Lakers Possible Scenarios

I havent posted in quite a while but have been looking in on the forum to see how everybody has been handling this season. And the ideas that you guys are throwing out there in terms of planning for the future. Although some ideas have some merit and should be discussed, another way of looking at the situation is required. Often times when i see a plan set forth by a member, its always the lakers get every guy they would want, like the lakers are in a buffet and have first dibs on everything before the buffet opens to the public.

In terms of planning, any franchise in every sport has one. What separates those plans from great ones is the planning of things not going you are way every single time and having contengincies in place. Before i lay out my plan, i would like to give some points before so you guys can get a better view of my ideas and what direction there going.

1. Lakers current season: Obviously this has been a very trying season to say the least. It rivals the pessimism and self pity felt in the Kwame Brown and Smush parker days. Even more so with so many injuries especially to Kobe. To have him sit out for so long is so strange and to not be able to enjoy him play.

2. My thoughts on Jim Buss: Something that has bothered me is the attitude from some members that like to bash him at any point at all times in terms of every issue facing the team. Its fine to discuss and disagree with decisions, but the vibes that i get from most members is " oh great what has he done now?" They have an opinion even before fully understanding an action or decision based on this notion that everything he touches is a disaster. This is not to say I'm some sort of defender of him. As of now, i have no opinion either way in terms of liking him and having faith in his ability to guide the franchise into our standards as lakers fans, which is of course championships. What i am doing is looking at his decisions that he has done, there have been some good ones and bad ones.

3. Hits: The chris paul was a real coup for the lakers. Obviously we all know what happened and i don't want to get into it that much because I'm still sour about it.

4. Acquisition of Howard: In terms of Howard, i never thought the lakers were going to land him in a trade realistically. But when we did i was eccstatic. We were all aware of the reports that he did not want to go to the lakers but i felt at the time that if we did manage to get him, we would be able to convince him to stay. Now things didint go to plan and we lost him to free agency. But in hindsight, it was a gamble that everyone was on board with. We all knew the risk. The only reason people are blaming buss is because the lakers win their gambles most of the time. In conclusion, the pursuit and acquisition of Howard was a great move by the front office. In terms what we gave up, Bynum was a great player but sadly his injuries have made him a limited minutes guy, so we didint really lose much in terms of players.

5. Steve Nash: I don't want to put opinions in people heads, but werent at least 90% of the forums extatic about getting nash? The belief was finnaly the lakers have a great pg who can really run a offense and put people in good position to be the most effective. Sadly his run with the lakers has been non existent. Back to my previous point in terms of howard, it was a gamble to trade with him that we lost. Picture youreself in that time window beforehand in the front office with the possibility of getting nash, you are telling me you would call it off?. The belief was that even though he was up there in years, he could still play at an elite level with monitered minutes. Unlike the trade for howard however, the lakers did lose some assets that would have helped us now in our current situation.

Lakers plan for contention.

Step 1: Before i get into personnel and coaches, something that i would like the lakers to do is bring in our legends to do some work for us in terms of speaking to free agents and convincing them to join our cause. Picture youreself a free agent, you are looking at teams that want you but none really stick out, you have you are small market teams that are offering you the most, but they do not have a winning tradition and probably won't be sniffing a title and quite a time. You have some big market teams that have a lot of perks, ie; (weather, lack of income tax, great players,) etc,etc,. But after meeting with these teams you get a call from the lakers, not just the lakers, but Magic Johnson is calling you and he wants to invite you to dinner to chat. Any sane player goes to the meeting with a child like enthusiasm. How can any player turn down an offer to join the lakers after having a dinner with any laker legend? Not only can they give them insight into the Lakers way, but how the lakers treat there winners and honor them. Obviosly this a very attainable goal, but it depends on on Jim and Mitch letting the legends go to work and stand aside a bit in terms of first meeting.

1. Coaching situation: There is a lot of hate on Dantoni which is understandable. What angered me last year was the way he was running kobe out there for the whole game! I understand the lakers were in a playoff hunt and kobe is not really someone you say no to, but that, in its essence, is the role of the coach. Is it any surprise kobe suffered an extreme injury? There were a stretch of games where he was playing 48 mins a game. What was he expecting? Even though kobe is going to give you a death stare when you take him out, you have to.

2A. Now with all that said, i am of the opinion that a coaching change must be made. Dantoni is not a coach that can really lead us to a championship. But the question remains, if not him, then who? Not only do we need a coach, we need one with gravitas, someone who will command total respect from the players. I will submit a list of coaches who i think have everything the lakers are looking for and can lead us to championship level basketball. No particular order; Nate Mcmillan, George Karl, Jeff van gundy, Jerry sloan.

2C. I'm a big fan of Mcmillan, he is a good players coach and can get the best of them. If it wasant for the constant injury situations of Oden and Roy, they could have been a perennial contender for quite some time, sadly, that was not in the cards for them. And he has worked as an assistant for the USA Basketball for some time and has worked with the top talents in the nba and knows them well I'm sure. George Karl has an impeccable record wherever he has gone. Some will fault him for lack of playoff success, but his team have always been good but not realistic contenders. Except for that one year with the sonics when they were the number 1 seed and lost. Jerry Sloan has been out of coaching for a while but he should be looked at nonetheless. A courtesy call to see if he is interested would be fine. I'm adding Van Gundy because i think he can still be a really great coach in the nba.

Cap situation: Now i profess that i like everyone else here i am not a cap expert but i do have some general idea to what is possible and what is not. As currently constructed, Kobe, nash, and sacre are on the books for next season with nick young having a player option. So what that really spells out is we have a bit of a canvas where we can really construct a team that is a better position to contend with flexibilty to get better in seasons down the road.

Important to bring up: Before i dwell more into my plan, i hope the lakers do not fall into the belief of "we didint get our first three choices, lets get the fourth, whatever". What has happened to some teams, is they hoard cap space with the intent to sign the top free agents, but fail to land them. Not only that, but they decide to use their cap space and secondary tier players and pay them top dollars. The lakers must avoid this situation at all costs, even if it means standing pat. I rather stand pat for an offseason that to go two steps back and pick up a bad contract and a player that will be overpaid and not be integral to the lakers fortunes. Look at what happened to the dallas mavericks, they had cap space and wanted to get deron williams, that didint happen, they went into the next offseason wanting to get chris paul and dwight howard, they got neither and ended up with jose calderon who has an annual contract of 6.7 mill this year and 7 for the 3 after that. I rather save that type of cap space for the next offseason. I know it can be frustrating when the lakers don't get their top target, but they must be dilligent with their cap space.

The Nash Situation: As i stated before, Nash's contract will come off the books at the end of next season. Now i know there is camp in the forums that want to stretch waive him, which would stretch out the length of his contract to about 3 mill per 3 seasons. Although it is a viable option, why have his salary count against us for more than one season? we need as much flexability as we can get. That 3 mill per season can be used instead to add a player or to add to a salary to a player that we can get. It would be best to let his contract ride out, perhaps even use his contract as trading chip to aqquire an asset, that option cannot be ruled out. So in conclusion, it would best to let his contract run out.

The year of the early termination options: This upcoming offseason will defitnitly be an intriguing one. With lebron james and carmelo anthony having the option to opt out of their contracts, teams will be scrambling to have enough cap room to get one of these elite players.

The Lebron Situation: It is difficult to asses what the lakers should do. Lets assume that lebron does opt out, which is the most likeliest of scenarios. If that is the case, how can the lakers not pursue him? Everything must be done to convince him to come. He is the best player in the leauge without a doubt. The lakers need to bring in Magic Johnson to talk to lebron. In my opinion, our chances are very slim to get him, without magic, its downright zero. We simply don't have anything that is appealing that will make him want to jump ship, he has all the leverage, and he knows that. It is my belief that Lebron will stay with the heat. The best player in the leauge does not move team to team, the players go to him, and he realises that now. So even though theres about a 5 percent chance he joins the lakers. In terms of my plan, i am counting on the fact that lebron will rejoin the heat.

The Carmelo Situation: Noticing the talk about Carmelo, the forum is divided about Carmelo, and understandbly so, here is an example of a player who plays at a great level, but still has another level within them that can elevate a team to championship aspirations. That is not to say i think he is a perfect candidate for the lakers. The concerns that people have about him are very valid. It is my assesment that Carmelo should only be pursued if we have an elite coach who can bring out that next level that he is capable of. If Dantoni is confirmed as the coach for next season, Carmelo will not work well with the lakers and should thus not pursued. It is also possible he may want to join lebron in miami, and replace a member of the big three in miami. It will come down to what Carmelo wants, a big paycheck, a new team that he can be top dog in, or the alluring option to join lebron, thus taking pressure off him. It is my belief that carmelo will either opt out and re sign with the knicks, or opt out and join lebron.

2014-2015 Offseason Report: So if you kept up in my scenario, which i do believe is the likeliest of scenarios, there is no reason to panic for lakers fans. Would it be great to add lebron? of course, but we must be realistic and assess any situation and not let our fandom think for us. So now the question is if not lebron or carmelo? who?. Even though the lakers have plenty of cap space, the flip side is we don't have a team. With only three players under contract, the lakers have to sigh at least 10 players, which would bring the total to 13 which is the max, even though mitch has usually only had 12 with a spot remaining to have some flexability.

Team Building 101: As previosuly stated, the lakers will have a busy offseason not with just adding players, but building a team. It will be interesting to see what the lakers will do. Something that has always benefited the lakers and has always worked out for us is to have a good to elite level defender at the rim. When we had gasol,odom, and bynum, the lakers were always top in rebounding, and when having great defenders at the rim, they alter the shots and intimidate the opposition and reduce their shooting percentages when the defense is having problems stopping people.

Who should the lakers keep?: Even though this team has at times struggled mightily at both ends of the court, primarily at the defensive end, a lot of these players have shown heart and have not given up. There effort should be commended.

Kendall Marshall: I must admit i didint have much faith when they called him up from the d-leauge but he has certainly earned a place on the team for next year. He can read the court well and has is a good pass first mentality. He has shone some times and other has struggled, but that is to be expected with all the injuries and having a trial by fire. It would be wise for the lakers to pursue a point guard and to have kendall marshal come off the bench to further his development and not put too much pressure on him.

Jordan Farmar: To have him back is quite exciting, I have always felt it was a mistake when the lakers let him go. We are all familiar with his game and know he can be a productive point guard who can distribute well and is a confident shooter. Not only that, but I'm sure he can be had with a similar or with a slight raise.

Nick Young: I must admit i had no confidence when the lakers signed him, i don't believe i have ever been so wrong in terms of judgeing a player. Does he have some serious holes in his game? of course, but they have been highlighted even more with the lakers asking more of him than he has. With the proper pieces and with a team constructed well, he can be of tremendous value. If he is strictly used as an offensive guy off the bench to relieve the burden of putting points on the board when kobe goes to the bench, he will be most effective in that role.

Point about bench players: What we need to realise is that bench players most of the time will only have 1 or two good qualites about them, and that is not too bad. Everybody wants an all star to come off the bench but that is not going to happen. If you have a bench with a guy who can score, one that can be aggressive on the boards and play some post defense, one who can run the point well, and one who can play exceptional defese, that is all you need.

Sacre: Though he has shone some flashes of potential to be a rotation player, he hasant played enough to make a decision. If he shows that he is willing to put in the work to improve every year then that in itself is good enough for now.

Jordan Hill Situation: I am a fan of Jordan hill, he is energetic, the hustle he shows when he plays really excites the crowd and hopefully can spread to the other laker players. His current contract is at 3.5 mill a year. The lakers should offer a slight increase to salary but no more than 4-5 mill range, if another team offers him a higher contract, he is not worth a bidding war.

Ryan Kelly: Another examply of a player who simply has not had enough time to be evaluated. He has shown some potential, and should be kept as fringe rotaion player where he can develop more and have some minor minutes at best. And he can be had cheaply which is good.

Xavier Henry: Here is a young player who has really shown some stride and has the potential to grow even more, if he can harness his athletic ability with some more finesse and basketaball iq, he can be a good player coming off the bench.

Team outlook for next offseason: This is where i will address the each position individually and offer my outlook for the potential targets and what it can look like for the team.

Point Guard Situation: The lakers need to pursue a starting pg for this off season. In my ideal scenario, i have the lakers retaining Marshall and Farmar, both of them can platoon the back up pg spot. This leads me too who the lakers should target in terms of the pg position, Kyle Lowry. The lakers have always been in rumors of getting him for quite some time and now is the chance to finnaly get him. He is having a great year with the raptors and should be pursued at a reasonable price. This year he has a salary of 6.2 mill. The lakers should at most offer 10 mill per year. If he is pursued early and hard by the lakers, he can be our starting pg for our deep playoff runs. With him signed as our starter, and farmar marshall backing him up, and having at least one of them as pg at all times will have the lakers and in a great position of strength, something that has alluded the lakers in quite a while in terms of pg.

Shooting Guard: I have no question that kobe will come back at a level that we have been accostumed to in terms of the last couple of seasons. However, his minutes should be more closely monitred and the days of him logging massive minutes must come at an end to ensure he stays healthy and sharp for the playoffs. Nick Young should be a capable backup for kobe. Possibly Jodie meeks as well. as long as either one can really give kobe some rest while at the same time not hindering the team and at least hold their own they should be good.

Small Forward: Deng should be considered by the lakers as piece that can really help, I have always thought he was a smaller version of lamar odom but with a better jump shot but less ball handling skill. Though he does have a salary of 14.3, if he can be had for somewhere around the 9 mill range at most, the lakers should go for him. But if some team out there gives him a huge contract than nothing can be done about that. Xavier henry coming off the bench would be ideal, but if he can start and platoon the position with someone, it would make it a manageable situation. Nick young can also be put in this spot to give him more minutes and offense, when kobe is on the bench of course.

Power Forward: With Kevin Love having an early termination option for the offseason after next, this spot should be reserved for him. I know there have been some doubts in these forums about wheter the lakers should make him a centerpiece, but he really brings a lot to the table and can be a great piece to have under contract to build around once Kobe deal comes off the table. With all that said, Jordan hill can be given the nod to start and hopefully infuse some life on the boards. Kelly and sacre can fill in certain situations, sacre when the other teams play big, and Kelly when we can play small ball.

Center: Now with Gasol leaving most likely and the lakers not wanting to retain him, that leaves us at a need to address the center position. There are no elite level centers to be had this off season. But someone that is intruguing is Gortat. Though he is not an intimidating defense player, he does have some skills on the offensive end that can benefit the lakers. He has a good touch around the rim, very active on the boards, and can play pick and roll very well. His current salary of 7.7 is accepatable and a similar contract more or less can be made for him.

Regarding the lakers draft pick: I cannot speculate to whom the lakers will and should get as there position can't be determined as of yet. But as the season progresses the will probably end up with the 9 or 10 pick. In terms of planning, the lakers should get the most talent available and not worry about position. The player can turn out to be a solid contributor, an all star, franchise player, or bust as well. All are possible outcomes, and the lakers should be prepared for either scenario.

So this is with all the realistic targets for lakers and retaining of certain players will look like for the lakers.

Kyle Lowry/Farmar/Marshall

Kobe/Young/Meeks

Xavier Henry/Young

Jordan Hill/ Kelly

Gortat/ Sacre

And our first round pick.

Now is this team that i have constructed a title contender? no, but it makes us a competitive team that can possibly cause an upset. What can make us a contender is the addition of kevin love in the next offseason, with him on board we will still be a step below the other contenders but with Kobes contract, it is going to be impossible to really mold the team even more. All the lakers front office can do is do the best possible to make one last run with kobe and instead pairing him with top heavy talent, just give him plenty of help.

As of now this plan only covers for this offseason and a bit into the next one in terms of kevin love, but i would like to hear some feedback before i get into more long term planning for scenarios with the lakers. What i want for the forums to take away from this is to get a better idea on how and what the lakers can do, its not simply about lets just get x player and that is it, we must look at all aspects. What kind of style do we play? who should coach? who should we build around?

It is my opinion that with the team from this scenario, it can't contend for a title next year, but with the added pieces, and a franchise type player to replace kobe, a future can be seen that is very positive.

If you guys have any questions or want to talk about certain aspects about my scenario, please feel free to post on this thread and i will respond as best i can. All i ask is that we keep the conversation positive, and if there are differences, to be constructive and respectfull.

Although a well thought out evaluation, I disagree with many of your points - and it would take a very long time to go into each one of them. I will address a few. People are pissed at Jimmy because he totally dissed Phil Jackson - an NBA legend, a really nice guy, and probably the best coach on the Lakers in the last 25 years. The way that matter was handled was Bush League. It makes us look bad to every player and coach in the league. In addition, paying Kobe that tremendous salary, without negotiation, and tying our hands with the new CBA hard cap. Those are only 2 boners. Then, there was the Howard deal. Although it was not certain that Howard would have stayed, our front office failed to make his staying a priority; and failed to make him comfortable with the environment. Their allegiance to the Phony under the circumstances was misplaced. Efforts to keep him here were half baked, and too late to be effective. The selection of Brown, followed by the selection of the Phony is also a notch in the belt of most Lakers fans. The initial selection of the Phony was a bad one, and most of us here knew that, the moment it was announced. He was drummed out of New York, and had a poor record of success. In addition, we had a bunch of older players that didn't fit his style of play, and injuries mounted under his leadership. Nothing new, just his selection, and what he did after getting here = playing the old guys far too many minutes, night after night, until Kobe broke down physically. Our front office took absolutely no corrective action to stop drives in....

Whaaat? You have been watching this team over the past 50 years??

#Respect

#wearenotworthy

Let me take the opposite approach and be brief-ish. Jim seems to be defining himself on different terms than his father and he seems to have made moves to assure there there will be little or no competition from his sister and her famous boyfriend. This means that he was focused on his personal issues rather than what was best for the team and for that reason alone, the setbacks to the Lakers near future are irreparable because it spilled over into the assistant coaches, the offensive strategy, the reasons for choosing D'Antoni as well players traded and acquired. It's an emotionally driven philosophy that has produced a convoluted result. Regarding players, the Lakers have a very strong young core. There are no superstars although Xavier Henry has the potential to make some All Star teams. Maintaining Pau beyond the trade deadline is indicative of the ongoing confusion because he will not be a trade piece when he becomes a FA. Giving away three picks including TWO (2) count em' ONE TWO first round picks in 2014 for Steve Nash will go down in Laker history as one of the largest blunders ever with the acquisition of Dwight Howard a close second right behind it. He has a pedigree of selfishness, indecisiveness and no championships and what the Lakers got was selfishness, indecisiveness and a lack of effort. Imagine that! Despite Drew's frustrations, he brought honesty and hard work and has just arrived as the next franchise player and was tossed away. Kendall Marshall ought to be the starting PG moving forward. He's averaging about 12 apg and has made the Lakers a better team. Jordy has not improved one bit since his first stint with the Lakers and is expendable....

Czilla: nice post. I may not agree with a lot of points but the time, effort and nice writing that you've put into it is rep-worthy indeed. I don't like Jim Buss or Mitch Kupchak in the FO positions. Jim Buss has had major communication problems since he's been in office and so has Mitch Kupchak. When Brian Shaw found out he wouldn't be the next coach of the Lakers, he didn't receive a call from Jim Buss, Jerry Buss or Mitch Kupchak. My thoughts on that were screw every one of them. I kind of Grant leniency towards Jerry Buss because this guy has been senile for some time now. Mitch and Jim have been running the show for some year snow and would run things by Dr. Buss and Dr. Buss really wasn't saying no in my opinion. Both of these guys almost lost Kobe because they wanted to wait it out for Yao Ming which would have been a disaster. The Shaq signing by West has paved a way for this team's FO to always want to do something similar. This team's disregard for the future has been mind-numbing. They're willing to mortgage the future each time for instant gratification and each time it has been a blunder. Most people would have lost their jobs already over this nonsense. Personally I like Kendall Marshall. He's a pass first pg and he will shoot the three if left open. His push shot isn't pretty but if he can knock it down who cares. People say he's a terrible defender. Well how many second or third year players need to work on defense? Quite a few. If Kendall is....

Skyeword: that link you posted threw me off at first. It's listing draft picks like an account ledger, debits and credits. It shows what teams have coming in and going out, not necessarily what they have if that makes any sense. So it lists the Lakers as not having any incoming picks and it lists their outgoing picks but it doesn't list what they hold. So the Lakers do have apick.

I agree with what you said about everybody hating Buss regardless of what he does. He completely screwed up not hiring Phil. But like you said, everyone loved the moves that were made 2 off seasons ago.

Lowry is good but would cost too much money against the cap. I think Farmar & Marshall have looked good enough to share the PG duties on the cheap, unless we go that route in the draft.

Obviously you're right about the coaching change.

Couldn't disagree more with your take on Lebron James & Carmello. I think option 1 should be Carmelo, if we don't get him option 2 should be Deng. I think you're dead on with Kelly and Hill at PF. I have finally started to like our current group of players but only for the bench. I would resign Meeks, Hill, Wes Johnson, Kelly, Farmar, Marshall and maybe Young. You convinced me, we may really need his scoring off the bench. But only if he doesn't opt out. I wouldn't give him a new contract for more money. Sacre is already under contract.

I think at Center we should look at Hawes as 1st option, if we can't get him option 2 should be Gortat. Add in a draft pick somewhere, Maybe Exum, Randle or Smart if we get lucky.

Marshall/Farmar

Kobe/Meeks/young

Melo/Johnson Plus one of those draft picks.

Hill/Kelly

Hawes/Sacre

Option 2

Farmar/Marshall

Kobe/Meeks

Deng/Johnson Plus draft pick.

Hill/Kelly

Gortat/Sacre

With option 2 you could then look to add Love the following year.

I think those are realistic.

OK so many points to address in this thread where do i start?

Ok if we signed Lowry and Gortat where would the money for love come from?

Lebron and Melo are both late twenties, what does that mean? This is their LAST big contract. No way they take pay cuts to join other teams. They are looking for a max deal. As we have seen already with Miami they do not like paying Luxury tax hence the waive of Mike Miller. If Lebron takes max money it certainly creates an interesting situation in Miami.

The Steve Nash trade. Where the hell do you guys get your info.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=steve+nash+trade+details

We gave up a 2013 and 2015 1st round picks. 2013 and 2014 second round picks. Who did the suns pick up with our draft picks so far? Exactly, you don't even know. that is how worthless those picks where. The one that concerns me is next seasons 1st rounder if we don't make the playoffs next season we are in great jeopardy of losing that pick. (It is top 5 protected)

Nice post dude...

Everything starts when draft day comes. I hope and pray we land top 5.. I also wouldn't worry too much about FA until the year after. The only player we. Need to aim high for is Lance Stephenson. The guy has the potential to be a star. I think a 4yr 40-45m might be enough to snag him from Indy. I would then look at Patrick Patterson to pick up for 2yr 4m.

I say bring everyone back besides Blake, Kaman, and Gasol. Then trade Hill and Meeks this deadline for draft picks. Maybe Cleveland for the 36th and 41st picks. Pick up CJ Fair, James McAdoo, and Aaron Craft in the second round.

Drafting Embiid is the hope and if not Marcus Smart or Julius Randle. #seriouslytank

Stephenson / Farmar / Craft

Kobe / Henry

Johnson / Young / Fair

Patterson / Kelly / McAdoo

Embiid / Sacre

And in 2015

Stephenson / Farmar / Craft

Kobe / Henry

Johnson / Young / Fair

Love / Patterson / McAdoo / Kelly

Embiid / Love

2015 is the year we try and get that 6th ring. If Embiid has a monster rookie season and Stephenson still shows star ability I don't see why we don't contend. The Heat will be old the Pacers will have no Stephenson and maybe no West. The West will be a fun showdown that year.

I say no to Melo, Deng, and Gay. Yes to Stephenson or Monroe.

My opinion on this topic is this, The real assessment of Jim buss and this FO will be this summer. He has made some horrible decisions but There have also been some great decisions so they cancel themselves out. The slate will be wiped clean this summer, we have flexibility, great bench players and we have draft picks. The future starts this summer. We will see IF he makes a coaching change and what kind of coach he chooses. We will see which FA he chooses to go after and the plan if that FA isn't acquired. Will it be melo LeBron or deng? Either of those guys will be evidence of said choice of direction. And let's not forget We're having this conversation ONLY because stern vetoed the Chris Paul trade. Had that not happened the Lakers would be competing for a championship now. That was a BRILLIANT move by this FO. so It is unfair to levy ALL of this mess on the FO when the guy who would have changed the direction of this franchise was sent to the clippers. Chris Paul got doc rivets to the clippers. He stated emphatically that he would leave for Houston if doc wasn't acquired. Chris would have taken the ball out of kobes hands. Chris would have made sure Dwight stayed happy. Chris would have demanded a championship coach. But that ship has sailed and we're still reeling. But people tend to forget that that would have been Mitchs greatest masterpiece. Things don't always work out we sometimes fall flat on our faces. But life is not about falling but about getting up. ....

Agreed, the second link is more clear and shows the Lakers with two picks so at this point, I am not sure what the Lakers have for the June draft.

zheck: How would the Lakers be competing for a championship with Paul and Kobe? Even if they had Howard with Paul and Kobe they wouldn't be able to afford anything else at all. The FO would be hoping that there would be some ring chasers willing to sign with the them due to their names alone. All Mitch had to do was sweeten the pot and they probably would have accepted the deal. Sweeten the pot? Replace Bynum with Gasol because Bynum was 24, not over 30. Stern may have had guys in his ear about the Lakers trying to land Paul and Howard and end the end they chose Howard.

Gem

A winning coach ( because paul would have forced the FOs hand or left via FA) kobe Howard gasol and the bench we have now (they were assembled for peanuts).

Chris Paul

Kobe

Wes Johnson

Paul gasol

Dwight Howard

Farmar

Young/Meeks

Zavee

Hill

Kelly

With that starting five and bench.. How are we not competing for a championship?

With a coach like JVG Hollings or Scott, i would take that team any day for a championship run.

Thank you for the rep. I'm glad my post has started a conversation of the lakers in a long term view. Laker Zip you bring up some good points that i didint bring up in terms of the front office. Though i disagree with you are point that I'm looking through things with rose tinted glasses. I follow 1 team from every pro sport with a die hard passion, and always see things as they are. I'm someone who never has my head in the clouds and if a baby is ugly, i will say so. You make valid points....

Gem

A winning coach ( because paul would have forced the FOs hand or left via FA) kobe Howard gasol and the bench we have now (they were assembled for peanuts).

Chris Paul

Kobe

Wes Johnson

Paul gasol

Dwight Howard

Farmar

Young/Meeks

Zavee

Hill

Kelly

With that starting five and bench.. How are we not competing for a championship?

With a coach like JVG Hollings or Scott, i would take that team any day for a championship run.To what you said on the Melo issue, sounds good but can Kobe and melo play together, will there be enough shots to go around. And finally according to reports melo favors bulls over lakers, which makes sense, they traded deng, can amnesty boozer and would have cap space to sign him to max. and they have more to put around him.

About melo reports say he's favoring bulls over lakers, makes sense with all the moves bulls have made.

In response to skyward: I agree that Jim Buss has definitely acted strange in some situations that have hindered the lakers. I'm no apologist for anyone, but i do like to take into account what has happened to a person or what they have gone through before i make any absolute claims about them or there charecter. Just these past years, he has lost his father, which in it of itself is something that i can't begin to comprehend but i imgaine it shakes someone down to their core. Not only that, but he has to take the operations of one the most glamorous teams of any sport in the world. Excuses? Not at all. Should he be carrying the load with just Mitch? no. It would have made more sense to hire more people to help in the front office and to have a figurehead that can really be in charge of recruting players. I'm sure in hindsight he will realize the error in some of his decisions and will learn from them. Is he ever going to reach the status of his father? not likely, but personally it seems to me that is a really harsh standard to set on someone and to live up to their father. I know it seems I'm defending Jim at all costs, but that is far from the case.

I do agree that we have an intersting core, but with a slight variant. What we have is a perfect core to be the new bench mob. If we can get players that are better starters and more consistent, then we can have Marshall, Meeks, Young, Henry, Johnson, Kelly and Farmar be our bench and on most nights will outscore most benches in the nba.

In response to gemfow: Thank you for the compliment, i appreciate it. Definitely Jim Buss has really had some mistakes that could been easily avoided had he just done the right thing. But we must not forget he is still learning the social part of running a team. He needs to address the problem by adding more staff that can give him advice on how to handle situations. I aggree with you are opinions on the personnel, espcially about Kobe. But at this point, what can we exactly do about Kobe? sure he could be better at taking players under his wing and mentoring, but if he hasant learned it now, he won't learn in his last few seasons in the leauge. The offense does certainly lose some flow when kobe is on the floor most of the time due to his play style and imposing figure, but its something that we have put up with for quite some time but soon will not have to worry about. You Are point on the front office disregarding the future is spot on and must be addressed moving forward.

I agree with A2j1m regarding Stephenson. If we can lock that guy up for $11 million per year we should. He can do so many things on the court it would give us flexibility elsewhere. An even better option than Stephenson would be Blesdsoe, but I have a feeling Phoenix will lock him up(bad knee and all). I'm not going to hold my breath for Embiid, but i would love it if it happens. Realistically I would draft Smart, Exum or LaVine in that order, whichever falls to us. A backcourt of Smart and Stephenson wouldn't require us to have a dominant defensive force as the last line of defense, because opposing guards wouldn't be living at the rim. Hill was right when he pointed out that all of he onus for defense and rebounding doesn't fall on the bigs shoulders. We could sign a decent center like Hawes or Gortat and re-sign Pau both in the $8 million range. We already have Kelly, Sacre and Marshall who will get around a million as roster fill. Lock up Swaggy for 3 years at $12M. Sign Patterson at 2M per and split the MLE between Henry and Farmar. Trade away Kaman, Hill and Blake for picks to get us below the tax line this year. I realize I didn't leave any space in for Love in 2015, but we need to demonstrate to him we are on the right track and a lot can happen between now and then(retirements, trades etc).

We need to dump D'Antoni for a coach who can win with the personnel we would have. Hollins, Thibs or JVG come to mind.

Smart/Farmar/Marshall

Stephenson/Young

Kobe/Henry

Pau/Patterson/Kelly

Hawes/Pau/Sacre

I agree Czilla though we are generally understood not by what we experience, rather how we respond to what we experience. Jim could not have been less graceful and he could have said, "No thanks." perhaps he always does what papa told him so this is his chance to define his own path. Again, his personal agenda clearly has overshadowed the team's best interests.

I see Marshall and Henry as starters 1-2 years from now though Marshall's role is tenuous despite his exceptional assist minded approach. The Lakers need interior defense and I presume the bench mob will be broken up to get one of the starters you mention. The talk of Kevin Love coming to LA is great which means Kelly or Hill become obsolete for example. We all hope that Jim is over his selfish stage and plays his cards right moving forward. I did suspect that Jerry did not get everything right the first few years he was at it either....

Kennon

Melo has two things to consider. If LeBron and wade, two of the most egregious ball dominant players can win two titles and learn how to coexist, I don't See WHY kobe and melo can't. Kobe needs melo and melo needs kobe, they're not going to win anything without each other. There are more than enough shots to go around. HELL he has all the shots he wants NOW and they suck!

Secondly, Melo basically has to choose between kobe and d rose. And people think Kobe is ball dominant? Ha! Then what is d rose? Chicago is a lateral move for melo and an organization with the WORST track record of taking care of their players. .. Jordan Phil deng Bellini asik...I could go on. There will be no one for melo to play with in Chicago and I would not bet my final contract on d roses two rickety knees. Who is there for him too play with? Noah?

In LA he has kobe and a franchise with a track record of getting it done. And if he joins kobe in LA, he knows Love is coming in after him. What is there to think about? Or maybe he can in New York and hope things change. The bottom line is this, NO ONE is going to beat OKC pacers or Miami in a seven game series without Two Bona fide scorers on their team. Nobody especially not OKC. Melo and kobe have what it takes to lead the Lakers to a championship. The right coach a big man in the draft keep the bench and we're balling!

In response to JJCALI: In terms of Carmelo, had it been any other offseason, yes he would be option 1, but in an offseason when Lebron James can be pursued, no matter how low the chance is to get him, we must try first to land him before any attempts to kobe.

In response to TEMPY: In you are question about if we get Gortat and Lowry, where would we get the cap space for love. Gortat and Lowry in my scenario would be about 16-17 mill range combined, now it really depends on what Kevin Love does, does he opt out next offseason, or perhaps he plays one more year in Minni and we can then offer a deal similar to that James Harden got with the rockets. But you are true that my assesment does need to be looked at more. Perhaps we just get either instead of both we can arrange it. Kobe with 23, Love with 17, Gortat with 6-7, and we re sign most of our guys to fill out the bench and starting lineup. It will most likely take us to the luxury tax, but I'm sure the Lakers will be able to stomach it for one more season and get more flexability in the next offseason. With Kobe on our team, we are still really limited on what we can do regardless of cap space. The plan should be to add a piece or two and then when Kobe comes off the book, to use that space accordingly to get someone to build around.

Zcheck 13: You bring up probably the best point so far, the real assesment will be this summer. If they make some good moves, not to contend, which they can't. But moves that will enable us to contend at most 2-3 seasons down the road and get us back in the title hunt.

Lance Stephensen is by no means a PG.

Zcheck 13:

Totally agree with you on moves that will help us contend down the road, that's why I say I'd pass on melo at 30, or at least not give him max. Rather go after love, build through draft, sign good free agents not super star, unless it's LeBron, if not wait and see if lakers can get durant in 2016. Love and Durant still young and can lead team into future.

a PG playing for D'Antoni is a dream realized. Paul wouldn't have been for the ouster of D'Antoni like Howard wanted imo. I don't even believe this FO would have looked past Dunleavy, jackson or D'Antoni as coach which is unfortunate. Jackson would have totally screwed Paul's game over. You may have a point in that we still would have been able to sign these current guys but after that we wouldn't have had anything to sign guys with. Having three big names like that would have been utterly ridiculous and Miami will possibly have to break up their guys due to the harsher penalties.

Agreed! Melo, Kobe, a center from the draft or a trade and maybe keep Swaggy and you have a contender.

I hope that is the Lakers plan. Because I would sure like to eat my words if Jimbo makes the right moves from now on.

ABSOLUTELY. Melo is a REAL star. If we can get him, get him. Simple as that.

It's a no-brainer...

"Love-Story" - Kevin comes to the lakers and battles it out with Blake Griffin for the next 5-10 years. He's humble enough to kowtow to the snake god for a couple of years, puts up the HOF numbers that please the fans and he's good-looking enough to be in commercials.

Your problem will be enticing an elite guard to play alongside him... Kobe is done (sorry) and K-Love hasn't proven to be a winner yet... but he may draw a star.

Minny is being coy... they know they can't keep him, and he WANTS to be a laker... but they also don't want Gasol as much as some of you laker fans think. NOBODY does... Pau is absolutely worthless (sorry, again). You guys need to draft high and trade your pick with whatever pieces you can put together... this draft can't possibly be as good as everybody's rating it.

If Jimbo can somehow redeem himself and get a trade done for Love, your rebuild is halfway there... a Westbrook or Rondo might follow. But if he shoots his wad and signs 'melo, you're in for a long decade.

Put it this way... I think I know what Jerry would do.

The next 6 months will determine (at least in the media) if the lakers are still "THE LAKERS" or if they are the joke of a franchise they currently appear to be.

Can the Buss-boy handle it?

p.s. @zheck - Please get over the CP3 thing. The reason you feel it was a master stroke by your FO is because it was a terrible deal that the Hornets' 'owner' ultimately rejected. Same as if I offered your kid a lollipop for her ipad... just because the kid accepts it doesn't make it a done deal... when Mommy steps in, she can say "No"... and rightly so.

@cleepers

Get over yourself. Why are you here I don't value your input so don't speak to me. Everything you have to say I'd biased and. ..... What is with you pathetic clipper fans? ??? You have your own site. Why are y'all so freaking insecure, why are you guys always trolling over here? ?? I'm not even going to waste my time or energy with you.

^^^meh. Don't worry about him. The sunis shinning on the dog's a** right now so its his chance to gloat.

@ The Clipper Fan???

Lets be honest Stern Screwed the Lakers out of that deal, and the deal they had received from the Clippers was not that good.

Is there really such thing as a Clippers fan??? Really?

Purple and Gold all day! Look to the rafters!

So you want mello, Kobe, and love on the court together that is 3 players that don't play defense. Mello would be a bad fit as long as kobe is here

So you want mello, Kobe, and love on the court together that is 3 players that don't play defense. Mello would be a bad fit as long as kobe is here

they are in 4th place yet again don't contenders get better each season?

LAKERS DON'T NEED CARMELO,

JUST SIGN center: SPENCER HAWES (7-0)

pf : A. Blatche 6-11

sf : L. Deng 6-8

No need of Gasol and Nash which frees lakers 28M

And Re-sign the following:

1. Young 2. Henry 3. Wes Johnson 4. Hill 5. Marshall 6. Farmar 7. Meeks 8. M. Harris 9. Kelly

PLUS two DRAFTS Cneter and SF

Not a bad way for playing it conservative.

My dream scenario (too good to be true):

Lakers are able to move Gasol to the Bobcats in exchange for Ben Gordon + Bismack Biyombo+ 2014 1st round Detroit's Pick (10-15)

Lakers trade Jordan Hill to Hawks for Dennis Schroeder & Hawks 2014 2nd Round Pick

Lakers continue to lose games and land a top 3 pick.

Lakers chose Joel Embiid.

Zach Lavine falls down the draft boards and Lakers pick him up.

Lakers sign Evan Tuner and Spencer Hawes in free agency.

Lakers resign Nick Young & Xavier Henry & Ryan Kelly.

D Antoni is immediately fired and replaced with Stan Van Gundy or Lionel Hollins

Lakers 2014 Roster

Zach Lavine/ Dennis Schroeder/

Kobe Bryant/Xavier Henry

Evan Turner/Nick Young

Spencer Hawes/ Ryan Kelly/ 2014 2nd round pick

Joel Embiid/Bismack Biyombo/Sacre

Hawes is then used as trade bait for Love in 2015.

Zach Lavine

Kobe Bryant

Evan Turner

Kevin Love

Joel Embiid

Hawes is a center.

Nobody knows where this team is headed at this point. We have just speculated from the pre-season. Maybe all of our wounded warriors are going to return soon, and we will beat Miami for a ring this season. Who knows?

Sorry, I just woke up and realized that I was dreaming.

Lot of really good points. I'd stick with Kelly. Cheap and effective. You need at least three or four of those guys that spread the floor, take quality shots and show energy despite the athleticism. Johnson has athleticism but no energy. I prefer energy over athleticism any day when it comes to secondary role players.

I still think Farmar has a lot to prove in this league. Before he got injured he was finishing at the rim. He already had a decent jumper, but his midrange is still absent. If he develops a floater and shores up his defense he will be a quality point guard.

Nick Young has changed my mind. Everybody in the league wants this guy right now. He plays like a young Paul Pierce. He is selfish and stops ball movement, but he is instant offense and a sixth man on a competing team.

So I would keep Farmar, Kelly, Young along with Kobe. I would not stretch Nash unless that helps him get traded for Lowry in Toronto.

We should draft highest talent despite position if we aren't building to support Kobe anymore. I think Embiid would support Kobe better, but Parker and maybe Wiggins are the lebron and Wade of the future.

Coaching? I am not entirely sold that Dantoni is a horrible coach. His roster was subpar before the injuries. I'm surprised we have double digit victories. I would look into letting Rambis take over or asking George Karl to coach as better alternatives however.

Finally, about free agents and trades. Lebron is not interested. Melo wants to get paid. George signed an extension. I honestly think we need to bide our time for Kevin Love who wants to come back to LA. Kyrie Irving is a long shot, but I can tell he would thrive in the big market of hollywood. Give Kobe and Parker/Wiggins a year together, then pursue these two guys with top dollar offers. Trade Pau yesterday to keept he tank rolling. If adding Meeks to the deal gets us a low 1st rounder grest.

Fan 8

I like your thinking except for a couple of things, i dont know if you forgot about Zavee but i think he's a definite must keep. A bench including farmar young Henry Kelly and Johnson or Manny is an exceptionally deep and good bench.

If the choice comes down between Manny and Wes i would go with Manny. He's not as long or athletic as Wes but he's as good defensively and he's more of an offensive force.

Melo may want a max contract but if he will take a pay cut to join the Lakers i we get him. And if we do George Karl will be a NO NO. I think JVG would be perfect for the Lakers. If not Hollins or Scott.

hawes can play pf or center. but we need a star next to kobe,someone who can put the ball in the bucket and force double teams. we won't win anything if kobe is our go to option, especially in the playoffs. we play the spurs kawai is bigger stronger and faster then kobe now. the warriors have Iggy, the thunder have durant, the blazers have batum, the heat have james, the pacers have george. what I'm saying is that in a 7 game series i feel that the best defenders on those respective teams (all who we would be competeing with inn the playoffs) would game plan like this ; let kobe go one on one with our best defender, if he happens to get off so be it. then they will just double team him the whole game and leave turner or hawes open. every game. and personally i don't have confidence in that. that is why i thinks it is very important to get melo. he'll make it so easy for kobe its not even funny.and just having kobe on the floor would make melo ALOT more dangerous then what he already is. ill tell you this, if kobe is out there and you DONT double team melo he could average 35 in a series WHENEVER he wants to. just melo isn't enough though. hopefully we can nab embiid. most likely not the case but if we could, that would be perfect. snag up melo and sign lowry and hawes/ monroe resign the bench then trade love and a bench player + pick for Klove midseason. that would leave us with... lowry/marshal/farmar kobe/young/meeks melo/Xave/ wes love/ hill/ kelly embiid/ kaman now idk about you guys, but if we put something out there like that, the rest of the league wouldn't be laughing at us....

I like SVG. I wouldn't mind him captaining the ship. He would set Kobe straight and revamp our team's offense with balance.

Looks good to me, but with embiid and Lowry, I think it depends on where we are in the draft. If embiid is not there than i think they will draft pg, if they get melo and hopefully love this year or 2015.

I knew what the Lakers were getting in Nick Young in the way of his offensive ability, and yes, even some of the selfish play. But what I didn't expect was the intangibles that he has shown in the way of leadership and the ability to unify a team or even call out the team when needed. He's not just about the flash and the fun. He's a baller and he cares. It's always hard to say for sure, but I think he may have finally found an NBA home.