Lesane Crooks
Published May 12, 2023
The Los Angeles Mamba is in the thick of it's rebuild after a well-documented tear down last season that saw the Southern California franchise put all of their hopes & dreams in the shoulder of the 6'4" combo guard Rob Scott aka Hollywood Rob who last year was selected 7th overall by the new GM Jerron Grace a lot of pundits thought it was a bad move by the franchise. The former Tennessee standout proved everybody wrong by coming out hot finishing w/ 16.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4 apg, 2.8 spg & 1.4 bpg and being named Rookie of the Year as well as being named in the All-Rookie 1st Team, All-Defense 1st Team & All-League 2nd Team. A quite impressive feat for a 19 year old who came into the league with questions about his size but what most forgot to measure is the size of the heart of the one they called Hollywood Rob.
NEW ERA, NEW COACHES It is obvious that the team will go and tailor-made this team to fit with Hollywood Rob & that means even the coaching staff needs changes. LA hired Reggie Blunt to be their new head coach known for his high basketball IQ & penchant for player development, adding as his Assistant Coach #1 is almost a mirror image of coach Blunt in terms of basketball IQ & player development skill, Adonis Phoreman and lastly Assistant #2 another smart coach in Aabis Laremont, Udonis Dix remains as the team's 3rd Assistant for the 2026 campaign.
THE REBUILD BEGINS The Mamba only have 6 players under contract & that makes them basically a blank slate. Hollywood Rob is the best returning player & basically the franchise player of Los Angeles. The team will look to rebuild around Scott who already showed his worth as a rookie last season & can only get better as his career continues. As already one of the best 2-way players in the league he sure will pave his own way to stardom. But the question is who will be the Robin to his Batman? The Mamba holds 3 1st round picks this season the #9, #15 & #3 picks as well as #39, #62 & #63 picks in the 2nd round. Ideally the team would likely try to move up or trade those picks for someone that can work w/ Hollywood Rob but as of press time we have no news on what GM Jerron Grace wants to do yet.
Our money is on build through the draft if in some way they get to climb up to Top 5 or so, they can get someone that could be essential to the new Mamba build. There are interesting incoming rookies that the city of Los Angeles could welcome. With the Mamba only have 6 players signed they will for sure look to make a splash in the draft, there are several sources that told us that Los Angeles have been in trade talks whether that is for a player, a pick or a combination of both it still up in the air. We have seen GM Jerron Grace to be an aggressive trader during last season acquiring 1st round picks left & right to use as building blocks to the new era in Los Angeles basketball.
by: Lesane Crooks