If Rob Pelinka were so inclined, he could have used the occasion Sunday night to have a hearty laugh at our expense.
Go back nearly 17 months, to the day that Frank Vogel was introduced as the Lakers’ head coach. That morning, Magic Johnson – who had left his VP of basketball operations position a month earlier, hinting of difficulties working with General Manager Pelinka – came out with both barrels blasting on an ESPN talk show, reinforcing the narratives that Pelinka was backstabbing him and too many sources on the inside were offering opinions on how to proceed.
We don’t know if any of those sources on the inside were minimized as a result – well, except for Magic. But we do know that when Pelinka showed up and took questions that afternoon, he took the heat without striking back, emphasizing that the most important thing he could do would be to concentrate on the work.
He also said this, which seemed loony at the time but sounds prophetic now:
“We know who we are. We know the characteristics and qualities we stand for. We know as a staff and feel very strongly that if people judge and evaluate us for who we are as an organization, and the vision and the path going forward, we feel it’ll be a very, very strong appeal for the great players to come here.”
And he said this, as well: “Simply put, the best way to quiet the noise is to do what the Lakers do, and that’s to win and compete for banners. The noise will exist if you’re not doing that.”
It was 25 days after that May 20, 2019 news conference that the Anthony Davis trade was made with New Orleans, though it didn’t become official for another couple of weeks. That, and the moves that followed – signing Avery Bradley, Dwight Howard and Danny Green and re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso – resulted in noise of a different sort Sunday night.
Celebratory noise.
After the 106-93 victory over the Miami Heat in the Orlando bubble secured the franchise’s 17th championship, Pelinka came to the interview room wearing a 2020 NBA Champions cap. No further answer to the criticism was necessary.
(And yes, I’ll raise my hand and acknowledge I was one of the doubters. Obviously, this is why people like me aren’t making high-level basketball decisions.)
“What I’ve learned in life is that the hard times or the trials (are) when you grow,” he said Sunday night via Zoom from the bubble. “You turn to your faith, you turn to your family, to your loved ones. And more than anything else, I think the lesson that all of us on the inside know is you’ve got to just be about the work. You can’t really get caught up in the noise.”
He said he had discussed with his wife, Kris, and with his friend, Kobe Bryant, the idea of not letting either the praise or the criticism affect him.
“I’m not going to get caught up in the praise, because if you do that you get prideful and big-headed and arrogant,” he said. “But I’m also not going to get caught up in the criticism because then you’ll doubt yourself. What I am going to get caught up in is the work, the hard work and the smart work.
“I’m just grateful that the work we put in led to this, and all the other stuff really doesn’t mean anything when you’re handed the trophy.”
There were certainly times over the last six years when the return of Lakers Exceptionalism seemed a delusion rather than a realistic goal. But it turns out the true believers had it right, even after James got hurt last season, the team fell out of contention, Magic bailed and the old mom-and-pop way of doing business was being overshadowed by the hot new attraction down the Staples Center hallway.
“What gave me faith is that Rob Pelinka told me he would do whatever it takes to make sure that we would become a winning franchise again,” James said Sunday night.
“Obviously, championships are not promised, and I don’t expect that. But he said he would do whatever it takes to make this franchise (win). Whatever personnel changes he needs to make, any part of our organization, he would do it because he wanted to win just as much.”
The ability to surround James and Davis with the kind of players who can help win a championship should not be understated. The Lakers made a serious play for Kawhi Leonard in free agency last summer, but when Leonard chose the Clippers Pelinka pivoted to Plan B.
“Kobe … always talked about his ‘counters,’” Pelinka recalled. “One year maybe he would dominate with a fadeaway, and so the next year he would come back and teams would say, ‘Hey, we have to take away his fadeaway,’ so he would work on his spin move and attack the rim.
“In free agency last year, obviously we made a run to acquire a max free agent, but we had a counter, we had a backup plan, and I knew we had a way to pivot and build a team with the other players we were able to acquire.
“It worked out well, obviously. But it was hard work. It wasn’t just happenstance, (like) ‘Oh, let’s go sign a bunch of guys. I can’t take credit because we have a front office of a lot of incredibly hard-working, bright people in our basketball operations department, and it takes a village to have success and all those people (were) helping with that plan. It came together and here we are.”
It is bittersweet, for Pelinka and for the entire Lakers organization, because Bryant is not around to share the joy. The helicopter crash that killed Kobe, his daughter Gianna and seven others occurred a little more than two weeks after Pelinka had received a contract extension and been promoted to vice president of basketball operations. Pelinka had represented Kobe as a player agent and was a close family friend.“Kobe’s voice is always in my head, always, every day, every minute,” Pelinka said Sunday night.
“There would be times in my hotel room here – when you’re in a bubble for a hundred days, it’s tough – there would be times in the middle of the night I would hear his voice: Stay the course. Finish the task. To be able to have a friend who changed my life, and helped me understand what greatness was about and sacrifice was about, there’s not many greater gifts. To be able to share this moment right now, knowing that he and Gianna are looking down from heaven … I know he’s a proud friend, I know he is.
“When I took the job, I remember he said, ‘Hey, I know what you did for me for 20 years.’ He said, ‘I’ll give you two, three years, you’ll fix this. You’ll get the Lakers back on top.’”
He was right.
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