Over the past few seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers have been at the forefront of a ton of drama amidst their worst on-court stretch in team history.
This has led to a lot of criticism across different media platforms with many calling them a laughingstock.
Despite these perceptions, the Lakers have landed arguably the biggest offseason prize in consecutive summers. Last summer, Los Angeles signed LeBron James in free agency and this summer, general manager Rob Pelinka orchestrated the Anthony Davis trade.
The Lakers now have a pair of true superstars to build around for the foreseeable future, but many believe the Lakers pulled these things off in spite of their own ineptness. Much of the criticism has been pointed directly at Pelinka, but he has always maintained the high road in everything.
“What we owe to the fans is not responding to critics or criticism, but my time here has to be focused on building the Lakers team,” Pelinka said during Davis’ introductory press conference.
“If I focus time on responding to individual criticism, any minute or five minutes of time I’ve spent on that, is a minute or five minutes away from building the team and putting this team in position to win championships. That’s been my focus, just been in the work and really not responding to the critics.”
Pelinka has always said that his goal is to bring the Lakers back to championship glory and he has undoubtedly gotten them closer with his moves this summer. Davis surely heard all of the chatter and criticisms, but much like Pelinka, he had no cares about it.
“We haven’t even talked about it. That’s not my concern,” Davis noted. “I wasn’t here last year when they were saying this and that; that wasn’t my problem. I’m here now and I haven’t seen any of it, so I’m happy to get started and take this season head-on with the goal of winning a championship.”
One thing that is for certain is that everyone involved with the Lakers from owner Jeanie Buss down has one goal and that is to bring championship No. 17 to Los Angeles.
