Rob Pelinka Talks Drafting Bronny James | 2024 NBA Draft

Welcome everyone, good to see you on backtack days. um, you know, I think of the Los Angeles Lakers, um, I think of you, a franchise where basketball history just unfolds and takes place. I mean, if you remember the origins of the game. of basketball and Dr. M. Naith and A. already know Peach Basket and everything that came from the invention of the game. And they believe that in the history of the NBA there has never been a father and son that have shared an NBA basketball court and that feels like something that could be magical and we know and we have to respect, of course, that LeBron has a decision about his opting out and I am sure that he, his family and his agent will deliberate on what they are going to do there and Of course, he is free to decide what is best for him and his family, but if it turns out that he is in our team next season, history could be made in the NBA and NBA history should be made in the Lakers uniform, this is how globally What I feel about the moment of the

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, but more important than that is to talk about Bronnie James as a basketball player because this is his day and he was selected with the 55th pick.

Bronnie is first and foremost a high character person and secondly he is an incredibly hard working young man and those are the qualities that we look for when selecting players and adding to our developmental core at the Lakers. He had a great

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workout with us where he showed me those qualities and our lunch we shared. In the building just getting to know each other it was clear that he was a man of character in terms of his work ethic. I think we've all seen that he lived that too. He is not a person who has ever taken shortcuts or expected or had rights.

Regarding basketball opportunities, he has worked for everything he has gotten, including being drafted today at age 55, so it is an honor for us to add him to our program. Coach Reic is already excited about implementing a development plan around him to increase his basketball skills and turn him into the player that we believe can impact and help this franchise, so with that I'll open him up for questions. Yes, Rob, to go further about Ronnie as a basketball player. How would you describe his game? What did you like about what he saw at USC? Also in your offensive, defensive, athletic training, what are the things that make you a basketball player?

Yes, I think the path to ultimate victory in the NBA is with two-way players that you know can be great defenders and can be shooters on offense. and if you're able to develop guys like that and surround your superstar players with them, that's a good recipe for success and, uh, Bron is that type, I think he'll be a point of attack, defender, that can really be disruptive. in the path. he protects other teams' point guards. I think he can defend multiple positions. And we've really seen growth in shooting from him. I think at the combine, when we were there with the scouting staff, he was one of the leaders and he kind of made it his own. shots and some of the drills, and we really believe that he can become an elite shot taker, so just a three and D player, I'm sure you saw the draft board and you know you're 17 and 55 years old. about your prospect evaluation process, when did it start to become a reality that this could happen today as part of the team?

Yes, so you know that last night Dave, of course, was with the team we had, you don't know the player. It means the clock is ticking, you have no idea if a team before you is going to draft a prospect you highly value, so it doesn't really become real until the previous pick is made and therefore when the team photo before us he chose and his. The name wasn't taken, that's when it really started to get real. I called his agent, who was with Bronnie, and Bronnie was put on speakerphone and Coach Reck and I were able to welcome him to the Lakers family.

Let him know that this moment happened mainly because of the work he put into the game and the young character that he is, that's what they expressed to him in the phone call. Rob, you just mentioned the possible development plan with the coach. reic, what can you share about what next year might look like? Yes, man, great question. You know, the coach and I are in the process of developing his personnel as we speak, but as we talked about in our opening press conference, we really want to take advantage. Kind of an innovative, new look at how players develop and that archetype will be wrapped around Bronnie and the other players that we know go two ways as we bring in guys and the young players that we already have on our roster, so um.

I just think it's a perfect time as the coach develops his player development or PD staff to really dedicate himself to the guys that we have here and I think you guys will see that in real time once we've hired that staff. You mentioned obviously that LeBron has the decisions to do it. You mention that NBA history could be made if they play together. How much did you ask Brian? This is how he feels sharing the court with his father. I guess what his response was. Yes, really. Kobe we really kept the draft process to Bronny being a Laker and what we felt we needed to do to help him be great and the core qualities that we saw in him, so we didn't talk much about that just because again we want to. respect his father's decision as a free agent, um, so that wasn't really something that came up.

How much of this? Because he had a heart problem and wasn't able to play as much as he would have expected at USC. How much of this? It's going to have to be development, yes, it's a good question. You know, we had a player on our roster this year and we gave it to Vincent that he had to have surgery and missed some time and we saw him come back at the end of the season. in the playoffs and he was really good defensively, but the offensive rhythm wasn't quite there and I remember while I was evaluating our team I thought he's similar to Bronnie, you know, I think he had a really strong defensive year with us, we see that in terms of being like that.

Hound point of attack with the ball, but perhaps because of the significant amount of time he took out, the offensive flow wasn't what you know it could be, so I think polishing that backup to get him back into an offensive rhythm really goes to help. catapult him back onto the trajectory of being that developmental player we really hope Mark steals. You mentioned a lot about Bron's character, which stands out to you to show that he is really well equipped to handle all the expectations and extra attention. given the Lakers and yes, of course, I think as he grows, there's a fish ball, there's a lot of eyes watching everything you do and I think he's been able to handle all of that with extreme maturity, it's evident when you spend time with him. who doesn't let things bother him he is who he is he believes in himself he was raised by LeBron and Savannah to be very respectful to the coaches in my case a general manager but when he walks into the room you know you have his attention because they taught him that and it's very genuine um and you can tell right away that this is a fine young man that was raised the right way yeah Rob just considering what you know Ronnie had to go through with his heart and even how that would have impacted the season as a basketball player.

Do you also see any kind of added advantage as he gets back to playing more basketball? How is that taken into account throughout the evaluation process? Yeah, he's 19, you know? I think about doing some of the things that he can do so athletically, especially as a 19-year-old, and with the shooting consistency that he's really shown in the draft process. You can see the foundation there for sure and I think now, of course, when you're in college you're juggling a lot of things you're juggling your school load your family life basketball now he'll be able to dedicate all of his resources to playing basketball and I think he really I think the trajectory will be aggressive one and we are very excited about the fundamental qualities that it has and then grow, we have a couple more follow-ups and we will finish with Dave and then we will finish with Rob, we see each other a lot of the time, as a team, with each other, that .

When something happens like last July, you feel it more than just a co-worker's family member going through a medical skater. Can you even reflect on your perspective? In the 11 months that have followed since you know, without knowing it. the trauma of that situation, I guess the joy, yeah, I think you know, listen to me. I remember we won the season n tournament in Las Vegas and it became known that Bronny was going to have his first game at USC, after everything he had to do. hang in there and um it was really important to be there in the moment for that so I made sure you knew to come back even though we wanted to celebrate the IST and have some fun in Vegas but it was really important to just be there in the moment , I think that's what the Lakers family is about, um, and I think the emotions of it all is when it really sets in, I think it's in those moments where he got back on the court and was able to do it.

Be healthy and play and uh, that was the last special question. He, this organization is no stranger to crazy things that happen. Back to fishing, LeBron jumps. I mean, this could create a Ccus atmosphere. There will be some strong narratives about JJ and this. The organization prepared for this type of thing. The biggest moment in sports happens with the Lakers and that's how we're built and we're excited to see how this story unfolds.