‘We start working at 5:45 AM on game day”: How Lakers’ video coordinators helped LeBron James and co. with NBA title run

While the players on an NBA court take the lion’s share of the credit for their success, they depend a whole lot more on their backroom staff than the general public knows.

In a league like the NBA with so much talent on every single team, optimizing strategies to go up against opponents is of utmost importance. As much as basketball IQ is of importance, so is the necessity of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of one’s opponents.

Video coordinators, thus, have a pivotal role in steering team strategy. While LeBron James and co. go out onto the court and win games for the Lakers, a lot of background work is done beforehand in order to ensure that the player and coaches are placed in the best possible scenario to be able to do what they do best.

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How do the Lakers’ video coordinators work with the coaching staff?

Speaking to reporters from Spectrum SportsNet ahead of the Lakers’ January game against the Knicks, Dru Anthrop, their head video coordinator, described their workflow.

“First thing we do is, we make sure that coach Vogel has everything he needs. In this case, it’s the Knicks.”

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Jon Pastorek, an assistant video coordinator and player development coach, adds:

“We put together the edits that will show the team. It will show how the team we’re playing that night will defend certain actions. Whether it’s pick-and-roll, pindowns, postups. And then we’ll also walk through some of their most frequently run sets.”

“So on a typical game day, we’re in the office at about 5:45 AM. Making sure all the scouting reports are printed, and then making sure that everything coach Vogel needs is on his desk when he walks in and he’s ready to prepare for the game that night.”

Overall, the backroom staff works for much longer hours than do the coaches and players. Their background scouting of opponents, basketball acumen and eye for detail needs to be as good as that of the players and coaches themselves.

Their presence makes life easier for the people running the show. The Lakers and LeBron James would be ecstatic that they have such a hard-working team sitting backstage and enabling them to run the show on the court.