Tony Bennett, NCAA champion who helps the Lakers in the draft

The Lakers’ organizational chart continues to evolve, a few months after being taken over by Mark Walter. Tony Bennettformer Virginia coach in the NCAA, will join the franchise as a Draft File Advisor.

A logical recruitment given the career of the technician, who led the Virginia Cavaliers for fifteen seasons (2009-2024) in the NCAA. In Charlottesville, Tony Bennett built one of the benchmarks of modern college basketball between defensive demands, collective discipline, “coachable” players and a strong identity, crowned with the state title in 2019. That year, Virginia relied especially on De’Andre Hunter, Ju Jerome and Jay.

2024 Tony Bennett leaves Virginia with a record of 364 wins and 136 losses, as well as two Coach of the Year titles (2007, 2018). In Los Angeles, his mission will be to support Rob Pelinka in evaluating prospects, with a known eye for reliable, technical profiles with a high basketball IQ.

The “Scout” department is changing hands

“We couldn’t imagine a better basketball spirit than Tony Bennett”, said Rob Pelinka. “Tony’s track record of building a culture, with players of character, high technicality and high basketball IQ, is admired and respected throughout the basketball world. He will be an incredible asset to our leadership, to our scouts and to our entire Draft department. We are really excited about that.”

For his part, Tony Bennett said he was motivated by the prestige of the organization: “When Rob and I started talking, what stood out to me was the opportunity to help such a prestigious organization. The Lakers have a tradition that speaks for itself, so being associated with this franchise and helping them is exciting.”

After a brief stint as an NBA player in the 1990s, in Charlotte, the former Washington State and Virginia coach is therefore starting a whole new chapter. In any case, reinforcements were needed in the “scout” department of Los Angeles since it had long been in the hands of the Buss brothers, fired right after the franchise was bought…