The Los Angeles Lakers announced changes to their front office on Friday, most notably in their analytics department, which general manager Mitch Kupchak believes "measure up to anybody in the league," as he told USA Today's Sam Amick.
The Lakers have revamped their basketball analytics department
Los Angeles’ analytics department has been restructured in a way that should help them keep up with the times.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Free agent LaMarcus Aldridge was reportedly unimpressed with the basketball portion of the Lakers' presentation when he met with them this summer, including a lackluster display from the analytics part. Perhaps with that in mind, Los Angeles has moved longtime assistant coach and scout Clay Moser to a position bridging the analytics department with the coaching staff. Moser will join the Lakers' director of analytics, Yuju Lee, and associate director of analytics, Aaron Danielson. The press release outlined their new roles on the team.
Los Angeles has dominated the NBA for decades in large part by having more money and a more desirable hometown than other franchises. While that still holds true, the Lakers may be realizing the importance of the analytics movement that has pushed through sports in the past decade and are just now catching up to the rest of the league.
There are five individuals in total on the Lakers’ analytics team and Kupchak feels it important to be transparent with the steps Los Angeles has made.
“I understand that (need to share more regarding their internal structure),” Kupchak told Amick. “We’re going to be judged on the product and whether we win or lose, but the last couple of years, we’re not winning. And our goal is going to remain to win games. But we do have to, I feel, we have to show our fans that we’re doing everything we can to get back to that spot. If that means sharing these inner workings of the organization more so than we ever did, then we have to do that.”
The Lakers also announced that Ryan West will become the director of player personnel while Jesse Buss will be named the assistant general manager and director of scouting.
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