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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) – Rob Pelinka says the Los Angeles Lakers are not trying to beat the Golden State Warriors at their own game.
Instead, they build a team around LeBron James to do something different.
Pelinka spoke publicly on Wednesday for the first time since the start of the remarkable revision of the Lakers offseason, and the former irrepressibly optimistic agent has radiated enthusiasm for the future from a team that has not participated in the playoffs for five seasons.
"Getting LeBron James' commitment to come to the Lakers for four years was really the culmination of everything we were working on," Pelinka said. "When LeBron chose to come here, it was the ultimate validation for the moves we've made and what we've built since we started."
The longest playoff drought in franchise history could be over after James chose the Lakers in free will. The club also added veterans Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson alongside their young core while separating with Julius Randle and Brook Lopez, among others.
Pelinka and top executive Magic Johnson hope the result will be a solid and defensive team with enough attack to disturb the Warriors, the Houston Rockets and all other title contenders.
"I think trying to play the Warriors at their own game is a trap," Pelinka said. "Nobody is going to beat them at their own game, that's why we wanted to add these elements of defense and strength and depth and try to look at the areas where we will have an advantage."
Pelinka said the Lakers were concentrating their efforts to recruit free agencies on multi-talented, playoff-tested talent who can score and defend, instead of looking for elite players with a single specialty . He hopes the result will be a flexible and dangerous team under coach Luke Walton – and a different look around James, whose Cleveland Cavaliers teams often looked like a collection of perimeter shooters whose deficiencies were exposed by Golden State and others.
Pelinka praised Rondo as a goaltender whose championship pedigree will fill a void on the list. He also described Stephenson as providing "extreme harshness and benefit", comparing his skills to Dennis Rodman's contributions to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, or to Metta World Peace's work with the Kobe Bryant Lakers at the end of his career.
"The road to the NBA championship must go through the team that won last year, and we all know that the guys from the North have a special group," said Pelinka. "But one of the ways to attack what they have is with a defensive hardness – I think we've seen that in the Houston series with some of the players Houston has."
Pelinka's desire for flexibility also extended to the payroll. After exchanging draft picks and winning high-priced veterans in hopes of winning now with Bryant, the Lakers were outmatched until Pelinka and Johnson had spent the last 16 months creating enough space to sign two free agents.
They only got one, even though the Lakers still seem to be vying for Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio star dissatisfied, who still has a year of contract with the Spurs.
No matter what happens, Pelinka said the series of one – year contracts passed by James Laker would put them in a position to have enough space again for captains in the summer next, when more stars might be available to join James.
Pelinka said the Lakers will have "an open training camp" in September, with only James guaranteed to be a starter. This means that Rondo and second-year pro Lonzo Ball will face off to become the Los Angeles point guard, a possibility that was welcomed by Rondo after his signing.
Pelinka also said that Ball will be in great shape for the training camp. The leader has a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Pelinka's idiosyncrasies resurfaced on Wednesday, as GM begins its press conference by reading a passage from "The Alchemist" by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, a book recommended by James Bryant and worn by James during the playoffs. The passage describes the decision-making process being "only the beginning of things".
"I hope this will lead to things … that happen that are bigger than our dreams could ever imagine," Pelinka said.
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