Lakers reserve Jordan Hill returns to practice

Jordan Hill took part in about two-thirds of practice Thursday, a significant step of improvement for the injured Lakers forward.

He is still being held out of contact drills but this was his first real action since being diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back this month.

“He did everything that was non-contact, which was good,” said Lakers Coach Mike Brown after practice. “For us, the way we’re playing, he’s got to know specific routes and reads. There’s a lot he still has to do to play catch up.

“He didn’t do anything live. I think he’ll do the non-contact stuff tomorrow and they’ll probably re-evaluate where he is. They haven’t given a specific time table yet.”

Brown saw reason for encouragement early in practice.

“I knew he was going to be able to do some non-contact stuff today,” Brown said. “But we did a warm-up drill where you’re required to run, not necessarily at 100% speed, but you’ve got to get out and go a little bit. He got out and he ran. They let him to do, so that was a little surprising to me.”

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