The Lakers stood pat roster-wise this summer, bringing back the group that had to come out of the play-in round again last spring and then got bounced in the first round by Denver. Is this wise? (Fans, don’t all shout “NO!” at once.) Vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka is essentially gambling that a new coaching staff and heightened player development emphasis will lift a team that hasn’t finished above seventh in the Western Conference the last four years and hasn’t reached 50 victories since the championship season of 2019-20. He’s assuming, basically, that the run to the conference finals two years ago was an indicator and not an outlier, and that this roster is better than play-in level. Oh, and LeBron James turns 40 at the end of December. Is this “sustainable Lakers excellence?” That’s the term Pelinka used during his media availability with new coach JJ Redick last week, supposedly the base line – or, if you prefer, buzz words – for achievement in an organization that won its 17th title in ’20 but has spent a good portion of the last three seasons on the edges of the wilderness. And by the way, their historic rivals in Boston will hang banner No. 18 in a few weeks. The pursuit of the guys in green, which has characterized much of this franchise’s 64-season existence in Los Angeles, is back on. The pressure, from a fan base accustomed to superstars and championships and memorable moments? That never went away. This summer’s major overhaul is on the sideline, and it remains to be seen how the switch from Darvin Ham to Redick, a first-time coach, impacts winning and losing. The new guy will have two former NBA head coaches beside him, which should help: Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks, along with Bob Beyer, an NBA assistant for 17 seasons (including stints in Orlando and New Orleans when Redick played for those teams). The other assistants all have extensive player development backgrounds, and that should be a clue as to where this project is headed. They include Greg St. Jean, who was on Frank Vogel’s staff here and more recently on Vogel’s staff in Phoenix; former WNBA player Lindsey Harding, the Lakers’ first female coach (and the G League Coach of the Year last year as head coach of the Sacramento Kings’ affiliate in Stockton); and Beau Levesque, who was on the Clippers’ staff the past four years as a player development coordinator. Zach Guthrie was hired to coach the G League’s South Bay Lakers, and Redick considers him “an extension of our coaching staff” and is anticipating closer integration between the teams that share a practice facility. Ty Abbott, who crossed paths with Redick in Philly in 2018-19, was hired in August as the lead player development coach. For the record, Abbott most recently was in Chicago, where he worked with the Bulls’ Zach LaVine, the former UCLA Bruin who just happens to be the subject of trade rumors involving the Lakers – or at least trade fantasies from some Laker fans. And no, before you say it or even think it, all of those player development coaches won’t necessarily be ganging up on Bronny James. Not all at once, anyway. But this does signal a serious Lakers commitment to developing their own, which makes sense with a roster led by LeBron and Anthony Davis, who turns 32 in March. Who, if any, from among the group of young hopefuls (Bronny, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Dalton Knecht, Maxwell Lewis, Colin Castleton, etc.) will step forward? “I think to win now, in today’s NBA, you need seven or eight players that really impact winning – and it doesn’t mean seven or eight superstars that need the ball in their hands,” Redick said Wednesday, going on to mention Christie, a third-year player from Michigan State, and Hood-Schifino, a second-year guy from Indiana, as potentially part of that mix eventually. Remember, though, Hood-Schifino was drafted 17th in 2023 and played 21 games for the big Lakers and 15 for South Bay before back surgery ended his season. The players drafted right after him, UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. by Miami and Santa Clara’s Brandin Podziemski by Golden State, had immediate NBA impacts. Pelinka, during Wednesday’s press conference, noted that “every GM has made a trade that they say, ‘Ah, maybe that one wasn’t ideal.” That applies to draft picks, too. For his sake, 2024 first-rounder Knecht had better be more productive. Right now, if you had to pick Redick’s “seven or eight” players who need to impact winning, start with LeBron and A.D. and add Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent. Vanderbilt provided defense and rebounding at power forward after the Lakers got him at the trade deadline in 2023, but he was limited last year because of injuries to both feet. He had procedures done on both during the summer, and he will not be active at the start of training camp. Vincent, the former UC Santa Barbara star signed last summer from the Heat, played just 11 games before knee surgery. He’ll be ready for camp this week, as will Hood-Schifino and Hachimura (a calf injury, suffered while playing for Japan at the Paris Olympics). Christian Wood will miss the start of camp recovering from a cleanup procedure on his knee. Pelinka’s reasoning for not making any major moves was that this was the nucleus of the team that rallied from a 2-10 start to get to the 2023 conference finals. What he didn’t say, but what we all see, is (a) that team had to go 18-7 from Feb. 15 on just to get into the play-in round, and (b) the key parts of that roster are two years older, with the wear and tear that goes with it. That “sustainable Lakers excellence” line was what Pelinka came up with when asked what it would take to part with the team’s two biggest trade chips, first-round picks in 2029 and either ’30 or ’31. He said he would use one of those picks “to make a marginal upgrade if we felt like it was the right thing to do.” True, it is harder to upgrade because of the league’s more restrictive salary cap system. The Lakers are right up against it, some $61.9 million over the cap according to Spotrac and $45,001 under the second apron maximum. But while standing pat might have been their best (or only) option right now, it doesn’t pacify a demanding public. It certainly doesn’t set up any sustained excellence, especially as LeBron’s career winds down and A.D.’s is on the back side. Mainly, Pelinka is betting on health. I think we’ve seen in another Los Angeles sports venue how perilous that can be. And given that he has two years remaining on his own contract, that’s an awfully gutsy risk. [email protected]