Lakers News: Coach-Turned-Broadcaster Gives LA's Front Office A Rave Review
Last night, your Los Angeles Lakers fell late against a visiting New York Knicks team without injured star point guard Jalen Brunson. Even without LeBron James available, Los Angeles felt like it had all the momentum, given that it was playing at home and was coming off a three-game winning streak.
Unfortunately, a second straight lackluster Anthony Davis performance impeded LA's chances of pulling out a W.
ABC/ESPN announcer Jeff Van Gundy, a former longtime New York Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach, was on hand to supply commentary throughout the contest. He used the game's tipoff to single out Los Angeles team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka for his deft trade deadline moves.
"Give Rob Pelinka and his front office staff monumental amounts of credit for the overhaul, and saving the Lakers' season," Van Gundy said during tip-off of yesterday's broadcast.
That's not an exaggeration. The Lakers have gone 8-4 since the trade deadline, and almost certainly were doomed to miss even a play-in tournament appearance prior to the deals that offloaded the heinous contracts of Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn, plus the significant overpay that was Patrick Beverley's $13 million contract.
Among that triumvirate, Beverley and Westbrook still have some ability, but neither seems likely to fetch much more than a mid-level exception contract as a free agent this summer.
LA's newest pieces -- D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Rui Hachimura, and Mo Bamba (Davon Reed doesn't play) -- have all been significant positives for the club thus far this year, given the team help in the departments where it was needed the most: three-point shooting, defense, and high-level playmaking.
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