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Swanson: Lakers’ Rob Pelinka defied critics and built a contender

May 1, 2023

Rob Pelinka might make a pretty successful Realtor if he weren’t already a good basketball general manager.

Yes, you read that right.

What did Willy Shakespeare write? Worms turn, man.

O we of little faith: The seventh-seeded Lakers have just easily disposed of the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

The Lakers became the second team since the play-in tournament was instituted in 2020 to advance in the playoffs, along with the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, who also just did it. And the second team in the NBA’s broader history to start 2-10 or worse and recover to win a postseason series, according to ESPN.

They’ve set up a monumental second-round showdown with the Golden State Warriors, seeded sixth and defending their fourth championship in eight years.

These Lakers, down-on-their-luck protagonists since winning title No. 17 in 2020, are looking again like viable contenders for the crown – a plot twist so contrived it would be panned mercilessly if this wasn’t sports, if it wasn’t the best reality show on TV.

To get here, Pelinka, the Lakers’ director of casting, spent months defying skeptics and eschewing experts. Just continually making assurances, and assuaging no one.

He didn’t ever blink, even with an avalanche of criticism – from you, from me, coming even from inside the house – gaining perilously on where he stood.

There was Pelinka’s proclamation at media day, when the Lakers introduced a head-scratcher of a roster that wasn’t fit to fix last season’s regular-season failure: “We will do everything we can, picks included, to make deals that give us a chance to help LeBron (James) get to the end.”

And then months later, picks still untouched, his rather bold assertion – “the calculus for the Lakers is to win a championship or not” – as he discussed potential moves while introducing Rui Hachimura.

That was on Jan. 24, when the Lakers were in 13th place and 22-26.

But Hachimura, you remember, was the first domino in a succession of deadline-period deals that would scuttle an unhappy Russell Westbrook and his $47 million salary, as well as a few other expendable guys.

That brought back guard D’Angelo Russell and brought aboard defensive wing Jarred Vanderbilt and shooting guard Malik Beasley, quality role players who immediately infused the Lakers’ roster with length and youth and some shooting – the necessary ingredients to pair with James, as everyone knows.

So the Lakers’ future, at least, looked not as bleak – especially because Pelinka pulled it all off without trading the Two Picks the public had been offering up on his behalf since the offseason.

He held onto the 2029 first-round pick, and not only that, arranged for the 2027 first-round pick he relinquished to be top-four protected. That is to say: It stays with the Lakers if they’re drafting in the top four – and, moreover, conveys to a second-round pick if the Lakers are, in fact, in the top four.

Good deals.

“Doing trades is a little bit like the L.A. house market in that you can’t buy houses that aren’t listed,” said Pelinka, a man of many metaphors. “Ultimately sellers will determine if they want to sell a house or not, and which buyers get them. But the last thing you want to do in the housing market is overpay, or spend all your effort and energy trying to buy a house that someone doesn’t want to sell.”

Location, location, location, but what about timing, the everything of it?

James is 38, and playing in his 20th NBA season. Anthony Davis is 30 and oft-injured.

And as of the Feb. 9 trade deadline, the Lakers were three games behind Portland for the 10th and final play-in spot. They’d essentially have just 26 games and scant practice time to incorporate five new players, also including center Mo Bamba.

So better next year. But still. A shame, no? To have squandered this season of the Lakers’ star pairing?

Not to Pelinka. The Lakers’ to-win-a-championship-or-not architect insisted the deals “set us up for hopefully a productive run now.”

Now?

Now.

Remember, in 2019, the summer when Kawhi Leonard spurned the Lakers in free agency, choosing the Clippers instead? How, instead of being able to put a three-star super-squad on the court, Pelinka cobbled together a team of role players long on length or shot-making or defensive skill to complement James and Davis?

Remember what we eventually watched go down on TV that season, in a bubble, far, far away?

Remember that championship, a pro’s title if ever there was, and how the Lakers lived happily, well, not quite ever after … because they hadn’t found their way past the first round again until now.

I don’t know basketball. pic.twitter.com/8YEACyyIgl

— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) February 9, 2023

Don’t know that the Cleanup in Aisle 5 this season warrants a writeup in apology form, necessarily, not when the mess is the result of a shoddily constructed display.

But you do have to hand it to Pelinka – and to team owner Jeanie Buss, who kept the faith in him and even quietly extended his contract – for being a smart shopper, for resisting the pressure to pay more for players he believed would be available for a better price later.

For successfully evaluating the landscape, and then checking all the boxes, getting the Lakers into the playoffs, where now it’ll be up to James and Davis and an improved cast to bring it home.

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Orange County Register

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Swanson: Lakers’ Rob Pelinka defied critics and built a contender

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