Lakers News: Insider Assesses Summer Team-Building Of Rob Pelinka
Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka re-established himself as one of the best front office representatives in the sport at February's trade deadline. He has since burnished that record by further retooling the roster this summer.
Most recently, he added Christian Wood to an already deep purple and gold roster earlier this week. Shaun Powell of NBA.com praised the moves made by the team in their efforts to nab banner No. 18.
You can say with some accuracy that the Lakers’ summer began back in February. That’s when they reshaped the club, infusing the rotation with necessary youth, energy, athleticism and hope. That took them through the Western Conference Finals, and once the offseason arrived, the task was to maintain the new status quo by retaining some of those important young pieces on the roster. Contract extensions for Reaves, Hachimura and Russell were therefore paramount for a team that couldn’t do much else given their salary cap restrictions. Lucky for the Lakers, the eventual shape of those deals spared them much pain from a luxury tax standpoint.
Bringing back the team's playoff core was clearly a top priority for Pelinka this summer, but the GM replaced the pieces he lost with other sound replacements from other teams that coach Darvin Ham will have at his disposal.
That left the Lakers with spare change to get Vincent (three years, $33 million), Hayes (two years, $7.7 million and Prince (one year, $4 million). There’s a chance Hayes could start at center if only because Davis, as stated many times, would much rather be at power forward. Vincent had a solid stint with the Miami Heat last season, starting 34 games at point guard. His acquisition made Dennis Schroder expendable, while Prince slots in as the new stretch shooter, replacing Beasley.
Now boasting some strong depth at every position on the roster, LA is certainly gearing up for another title run, one that could eventually be Lebron James' last with the team.
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