. When you’re on a date and you come home and you pop in a CD,  that’s me. I’m that CD you pop in right there. You go to the kitchen and do your thing. That’s me right there.

(Both Ellington and Lin then chose rapper Jay-Z over Kanye West, while Young chose West).

Macdonald:
“Jeremy, what was Harvard like? Are you a genius?”

Lin:
“I’m not a genius. I was a recruited athlete. But I’m not dumb. It’s somewhere in between. The classes are really difficult. It’s really tough to get an A. But I usually fall in the B range.”

Young:
“USC is like the best school ever.”

Lin: “I heard they have people there that do your homework for you.”

(Long pause and laughter)

Macdonald: “What are the examples of classes you took?”

Lin:
“I was an economics major and sociology minor. Classes are macro economics and I was interested in urban communities and non profit and why communities are the way they are and the cycle of poverty.”

Young:
“What are you talking about? He lost me a while ago.”

Lin:
“We have a different target demographic out here. Some of you give Swaggy the Cliff Notes when I’m done.”

Macdonald: “How’s the romance going these days?”

Young:
“Romance? Ask them how’s their romance.”

Ellington:
“I got my beautiful fiancé. She’s here somewhere.”

Young:
“You engaged?”

Ellington:
“Yes, when are you getting engaged?”

Young: (long pause) “Like I said, the Lakers have been trying hard. It’s tough.”

Macdonald:
“How about you Jeremy?”

Lin:
“Nothing for me.”

Young: “You single, how are you single?”

Lin:
“I’m not dating someone Nick. So that makes me single. All right, we got next question?”

Macdonald:
“Nick, how come you can’t get Wayne more shots?”

Young:
“It’s tough. Its hard out there. I’m trying. I’m passing to the rim, but he’s never at the rim.”

Macdonald:
“Are we ready to set the record straight on Swaggy P and what it means and everything else?”

Young:
“About Swaggy P? It’s Biblical. You got to find it. It’s going to be in the New Testament. I’m like a Prophet of Swag. It’s a lot of stuff. Look at it and read about it. At some point, it’s coming out.”

Macdonald: “What’s it like playing with Kobe?”

Young:
“Me? Kobe is Kobe. You have to accept the good, the bad. Being around Kobe, once you reach that high of a level, you’re supposed to act like that. You got to be a little off a little bit. I give him the benefit of the doubt every time.”

Lin: “We’re all just along for the ride. It’s the Swag show.”

Macdonald:
“Who can turn your screw a little bit when you’re on the court? Who do you like getting after it?”

Young:
“Kobe during practice. It’s crazy. He has no filter. He talks all day.”

Lin: “That’s really ironic.”

Young: “What’s that?”

Lin:
“I said keep going.”

Young: “I don’t have anything to say about that. Kobe called us soft like tissues and the whole world sees it. I have to go home to my family after that. They’re calling me soft. My girlfriend is calling me soft like tissues. You have to understand. That stuff hurts.”

Young then starts asking his teammates questions.


Young:
“Wayne, when are you getting married? When’s the day you’re getting married?”

Ellington: “None of your business.”

Young:
“Oh okay. You heard that fiancé? He doesn’t know a date yet. Somebody is getting in trouble.”

Young:
So Lin, how does L.A. compare to New York?

Lin: “It’s a good question. I’m a West Coast guy and I was born and raised on the West Coast. I was born in Torrance.”

Young:
“For real?”

Lin: “Yes, Nick. We’ve been through this. I wasn’t born on another continent.”

Young:
“I thought you were born far away.”

Lin: “I wasn’t born in the Far East. I was born in Torrance. I love California and was raised in Northern California.

Young:
“Who would you rather play with, Melo or Kobe?”

Lin: “That’s a great question Nicholas. I think for me personally, you would agree with me on this. We have both learned a ton about how Kobe approaches the game, talks about the game and thinks about the game. We’ll get text messages with long paragraphs from Kobe about how to think through the game. Everything that happened in New York, I didn’t really even have a chance to play more than 2 weeks with Melo. We didn’t get a chance to know each other. Here, I have had a longer time. We’re getting better and all learning.”

Young:
Wayne, who is the best shooter out of the three? Honestly?”

Ellington:
“Honestly? How much honest do you want me to be?”

Young:
“All the way honest.”

Ellington: “Me.”

Lin: “Who’s the second best?”

Wayne: “All the way honest? J Lin.”

Young:
“Jeremy, did you used to dance growing up? I heard you used to beat box a lot.”

Lin:
“I never literally beat boxed once in my life. You got your facts wrong.”

Young:
“Must have been another Lin.”

Lin:
“You guys hear that? We have that on video. He called me ‘Another Lin?’ That’s slightly politically incorrect.”

Macdonald:
“With that we’ll call it a day. Just give Swaggy the mic. You want to talk about a guy who deserves a show? Wow.”

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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