The Los Angeles Lakers announced that they have hired Keith D’Amelio as the team’s director of integrated performance systems. The announcement came alongside that of new assistant general manager of player personnel Eric Amsler, with both reporting to Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka.
“Continuing to invest in and strengthen our basketball operations group is a top priority as we build for the long-term success of our team and players,” Pelinka said in a statement. “Eric and Keith bring a wealth of experience that will add valuable expertise across our organization. Eric is a highly respected talent evaluator with an extensive background in scouting and player personnel, while Keith brings a unique perspective at the intersection of athlete health, performance, sports science and technology. We are excited to welcome them both to the Lakers.”
D’Amelio most recently served as chief innovation officer for the New York Liberty of the WNBA, where he worked in basketball operations, health and performance, analytics and applied science. Prior to that, D’Amelio spent 13 years working with Nike while also having previous NBA experience working with the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors, as well as with the Stanford University Men’s Basketball program.
The hiring of D’Amelio, as well as Amsler, are part of the Lakers’ building out their front office staff amongst numerous departments, something the franchise spoke about at the beginning of the offseason. The team hired Rohan Ramadas to serve as their new assistant general manager in charge of strategy and data systems, but things were otherwise pretty quiet on the hiring front.
The Lakers went through much of the offseason with only one of the two assistant general managers the team was looking to hire and the change in ownership from Mark Walter to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger led many to feel that there would be no new upcoming hires in high-end positions until everything involving the ownership of the franchise was settled.
But the franchise has identified the faces they want in these new positions and they will continue building out their staff as this new era of Lakers basketball begins and training camp just weeks away.
JJ Redick ‘pinching himself’ to get to coach Lakers
While the front office staff continues to fill out, the man in charge of the Lakers on the court is head coach JJ Redick who has a very different roster than the one he had last season. But regardless of who is on the court, the fact that he gets to coach the Lakers is a dream come true for Redick and he is pinching himself at the opportunity to do so.
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