Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers, Rob Pelinka Agree to Extension (That's More than Just a "Luka Dončić" Reward).

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello and welcome to a special bonus episode of Locked-on Lakers. The Lakers and Rob Polinka have agreed to a contract extension that includes a promotion and more long-term security for Rob Polinka. Good call. Get into that coming up next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. And thanks for making Locked-on Lakers. Lakers, your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, your team every day, always free,

Starting point is 00:00:41 never behind a paywall. Sometimes we'll be on weekends, including like Saturday with the Lakers taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in game one of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can also catch the show, hang out with a community of almost 35,000 subscribers, really fun, energetic, smart, knowledgeable. We like to use your comments in the comments section as part of the show. Make sure to hit us up on Twitter at Cambrothers. We love to use our audience, our viewership, our listeners as part of the show. I'm Andy Kamenetsky, co-host of Lockdown Lakers, my brother Brian, unavailable to be here right now.

Starting point is 00:01:22 But I just wanted to lay out some quick thoughts about Rob Polinka getting this extension. The news broke via Sham Sharania from the SPN on Twitter, quote, The Los Angeles Lakers have signed Rob Polinka to a contract extension. with his new title as president of basketball operations, along with general manager. Sources tell ESPN. Lakers leadership is now signed long term with Polinka and coach JJ Reddick. The Lakers then released a statement, quote, the Los Angeles Lakers have extended their agreement with Rob Polinka,

Starting point is 00:01:54 naming him president of basketball operations and general manager, then the statement from Jeannie Bus. For eight seasons, I have relied on Rob's vision and leadership to do what's best for the Lakers organization. I value his partnership and professionalism and believe in his ability to deliver championship caliber basketball for Los Angeles and Lakers fans everywhere. The statement then concludes by saying Polinka joined the Lakers in 2017 as general manager, was named vice president of basketball operations and general manager in 2020.

Starting point is 00:02:22 So obviously this extension includes a promotion. There's no details yet in terms of how long the extension runs through, but were I to guess it is pretty closely aligned with JJ Redick's contract. Rob and JJ by all public appearances and everything I've heard privately are very aligned with their vision, have a very good working relationship. Rob also has a lot at stake with hiring JJ Redick, given all of the turmoil that has gone on with this organization of late and really ever since Phil Jackson in their inability to land on a head coach that actually sticks around for more

Starting point is 00:03:08 than a couple years. So it would make sense that the two of them would be lined up. And look, as far as Polinka getting this extension and the promotion, it's going to feel like to a lot of people that Nico Harrison in many ways should be getting some type of either recognition, award, maybe a future role with the Lakers organization because the dominant story of Rao Polinka's 24-25 season is Luca Donchich. And not just landing Luca Donchich and being the guy that Nico Harrison reached out to clearly trusted in terms of being able to keep this thing quiet, being able to negotiate in good

Starting point is 00:03:55 faith over a period of time without anything ever getting out, which is no reason to relitigate any of this with Nico Harrison. But it's very clear that doing this very quietly, very cleanly was one of Nico Harrison's highest priorities. Rob Polinka was able to do that, but also in the process of making this deal, not giving up Austin Reeves to bring in Luca, not giving up Dalton Connect to bring in Luca, not giving up more than a first round pick. Like, these things in and of itself could feel like both the fodder and the impetus for Polinka's extension, but also like he's being gift-wrapped an extension for being the guy fortunate enough to have Luca Donchage dropped into his lap.

Starting point is 00:04:44 But I actually think that's not giving Rob Polinka enough credit for 2425 in its entirety because this stretches back to the offseason and hiring JJ Redick. And yes, the coaching search process was at times kind of messy, felt kind of both haphazard and sometimes like a fake coaching search when what they really wanted to do was just hire JJ Redick, but they had to go through the Kabuki theater of looking like they were actually feeling out other candidates or waiting. out JJ to finish up with ESPN calling games and then the Dan Hurley of it all. But the bottom line is JJ Redick thus far seems like he was a very good hire.

Starting point is 00:05:36 He despite being a first year, first time head coach of any, you know, of any players that older than 10 years old help lead the Lakers to a 50 win season. He's not going to win coach of the year, but he's going to get some coach of the year votes. very detail oriented, very culture building oriented, which is side note something this organization has been lacking for a while. And it might not even be reading too much into what's going on well for Polinka to give some credit to JJ in terms of culture building. But nonetheless, this was something that Rob Polinka was in charge of. And thus far, it seems like he made a very good choice than drafting Dalton Connect. And again, it's another situation where it may feel like

Starting point is 00:06:25 this landed in Rob Polinka's lap. Dalton Connect slipped much further than any of the draft analysts or prognosticators expected. But you can still overthink things. And last year, the Lakers ended up drafting Jalen Hood-Shafino with Brandon Pajemski, Jaime Hakez, other players that would have been much better, more immediately ready to help this team. Frankly, just more of NBA players. I hope Jalen Hood-Shafino can get his career on track. He's had a truly brutal run of injuries, but he was not the right selection. So ultimately, it does not feel like Rob Polinka either overthought this or really

Starting point is 00:07:12 slipped on it. other than maybe even Misi in New Orleans, there's nobody immediately in the vicinity of when they took Dalton Connect that feels like maybe would end up a better pick. I mean, guys like Keishon George or Isaiah Collier, like they almost slipped out of the first round. So if they end up better than Connect, a lot of general managers ultimately,

Starting point is 00:07:38 a lot of draft people ultimately slipped on that. But Dalton Connect so far seems like a very good pick. making the Dorian Finney Smith trade without having to give up too much in the process. But then you start getting to finding Jordan Goodwin, who ultimately turned into a rotation player for the Lakers, somebody that's really provided a lot of defensive utility, exceptional rebounding for his position. He's fit in with the group that JJ likes to call the banshees with Vando and DFS and Gabe Vincent, just the super play hard defensive oriented group to find a guy like that on a two-way deal. That's an extremely detail-oriented achievement under Rob Polinka,

Starting point is 00:08:26 even guys like Christian Coloco and Trey Jemison III on two ways. They held up pretty well during periods where Anthony Davis, Jackson Hayes, or both were hurt. And the Lakers needed to find somebody viable for center minutes. in a really competitive Western conference. They signed Christian Coloco during the off season. They were willing to wait out the period before he was cleared because they believed in what he could bring. Trey Jemison has been bouncing around on largely two-way deals.

Starting point is 00:08:57 Those guys were good signings, good fines. And again, those happened under Rob Polinka's leadership. And in particular, they jump out to me because both Brian and I have been very critical of Rob Polinka at times because, he has not struck us as properly detail-oriented, like looking at a lot of the little things that help build a team that he can, has sometimes felt like an extension of this organization's ethos where it's all about stars and nothing else matters. And obviously, the NBA is a talent-driven league and stars do matter. But stars are not the only thing that ultimately lead you to either

Starting point is 00:09:41 or championship or just building sustainable success. And this has been a really good year for Rob Polinka when it comes to details. Like does that mean, you know, because Rob Polinka's, I think, time running the Lakers organization, running basketball ops, it's had a lot of highs and a lot of lows. We've seen Rob Polinka do good work undoing very bad decisions. decisions, you know, Russell Westbrook deal as the number one example of this. Does this season necessarily convince me that Rob Polinkas learned all the lessons he's going to be great moving forward? Not necessarily, but this season makes it very understandable why Jeannie Bus

Starting point is 00:10:32 gave him an extension that, to be totally honest, I think even if, even if the Luca deal hadn't happened. My guess is this is what would have happened anyway because it's very clear through all the highs, all the lows, through the controversies, Jeannie really believes in Rob Polinka. She trusts Rob Polinka. I've said, I have said before, you know, over the course of hosting this show and whether on ESPN, writing for the athletic, whatever, there have been many times where I've thought the Lakers could and should do better than Rob Blinka. I might feel that way in a couple years. But based on this season, Rob did really good work. And I don't blame Jeannie Bus or question whether or why she would want to do that this season. I think this has been a

Starting point is 00:11:24 really strong year for Rob Belinka. I think he should get some consideration for executive of the year. I don't know if it win because I've never got the impression he's particularly popular among his peers. I've always heard the opposite, quite frankly, but it's been a really good year for Rob. And hopefully a year that he continues building on, a year that he continues focusing on some of the things that are really important in terms of building sustainable success. And again, I understand why he got this extension. And I have no complaints about it. He's had a really, really good year that I think, again, should be talked about through the lens of more. more than just Luca Donchich and landing a generational superstar just now hitting his prime.

Starting point is 00:12:15 Obviously, we're going to have more shows coming up. We're going to have a postgame show after game one on Saturday between the Lakers and the Wolves. So make sure you are subscribing on audio, YouTube, both. So you never miss anything. Before I leave, going to make sure that everybody knows that Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Upwork, Scaling your business requires the right expertise with at the right time. And with Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more experts ready to help you take your business to the next level.

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Starting point is 00:14:43 We will see everybody after game one.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers, Rob Pelinka Agree to Extension (That's More than Just a "Luka Dončić" Reward).

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