The Los Angeles Lakers have an extremely important offseason ahead, which begins with the NBA Draft Lottery on May 17. The Lakers have a 55.8 percent chance of landing a top-three pick, which would reportedly be used in a potential trade for the likes of a superstar, but will go to the Philadelphia 76ers if it falls outside of the top three to appease the Steve Nash trade.
Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss spoke with Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders about the team’s new head coach and future.
Buss on the dismissal of Byron Scott:
“It was a fair amount of time,” said Buss on Scott’s dismissal. “There was a lot to go through before that decision was made. I’m not going to have a knee-jerk reaction because everybody says, ‘You won 17 games, he’s got to go.’ I made a promise to sit with him and [general manager] Mitch [Kupchak] and give him a fair shake.”
Outside of the expected core of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle, Buss mentioned more names that he likes for the team going forward.
Buss also listed forward Larry Nance Jr. and veteran guard Lou Williams as building blocks for the future.
“There’s five to me – solid, core players we can work with and build on,” said Buss. “I like Marcelo [Huertas], I think in the right system he might be a good fit.”
“And Tarik Black, I like him. He could be a rotational player,” said Buss of the second-year forward, yet another potential restricted free agent.
Buss wanted to respect the Warriors by not talking too much about newly named Lakers head coach and current Warriors assistant Luke Walton, but he offered his praise about how Walton handled being the team’s interim coach for 43 games while Steve Kerr was out for the first half of the season.
“He was thrust into a situation. People might say, ‘Anyone could coach Golden State with their roster.’ No you couldn’t have,” said Buss in a phone interview with Basketball Insiders. “There’s a lot of pressure in that. There’s a lot of preparation for that.”
“It seemed like he had an incredible handle on relationships with players – how to build them, how to build trust and culture,” Buss continued.
With Kobe Bryant gone and the salary cap going up this summer, the Lakers will have big money to spend. Buss thinks they’ll have a better sell than these last few years.
“In the last two years, we had nothing to sell,” said Buss. “Trust me, it’s a whole different feeling when you walk into one of those pitches and we have a lot [more on the roster and cap room to add additional talent].”
Buss and the Lakers front office seem like they’ll be pursuing some power plays this offseason. The right core of diverse pieces with a young, promising head coach could start to make the Lakers look more attractive, and we’ll see the response that matters most this offseason.
