ROB PELINKA LAYS OUT LAKERS’ PLAN FOR BRONNY JAMES AFTER NBA DRAFT

The Los Angeles Lakers made something of an expected splash in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft on Thursday, selecting LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. with the No. 55 pick. But the Lakers didn’t do it without a plan.

Speaking with reporters after the pick that many were waiting for, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka explained a bit more of the process into picking James — beyond just also employing his father — and what he sees from the draftee. Pelinka also delved into the necessity to pour developmental resources into James and the fellow Lakers youngsters.

“More important than that is to talk about Bronny James as a basketball player, because this is his day and he was the one selected with the 55th pick,” Pelinka said. “Bronny is first and foremost a person of high character and second he is young man that works incredibly hard. And those are the qualities that we look for in drafting players and adding to our developmental core with the Lakers. He had a great draft workout with us, where he displayed those qualities to me. In an hour lunch that we shared in the building, just to get to know each other, it became clear that he was a man of character. In terms of his work ethic, I think we’ve all seen that lived out, too. He’s not a person that is ever taking shortcuts or expected or been entitled about basketball opportunities. He’s worked for everything that he’s gotten, including being selected today at 55.”

Pelinka continued, explaining the excitement he has to let new head coach JJ Redick get to work with James.

“So, it’s an honor for us to add him to our program,” Pelinka said. “Coach Redick is already excited about putting a development plan around him to increase his basketball skills and turn him into the player that we think can impact and help this franchise.”

That specific development plan is yet to be put in place as Redick and Co. fill out the rest of the Lakers coaching staff.

But one way other another, Pelinka is optimistic about what the Lakers got with James and what he can become with the developmental plan they expect to build

“Coach and I are in the process of building out his staff as we speak but as we talked about in our opening press conference, we really want to take kind of an innovative and new look at how players are developed and that archetype will be wrapped around Bronny and the other players that we get on two ways as we bring guys in and the young players we already have on our roster,” Pelinka said. “So I just think it’s a perfect time as coach builds out his PD or player development staff to really pour into the guys that we have here and I think you guys will see that played out in real time once we get that staff hired.”

The post Rob Pelinka lays out Lakers’ plan for Bronny James after NBA Draft appeared first on On3.

2024-06-27T23:38:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd