The Lakers have made one of their first big hires in the scouting department under new assistant general manager Eric Amsler
.On Thursday, Marc Spears of Andscape reported that the team had hired Pooh Jeter as the new Director of Pro Scouting, a move made by Amsler.
At Media Day, President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka noted that the team intended to start building out its scouting department. Over the summer, he said the franchise made around 15 hires.
Jeter had a lengthy professional career overseas with stops in Ukraine, Spain and China, among other countries. He had a brief stint with the Sacramento Kings and spent some time with the shortly-lived G League Ignite.
After retiring, Jeter joined the Blazers as a player development coach and assistant GM of the team’s G League franchise, Rip City Remix. Shortly after being hired, he spoke with SLAM about his new role and his career in basketball up to that point in an informative interview for fans looking for more insight into him.
While Amsler’s hiring already dispelled the notion, this further pushes back against the idea that the team was in a hiring freeze during the transition from Mark Walter to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. And the quicker the team can build out its scouting department, the better it is for everyone involved.
Obviously, everyone is going to bring with them an inherent knowledge of the league, few more so than Amsler himself, but the quicker the staff can be built out, the quicker the franchise and this year’s Lakers can reap the benefits of having a fully fleshed-out scouting department.
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