Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin is working out to stay in shape for what could be a make or break season. Playing in the final year of his three-year, $25 million deal, the Asian-American star has been busy these past weeks improving different facets of his game at Mo Williams Academy in Dallas.

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The 26-year old Lin was brought by the Lakers in a trade with the Houston Rockets in July. After two up-and-down seasons in Houston, he hopes that his tenure with the purple-and-gold will lead to big things.

Lin has always been a hardest working players in the league, never spending summer without trying various trainings to take his game to another level.

For example last season, he worked on his shooting mechanics which was previous criticized for an awkward release. Lin's eventually ripped the fruit of his labor by improving not only his field goal shooting (45 percent) but as well his clip from beyond the arc (35 percent) and the free-throw line (82 percent).

This season, Lin is focused on improving his lateral agility as he looks to become a better on-ball and off-ball defender. The Rockets gave the starting nod to Patrick Beverley over Lin last season because their discrepancy in defense. Lin might be a better scorer, but Beverley is a fierce on-ball defender - a reputation that helped him to be selected in the All-Defensive second team last year.

Lakers head coach Byron Scott, who admitted to be a fan of Lin's game, believed his point guard will play with a chip on his shoulder next season. He also lauded his improvement as a defender and his high basketball I.Q which will be critical for the Lakers success.

"I like Jeremy, I really do. I think he's a kid that plays the right way [and] plays extremely hard. He seems to always be in attack mode offensively. [He] pushes the ball up the floor as well as anybody in the league," Scott told Lakers Nation.

"Defensively - the thing that I thought was going to his biggest downfall - was something that I thought he really competed at the times I coached against him."

Will hard work pay off once again for Lin? Will he become a stronger defender next season? Perhaps, only Lin can tell.

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