Bryant and Nash practice with Lakers

A pair of veterans were on hand and accounted for at the first day of Lakers team practice. 

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, both of whom missed the majority of last season's games, said they felt good after their first practice but will be on limited minutes during games this season. 

"I felt normal. I felt like myself," Bryant said to ESPN. "That's a good thing."

The 36-year-old Bryant played in six games last season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and then suffered a fracture in his left knee when he returned. Now 40, Nash played only 15 games due to nerve root irritation in his left leg. 

"I need to not get injured and I don't mean that in a factious way," Nash said. "It's important not get an ankle (injury) or a thigh bruise or all the little injuries and try to manage them as much as possible. If I can manage the amount of minutes I'm on the court and keep myself going and don't overdo it to where I can't recover, maybe I got a chance to play a lot more."

New Lakers head coach Byron Scott spent much of the session stressing conditioning and defense, which resulted in a new experience for even an 18-year veteran like Bryant. 

"This is the most running I've ever done in an NBA practice," Bryant said. "It is, for sure. I've never run this much in an NBA practice."

Scott was complimentary of the conditioning of his star player. 

Kobe looked good.The first drill, the 10 minutes you could see the guys were in shape. Kobe looked good. Steve was in great shape. Both of those guys did about three-fourths of the practice. I basically had to ask Kobe to shut it down. We got another one tomorrow. He went through one more drill and then shut it down. He said he felt great and could have done more but right now it's a progression of just going a little bit today.

Bryant and Nash will only participate in the morning sessions of practices when the Lakers switch to two-a-day sessions later in the week.