With Media Day and training camp kicking off for the Los Angeles Lakers next week, the new NBA season is just around the corner.
Before the festivities kick off next week, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and head coach Darvin Ham held a press conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the organization’s offseason moves and their outlooks on the upcoming season.
“Darvin and I wanted to welcome all of our media partners today,” Pelinka began. “Thank you guys for coming. Exciting day to start off the 2023-24 season. I think back to February and the trade deadline; obviously, we collectively made some moves, ended the season strong with one of the top defenses, one of the top overall records post trade deadline. We talked about that as being pre-agency, which sort of led us into July, where our theme was continuity, and bringing our group back that was a Western Conference Finals team and trying to improve around the edges. We put in the work to affect that plan, and execute that plan, and are especially proud that five players, really as part of free agency and extensions, in AD, and Austin, and Rui, and Vando, and D’Angelo, all chose the Lakers. We chose them and they chose us. That’s a powerful statement that we have something significant going on here. It’s really centered around the work that that group is going to put in as we head into the season.”
“We also had a goal of adding great players and talent that fit around the edges, kinda looking at Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish, Taurean Prince, Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood. Felt like those are really, really solid players to add to our core group with the consistency of last year. So we’re excited, but we also know that what’s going to matter the most going forward is the work that we put in, and how we come together as a group. I’m excited that starting Monday, Darvin gets to lead this group of players, and have a training camp to develop and build on that continuity and consistency and competitiveness that he preaches. So that’s what today is kicking off.”
After getting swept in the Western Conference Finals, it was clear that Pelinka needed to add a little more firepower to the roster and that he did. Ham now gets a retooled roster with more weapons and it’ll be intriguing to see how he utilizes each player and what the rotation is going to look like this season.
“Just different ways that we can take things to an even higher level,” Ham said when asked about his discussions with Pelinka this summer. “To echo Rob’s sentiments, the sustainability of bringing back the main part of our core, and also adding to that – and I think Rob used the phrase of not just going after star players, but players that star in their roles. I thought we did a phenomenal job doing that, executing that. Again, in terms of the players that returned, the players that signed extensions and the new guys we acquired. The group has been great, it’s been a great summer, the energy in the building has been great. Everybody’s been working top to bottom, just because they know it’s something special. We’ve re-established the competitive gene that this organization has been known for at a high level. In talking to our Governor, Jeanie Buss, that was one of the biggest things I wanted to establish when I got the job, is to get us back to being a formidable team night in and night out no matter who we were playing, and to represent ourselves in the proper fashion.
“So, I thought this summer, everything we were able to do from the Draft, to free agency, to the re-signings, to the extensions, it all poured into who we want to be starting Day 1. A lot of the preparatory work has been done in terms of sustaining that culture. So I’m super, duper excited about having these guys all in the fold, all together, building that chemistry and continuity and being able to hit the ground running on Day 1.”
The excitement is there for Ham and Pelinka knowing what this team is capable of doing on both sides of the floor. This iteration of the Lakers may be the most talented and deep roster in the Anthony Davis and LeBron James tenure, making the excitement for this team at an all-time high.
Austin Reaves outlines goals for 2023-24
After experiencing the postseason for the first time, Austin Reaves has his own goals for this upcoming season. At the forefront is winning a championship, of course, as Reaves is a team-first player that just wants to win.
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