Originally published by LakersNation.com
Much of the focus when looking at the Los Angeles Lakers roster has been on the free agency and trade additions that were made to fit alongside superstar Luka Doncic and his backcourt partner Austin Reaves. But the Lakers have some intriguing young talent as well and chief among them is rookie wing Cameron Carr.
Carr was the Lakers’ first-round pick this year at 24th overall and he showed some very promising skills in Summer League that have many excited about what he can bring to this team. And head coach JJ Redick made it clear that even though the Lakers have a number of wings vying for playing time, Carr will have his opportunities this year.
“Yeah, again, I mean, we’ve got six or seven wings that have an opportunity to play,” Redick said during he and Rob Pelinka’s press conference. “We’re going to play more guys this year. We’re just naturally deeper. We have the luxury of doing that, if we’re healthy with this roster. So there’s going to be an opportunity for him. Those opportunities may be here and there, he may be part of the rotation. I haven’t made any decisions on that so far, but he’s certainly off to a great start.
“I’ll tell a quick story about Cam. He gets drafted, we talk, spend some time with Scott Drew, talked to him about him. Sounded like a great kid, high character. So I go to Vegas, was at mini-camp and one of the summer league games. And Cam had like a small little injury. So he flew back to LA to get an MRI, and then flew back Vegas. I’m like, he already played five summer league games. He didn’t have to play in that game. And he, you know, wrapped whatever was going on, hooped that night, played great. That’s rare, that’s rare. It really is in today’s NBA. I don’t care if you’re a rookie or a 10-year guy, that’s just rare.
“Like, the guy wants to play, he wants to learn, he wants the compete. You know, and again… Where he was on our board was not 24. He was much higher. So we feel very fortunate that we were able to get Cam. Again, going back to Zach and the system that we’ve developed over the past, since we formally hired Zach in this role, the system we’ve built and are going to continue to develop over the next few months. We just feel very fortunate to get him and be able to develop Cam as an NBA player.”
That is a lot of praise for Carr and just shows how much he has stood out to Redick already in just a couple of months.
Rob Pelinka calls Cameron Carr ‘extraordinary talent’
Pelinka also had a lot to say about Carr, but his focus was more on him as a person and not a basketball player.
“Yeah, I mean, extraordinary talent,” Pelinka added. “The basketball tools are easy to see. Showcased them at Baylor in a big way. We did a deep dive into him as a person, and we’re really satisfied with the character and what came out in terms of the work ethic. I have a great relationship with Scott Drew and spent a lot of time with Scott around Cam Carr. We brought Tony Bennett on to our sort of in our scouting circles, and he was able to get some really good information about the human being.
“That’s such a big part of the equation. And I think what we’ve seen here with Cam is that he’s an extraordinary athlete and an incredible shooter, but he’s also a very curious and inquisitive learner. And what he’s soaking up day to day with our player development staff, led by Zach (Guthrie) and Chris Ebersole, you can see him forming before our eyes and even in the pickup game right behind this curtain today, he was on Luka’s team, and Luka was looking for him ’cause he was knocking down corner threes. Had a couple back-cut lobs where Luka threw it up, and he came out of — Cam came out of nowhere to finish. So we’re super excited about him, mostly the person.”
So far it looks like Carr is everything the Lakers hoped he would be and more and he will be a player to watch closely whenever he gets his chances this season.
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Much of the focus when looking at the Los Angeles Lakers roster has been on the free agency and trade additions that were made to fit alongside superstar Luka Doncic and his backcourt partner Austin Reaves. But the Lakers have some intriguing young talent as well and chief among them is rookie wing Cameron Carr.
Carr was the Lakers’ first-round pick this year at 24th overall and he showed some very promising skills in Summer League that have many excited about what he can bring to this team. And head coach JJ Redick made it clear that even though the Lakers have a number of wings vying for playing time, Carr will have his opportunities this year.
“Yeah, again, I mean, we’ve got six or seven wings that have an opportunity to play,” Redick said during he and Rob Pelinka’s press conference. “We’re going to play more guys this year. We’re just naturally deeper. We have the luxury of doing that, if we’re healthy with this roster. So there’s going to be an opportunity for him. Those opportunities may be here and there, he may be part of the rotation. I haven’t made any decisions on that so far, but he’s certainly off to a great start.
“I’ll tell a quick story about Cam. He gets drafted, we talk, spend some time with Scott Drew, talked to him about him. Sounded like a great kid, high character. So I go to Vegas, was at mini-camp and one of the summer league games. And Cam had like a small little injury. So he flew back to LA to get an MRI, and then flew back Vegas. I’m like, he already played five summer league games. He didn’t have to play in that game. And he, you know, wrapped whatever was going on, hooped that night, played great. That’s rare, that’s rare. It really is in today’s NBA. I don’t care if you’re a rookie or a 10-year guy, that’s just rare.
“Like, the guy wants to play, he wants to learn, he wants the compete. You know, and again… Where he was on our board was not 24. He was much higher. So we feel very fortunate that we were able to get Cam. Again, going back to Zach and the system that we’ve developed over the past, since we formally hired Zach in this role, the system we’ve built and are going to continue to develop over the next few months. We just feel very fortunate to get him and be able to develop Cam as an NBA player.”
That is a lot of praise for Carr and just shows how much he has stood out to Redick already in just a couple of months.
Rob Pelinka calls Cameron Carr ‘extraordinary talent’
Pelinka also had a lot to say about Carr, but his focus was more on him as a person and not a basketball player.
“Yeah, I mean, extraordinary talent,” Pelinka added. “The basketball tools are easy to see. Showcased them at Baylor in a big way. We did a deep dive into him as a person, and we’re really satisfied with the character and what came out in terms of the work ethic. I have a great relationship with Scott Drew and spent a lot of time with Scott around Cam Carr. We brought Tony Bennett on to our sort of in our scouting circles, and he was able to get some really good information about the human being.
“That’s such a big part of the equation. And I think what we’ve seen here with Cam is that he’s an extraordinary athlete and an incredible shooter, but he’s also a very curious and inquisitive learner. And what he’s soaking up day to day with our player development staff, led by Zach (Guthrie) and Chris Ebersole, you can see him forming before our eyes and even in the pickup game right behind this curtain today, he was on Luka’s team, and Luka was looking for him ’cause he was knocking down corner threes. Had a couple back-cut lobs where Luka threw it up, and he came out of — Cam came out of nowhere to finish. So we’re super excited about him, mostly the person.”
So far it looks like Carr is everything the Lakers hoped he would be and more and he will be a player to watch closely whenever he gets his chances this season.
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