The Los Angeles Lakers announced former agent Rob Pelinka as the team’s new general manager at a press conference on Friday. With the hiring official, the Lakers now have the main pieces of their new regime with Pelinka, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson, and head coach Luke Walton.
At the press conference, Pelinka was extremely complimentary of Walton, calling him a championship caliber coach and pledging to get him better talent be it through free agency or otherwise.
Walton recently met with Pelinka and spoke about the relationship that the two will have going forward as well as their roles within the franchise according to Mark Medina of the LA Daily News:
“It’s important we can both be honest with each other even if we don’t agree,” Walton said. “I can tell him what I’m seeing from down here. He’s going to tell me what he ‘s seeing and we’re going to talk about it. If it’s a basketball decision, I’ll have the ultimate say. If it’s a personnel decision, he’ll have the ultimate say. But we’re going to do that with constant conversation going on and not having to worry about hurting the other guys’ feelings if we disagree on things.”
There are a number of positives to be taken away from Walton’s statement, but the most important is that they seem to be on the same page. Everyone working in tandem towards the same goal of returning the Lakers to glory is exactly what President Jeanie Buss was looking for when she made the decision to shake up the front office.
Walton getting input from his front office is valuable, but no one overstepping their boundaries is important as well and looks to be exactly the case for the Lakers. Whether or not this crew can make the Lakers contenders again remains to be seen, but everyone is on board with the plan moving forward and that is invaluable.
