The Lakers Hire Eric Amsler as Assistant GM... Are More Front Office Hires Coming?

Good news out of El Segundo on Wednesday. The Lakers reportedly have hired (now former) Miami Heat executive Eric Amsler as another assistant general manager under Rob Pelinka.

Amsler spent two decades in Miami, a place that famously holds on to its executives for a long time. He has worked extensively in the scouting functions, which is definitely a place where the Heat have thrived. Few teams have been more adept at consistently finding inexpensive players who produce in highly defined roles than the Heat. (How well those players produce in other roles, as Lakers fans know, is a different story.) The Lakers, quite prominently, basically don't have a scouting department, which indicates that Amsler could be the guy tasked with changing that. (In the same way that Rohan Ramadas is geared towards analytics.)

So is this a good hire? Hard to say. How responsible is Amsler for Miami's relatively consistent success? Also hard to say.

But the Lakers are pulling from a good org, with a guy who has a resume indicating some skill at something they're missing. That's good.

And the big Q: What this means for Rob Pelinka? Probably nothing. Amsler doesn't profile as a typical "GM in waiting" type. Pelinka's viability going forward is likely based on the team's success this year, and if they run him out of town there's a good chance new ownership will be looking for much stronger, or at least prominent, candidates than Amsler.

But it's still a welcome development, and an indication that the concern over a hiring freeze while ownership sorts itself out may not be totally accurate.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers hire another assistant GM.

SEGMENT 2: Is Amsler a good add?

SEGMENT 3: What does this mean for Pelinka?

Photo Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images

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