LOS ANGELES – Sometimes when Los Angeles Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka sits with his daughter, Emery, it occurs to him how daunting the planned reboot of the NBA in Orlando is.
“I had dinner for dinner, where I will look over and my 10 year old daughter has tears in her eyes and I ask her why and she says, ‘Is it because Dad could have been gone for 3 years and a half months?” Pelinka, who is also the general manager of the Lakers, said in a video conference Tuesday with reporters. “Yes, that stuff is part of this. But I think he understands the bigger picture.”
It is the complete context that comes with the bigger picture, however, that puts the league’s attempted attempt in the right attempt.
In the midst of a pandemic that has already caused nearly 129,000 casualties in the United States, the Lakers are preparing to fly 2,500 miles away from home to remain in a state where new coronavirus cases have increased from less than a thousand to day earlier this month to nearly 10,000 on June 27, and camped there until mid-October. And they are doing so with a list of 17 men – including two-way players and the expected addition of JR Smith to replace Avery Bradley, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN – which includes 16 black men, while the country is in the middle of an unprecedented national movement to correct social injustice and racial inequality.
There is a lot to accept. And as such, Pelinka believes the Orlando bubble will challenge his team’s brain as much as their bodies as they attempt to get back in shape with a one-week individual training camp that opens on Wednesday after a 3 and a half month break .
“I think Orlando itself will be as much a mental test as a physical test just because of the extraordinary circumstances there,” said Pelinka. “I think a team like ours that has such a strong solidarity component will have an advantage in that part. This team of guys loves being together and playing together. I think it’s the significant part of the (first) 63 games.”
The last time someone saw the Lakers on the field, they were going up. LA went 8-2 after the All-Star hiatus, including impressive streak wins against the Milwaukee Bucks and LA Clippers, and hit record no. 1 in the Western Conference at 49-14. With everything that has happened since then – from the circumstances around COVID-19 that prompted Bradley to go out to be with his family, to the team awaiting Dwight Howard’s decision on Orlando as he continues to mourn the death of Melissa Rios, the mother of one of her children who died of an epileptic attack in March, Pelinka is trying to strengthen her team for the stress ahead.
“We have,” said Pelinka, “put a lot of thoughts into the mental part of this journey. It will be as much physical exertion as it will be mental exertion. And I think the mental component could also be more prominent. And so, yes .. here we have mental wellbeing staff and are working with them to develop a protocol to address some of the concerns that will arise from a long period away from the family or an extended period of life in a city that is not your home. “
Pelinka cited the unconventional approach of former Lakers coach Phil Jackson, featured in ESPN’s The Last Dance – which specifically embraces yoga and meditation with his teams – as ways in which current Lakers can deal with the reboot of Florida.
“Just by keeping the kids cool, keeping life interesting,” said Pelinka. “By keeping everyone’s passions sharp, I’m sure there will be many, many stories that will come out of Orlando about some of the different practices that evolve once we get over there.”
However, GM Lakers has made it known that he thinks his team is ready for the task. Whether he relies on the franchise’s story (Pelinka said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently spoke to the players about systematic injustice) or even crippling some of Jackson’s coaching methods, he says the team is preparing for its future. – as dark as the next few months might seem.
The close ties the Lakers have already established this season, Pelinka said, will help them when they are away from home, whether it’s a big picture like navigating the winds of change in the United States or integrating three types of Smith to Smith, Dion Waiters and Markieff Morris in formation who have joined together to play only eight games for purple and gold this season.
“I think we are in a unique situation where we had such a strong chemistry, such a strong team chemistry, that I think the platform will be perfect in terms of guys who jump up and are part of that identity and chemistry that we had already formed “said Pelinka. “I don’t see it change with the new additions at all, just because it’s such a strong identity.”
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