After missing most of the 2013-2014 National Basketball Association (NBA) season with a fractured knee, new head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers Byron Scott expects guard Kobe Bryant to play in all eight preseason games in order to prepare for grind of the upcoming season.

Bryant was attempting to come back from a ruptured Achilles tendon injury he suffered late in the 2012-2013 NBA season when he suffered a major setback, appearing in only six games last season before being sidelined with a knee injury. The perennial All-Star has been scrimmaging with the team and will play in all of the team's preseason games to acclimate himself to playing at his usual high-level, according to Scott.

"You can tell he's excited, fired up, motivated and he's going to get better and better," said Lakers point guard Steve Nash after Tuesday's scrimmaging.

Considering his age (36 years old) and the time he has been away from competitive basketball at the NBA elite level, Bryant has been working hard to get his legs back for the long 82-game season, especially considering Scott's emphasis on defense as compared to former coach Mike D'Antoni.

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"This is the most running I've ever done in an NBA practice. It is, for sure," said Bryant. "I've never run this much in an NBA practice. Everybody wants to play defense but when you're not in the condition to play defense you go back to your natural instinct which is to play offense first."

Los Angeles is looking to improve on the defensive end of the floor, with the Lakers ending the year 29th in the league out of 30 teams in defense, giving up 109.2 points per game, with only the Philadelphia 76ers allowing higher average of points per game (109.9). Newly-acquired point guard Jeremy Lin said that team spent practice working on defense 98 percent of the time.

"It was definitely a different experience," said Lin. "A lot of defense, running, old-school drills."

Bryant will have to adjust to a lot of new faces, especially with his friend and former teammate Pau Gasol now playing with the Chicago Bulls. The only player left on the roster who has had experience playing alongside Bryant is center Jordan Hill, making this a year of transition for the former MVP.

"Most of the guys, I don't know personally, so it takes some time to get to know them a little bit, get to know their personalities," said Bryant. "In the past I knew all the guys. Most of the guys were veterans and had been in the league for a while and was familiar with them a little bit more. These guys, not so much, so it's going take a little time to get to know them."

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