Despite previous false reports by the media that the Los Angeles Lakers' front office didn't back current head coach Luke Walton, general manager Rob Pelinka said that he fully supports the 37-year-old head coach.
According to an interview with Lakers analyst Mike Bresnahan that aired Friday night on Spectrum SportsNet's “Connected With,” Pelinka assured that he and team president Magic Johnson fully supported Walton as Lakers head coach.
“Luke’s done a tremendous job, we fully support him,” Pelinka said. “Magic, myself, Jeanie. At the same time, all of us, me as a GM, Magic as a team president, Luke as a coach, we all want to become better. Every day we want to get better. The great players in the game, Lakers like Magic and Kobe, they would challenge themselves every offseason. ‘How do I return as a better version of myself?’ Luke pushes us to be better in the front office, we push him to be better as a coach. We’re all judged by whether or not we can get that trophy. And we’re judged by the wins and losses. We all want to stay together and continue to get better as a group.”
With Walton in his second year as the head coach of the Lakers, Pelinka thinks that he is exceptional at being able to interact with his players and develop a high level of trust among them.
“One of Luke's big, big strengths is his ability to interact with the players,” Pelinka said. “Because he played and won a championship with great players and he coached and won a championship with the guys up north. So I think his rapport with our players is one of the things that really stands out. There's a level of trust and he can talk with them at their level. That's one of the qualities that's really stood out to me.”
Pelinka is someone who really puts a lot of emphasis on great communication within the organization and feels like he's able to connect with Walton on a daily basis.
“One of the most important things to me as a general manager is fluid communication with the staff. So Luke and I try to do that in person daily. If I'm on the road trips, I'll meet with him. If I'm here, we usually meet in person,” Pelinka said. “I think that there's nothing that replaces in-person time. Texting doesn't do it, email, Facebook or phone call. Luke is a really comfortable person to meet with. We'll get together and we'll talk and Magic does the same. Sometimes the three of us will break down the game and I think that's really important to our success.”
Walton and his young Lakers (16-29) won for the fifth time in their last seven games on Friday night with a historic 99-86 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Staples Center. Los Angeles will next host the New York Knicks (21-25) on Sunday afternoon.
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