Despite tonight’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers have given Angelenos a taste of the future in their young core of players.  Their new free agent additions of Timofey Mozgof and Luol Deng, combined with the young nucleus of Julius Randle (former no. 7 pick), D’Angelo Russell (former no. 2 pick) and Brandon Ingram (recent no. 2 pick), and the Lakers are rolling.  Their bench is one of the best in the game today, with Lou Williams (former 6th man of the year) and Jordan Clarkson leading the 2nd team.  Ingram is coming off the bench and learning from Deng, who was brought to the Lakers to help manage the locker room and to provide a steady, consistent voice and reassurance to these young Lakers.  A nice surprise has been Nick Young, whom many thought would have been shipped off to another team during the offseason given his “issues” with Russell.  Young has been terrific, providing an accurate 3-point shooter to the team’s first unit and…surprise surprise….lock down defense?  Credit that to new Lakers head coach, Luke Walton, who has been fantastic in his first 11 games, going 6-5 to start the season.  These Lakers are not an easy W for any team and I look forward, along with all other Laker fans, for a great season to come!  Playoffs?