Lakers News: How Former LA Champ, Coach Feels About 2023 Offseason Moves

He knows something about title-winning rosters.

Your Los Angeles Lakers enjoyed a surprisingly prolific offseason when it came to adding intriguing, high-upside young talent, in addition to re-signing its most important incumbent, starting shooting guard Austin Reaves. 

Power forward Rui Hachimura had a probably-unsustainably hot shooting run through the playoffs last spring, and Los Angeles may have overpaid him a bit in part for future trade consideration, but the 25-year-old still has room to grow while playing for a postseason contender on the NBA's premiere franchise, so it wouldn't be so bad if the Lakers held onto him for the duration of his new three-year, $51 million deal, either. In just 24.3 minutes a night across 16 contests (one start), Hachimura averaged 12.2 points on .557/.487/.882 shooting splits, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.6 ssists for LA.

LA also brought back starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, a move I wouldn't have loved in a vacuum because of just how unplayably bad he was in the Western Conference Finals, but which feels more like a pre-trade maneuver than a long-term investment. Most importantly, the Lakers signed a better player, ex-Miami Heat point guard Gabe Vincent, at the same position for less money.

In a fresh interview with Scoop B Selects host Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, former Showtime Lakers shooting guard (and former LA head coach from 2014-16) Byron Scott spoke at length about Rob Pelinka's various offseason moves.

"I love what they did in the offseason," Scott told Robinson. "You gotta give Rob Pelinka a lot of credit; I think right now he’s the Executive of the Year for what he was able to bring to the table so, I’m looking at that purple and gold and I said this at a golf tournament the other day, I’d be surprised if they’re NOT in the NBA Finals barring injuries and all that we always knows that happens in the regular season. VERY excited for the Purple and Gold this year!"

"The biggest surprise to me was getting Gabe Vincent away from Miami," Scott added. "I thought that he was going to stay in Miami because the guy proved that he can play this game; he plays with a lot of passion, a lot of heart, a helluva defender, can shoot the ball, understands the game extremely well… I was really surprised and very happily surprised that the Lakers were able to pull that off."

During the Heat's run to the NBA Finals last spring, he averaged 12.7 points on .402/.378/.882 shooting splits (he shot 6.1 triples a game at that 37.8% rate, by the way), 3.5 assists, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 steals, while contributing solid two-way defense as arguably Miami's third-best player (Caleb Martin's terrific Eastern Conference Finals stint notwithstanding).

Scott knows a thing or two about championship roster construction.

After being selected with the fourth pick out of Arizona State in the 1983 NBA draft, Scott went on to win titles in 1985, 1987 and 1988 with his hometown Lakers as the club's starting shooting guard, playing alongside Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy.

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