Some felt the Los Angeles Lakers needed to make big moves in the offseason in order to become a true contender this year. However, Rob Pelinka and the front office didn’t do so, instead opting to bring in some role players whom they felt would make an impact and improve this team on the fringes.
Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia were the team’s free agent additions and so far, the results have been encouraging for the Lakers as they have gotten off to a 13-4 start and are tied for the second-best record in the Western Conference.
In speaking on the additions the Lakers made this summer, Pelinka discussed how important it was to add depth to the roster, and feels the results have been encouraging so far this season, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“We talked a lot about how we wanted to get younger with the roster and then more depth to your point, that was something we really focused on in July. If you look around the league at the successful teams, they’re young. Everyone’s playing fast, everyone’s playing physical. When we went out and added Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia and brought in Marcus Smart we really felt like that would fill out our depth and to see that happening in real time, proof of concept has been encouraging.”
Perhaps more impressive is that the Lakers have played so well despite missing star players LeBron James and Luka Doncic for many games. And Pelinka feels that stretch allowed for some players to really gain a confidence boost:
“I think we had a stretch of games without Luka and LeBron and for guys like Jake and Austin Reaves to step up, it kinda created a vibe and energy around our team where it was like different guy, different night. And early on some guys you didn’t think would have confidence early in the season emerged and got that. So in some sense the absence of a player in as big a magnitude as LeBron maybe helped some of those other guys get some early season confidence and we’re seeing that play out as well.”
The Lakers have gotten big contributions in different games from players like Dalton Knecht, Maxi Kleber and Nick Smith Jr. when called upon and that says a lot about the depth of this team. Pelinka has garnered criticism in the past, but he has done an excellent job in putting this roster together and his moves are paying off.
LeBron James believes defense will decide how great Lakers can be this year
Whether or not the Lakers can have a real playoff run as currently constructed is unclear. But LeBron James believes that it will be the defense that decides just how great this team can be.
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