Julius Randle faces no restrictions entering training camp

A string of misfortune quickly followed Lakers forward Julius Randle, his rookie season cut abruptly after fracturing his right leg only 14 minutes in his first NBA game. Hence, Randle sounded in high spirits knowing he enters training camp beginning Tuesday in Honolulu fully recovered from a surgically repaired right leg and right feet.

But does that mean Randle has heard definitively the Lakers won’t place any restrictions on him? Randle suddenly turned serious at the question.

“No,” Randle said, before motioning his head toward the office of the Lakers’ head athletic trainer. “Ask Gary Vitti.”

It remains understandable why Randle feels uneasy about the Lakers’ plans. They limited him to no more than 30 minutes per game and sat him out on back-to-back contests in Summer League play. But Randle does not need to worry. The Lakers do not plan to place any restrictions on him in training camp.

“I feel amazing. I feel 100 times better than I did last year,” Randle said, referring to him losing about 20 pounds after becoming more disciplined with his diet. “I’m not getting tired. I’m more explosive. I feel strong. I can recover a lot better, too. I’m not as sore and tired. I feel amazing.”

Even though he missed nearly an entire season of NBA games, Randle has held out optimism he could compensate that for other measures he took.

Randle lost about 30 pounds of fat, while gaining 10 pounds in muscle after becoming more disciplined with the Lakers’ emphasis to eat grass-fed foods. He seeked out advice from Kobe Bryant and James Worthy about maintaining patience with his recovery. Randle watched endless NBA games in person and on television, and often drafted written reports to Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak. Before and after summer league, Randle often worked out with Lakers forward Metta World Peace.

Though Randle has spent the past month in informal five-on-five scrimmages without any restrictions, the Lakers will not hesitate to reduce Randle’s workload if he experiences any setbacks.

“He’s in great shape right now and I think he’s eager to get out there and play,” Scott said of Randle. “Even though he didn’t play last year, I think just the experience of being around his teammates and watching games was very valuable to him so I don’t think he’ll get off to a shaky, shaky start. But he’ll still have some rust he’s going to need to knock off as well. And just getting used to the speed and the physicality of the NBA game.”

So much that Bryant argued about Randle, “this is really his rookie season.” Randle averaged only 11.4 points on 39.5 percent shooting in summer league play, noticeably forcing the issue driving into the lane. And it remains to be seen how much Randle’s persistent work on his jump shot will translate in NBA games.

But first things first.

“I want to get through the season healthy. As the season goes on, I’ll have my goals individually,” said Randle, who envisions himself averaging a double double. “But really I just want to win. Everything comes down to winning and putting our team in the best possible position to win.”

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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