The NBA’s new draft lottery format benefited the Lakers in a big way on Tuesday night. Under the old system, the lottery would have been complete once the first three picks were determined. This year though, one additional drawing was conducted, allowing the Lakers to defy the odds and move up all the way from No. 11 to No. 4. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com details, general manager Rob Pelinka was thrilled by the outcome.
“This is a powerful asset for us,” Pelinka said on a conference call. “We owe a commitment to our fans to have an outstanding season next year. What this does is it gives us the ability to either select an impact player at [No.] 4 or possibly use this as an extremely valuable asset in trade.”
While having a lottery pick just outside of the top 10 would have been useful for the Lakers, moving into the top five represents an “extraordinary shift” for the franchise, according to Pelinka.
“I mean, top-five picks in the draft, if you go back in the history and study them, those picks can alter and impact franchises,” Pelinka said. “This is a big moment for us. Last year, of course, we had to go through some hard and difficult things that this is certainly a great silver lining. Our dedication is really toward our fans right now and doing all we can to deliver a really special Lakers season for our fans.”
As we wait to see what the Lakers do with their pick, let’s round up a few more notes on the team…
- The one downside of the Lakers’ move up to No. 4 is that the increased cap hold for the higher pick will cut into their projected space, tweets cap expert Larry Coon. Based on the NBA’s current projections, it also may affect the team’s ability to land a max free agent. Our updated cap digest shows the Lakers can create $32.5MM in projected room — the maximum salary for a free agent like Kyrie Irving or Jimmy Butler (with 7-9 years of experience) would be $32.7MM.
- The Lakers don’t need to blow up their roster or their front office, but they’d benefit from adding some experience in both areas, according to Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times, who makes the case for why the team should hire an accomplished executive and add at least one or two veteran players this offseason.
- The Lakers are asking for trouble by hiring Jason Kidd as an assistant coach, says Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times, arguing that the Kidd decision is the most baffling one the team has made in recent months.
- Ohm Youngmisuk and Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com recently took a deep dive into the Lakers’ front office hierarchy to determine who has the most influence and who’s calling the shots. Sources tell ESPN that Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, Kurt Rambis, and Linda Rambis “operate as a group on basketball decisions.”
Who is Linda Rambis and why does she have a say in matters?
Because she was presumably given a job where she gets a say in matters. Why do you care?
I care because I’m wondering the qualifications of an ex players wife. Curiosity. What’s her background?
She’s the wife of Kurt Rambis, the Lakers legend and basically the new President since Magic left
Rambis ain’t no Lakers legend!!!
Whoa!
Apparently she is Jeannie’s best friend and Rambis’ wife, so I guess that means she is like an honorary front office member. Lakers gonna Laker…
Hiring Kidd was almost as bad as trading Zubac for Muscala to “create floor space”. Well Muscala took up bench space so I guess they were right….
Talk about overanalyzing an assistant coach hire. Jeez
He’s not just some assistant; he’s Vogel’s replacement if/when Vogel is fired. He was hired specifically to take over.
Lakers aren’t the Suns. Vogel wont be fired immediately
Take it easy homer, Linda Rondstat gonna fix it
Kidd has a long history of being a pain in the neck. He terrorized the Nets front office as a player in a way few other players have, and then threw Lawrence Frank under the bus in his first coaching gig after begging him to come in as a mentor. Both demonstrate Kidd’s painful lack of self awareness.
Kidd is probably better now than he’s ever been at coaching, and I’m sure he’s good at building relationships with players. But he has no business acting as a senior assistant at this stage of his young coaching career, and his last two coaching gigs are the proof.
I guarantee Kidd will cause problems in LA. The only question is for who, and how soon.
I also guarantee his drinking problem will rear it’s ugly head soon enough. I feel for the guy, but he’s got to get treatment before he can put that issue behind him.
Other sources are going farther than HR. I like the picture with this article… link to clutchpoints.com
Online TV-show recappers sometimes go to a format of not bothering describing a plot, but instead ranking the characters by the power they wielded the past episode, and how that changed since previously. This format is popular with female-audience shows like “Pretty Little Liars” where character agency is more important than a rational plot.
Seems like Lakers reporting has gone in this direction. These are top writers sniffing out the scene and women are a couple of the characters. A short time ago it was “Pelinka’s power is growing” but whoops, he did not get Lue. So the winds shift & points for Linda.
The Lakers could move Ingram,Kuzma,Zo, and Hart for AD and Jrue and draft Cam. Lakers 2020 NBA Champions. Who’s touching this lineup?
Jrue-Cam-Bron-AD-Jordan?
Assuming they could sign Jordan.
Yawn
Michael Jordan’s 56 years old he’s past his prime. He probably won’t help much anyway.
Oh, DeAndre Jordan? LOL. He never had a prime.
They aren’t getting Jrue, that package would only get Davis