JamFan The Lakers have wasted no time in shaking things up in an attempt to upgrade their roster so as to make a deeper run in the playoffs next year. In the process, they may have abandoned their long term goal of being able to sign a max player in the next couple of years.
As many of the potential franchise players that the Lakers would have been interested in sign long term deals with their existing teams, accumulating cap space might be an exercise in futility. Had the Lakers known that they were not going to pursue this strategy any further, they could have signed better players last season. Unfortunately, we still have Mitch Kupcake supposedly running the show, so if the plan changes or goes off course, you only have to look no further than the incompetant GM that we have to suffer with. The only player still on their radar is Lebron James, who could sign an extension any day now and has given no indication he would become a free agent nor has he showed any interest in the Lakers.
So Plan B for the Lakers has become putting good but not great, complimentary players around Kobe that the Lakers can afford with the money they have available now. More players can be brought in over the next two years, just not max players. This plan is not a bad one, it is just that they could have done this last year but instead passed on some good players because they wanted 5 year deals. Signing Kwame and now Vlad Rad to a long term deal signals that they probably will not look for a quick fix franchise player.
Vlad Rad's strength is outside shooting which spreads defenses, takes pressure off Kobe making it harder to double team him. Moreover, a spread defense opens up the middle allowing Kobe to drive to the bucket more. Vlad can drive but prefers to sit on the wing and let the bombs fly. He very rarely posts up his defender. He is an average rebounder but better defensively than people think. He is pretty good running the floor, but the Lakers do not run much.
Drafting Jordan Farmer brings in the point guard of the future. He is very smart and has court sense beyond his years. Because the Lakers used their mid level exemption on Vlad, it seems they went away from their priority of bring in a good veteran PG. Now they only have their veteran minimum exemption available, and you can't get a very great PG with only 3.5 Mil over 2 years to offer. That certainly will not get you Maurice Banks. I'm not sure who they can even pursue at this point that would make a difference.
The only other option is pursuing a trade. Kupcake referred to Mihm as the 3rd center the other day behind Kwame and Bynum. With Vlad Rad going to small forward, that sends Odom to PF with Turiaf backing him up. A trade for a PG could center around Mihm and Cook who is now expendable because Vlad Rad assumes his outside shooting role. Smush or Sasha could be added and McKie, if anybody would take him. They might be able to include in the package a sign and trade on George.
The Lakers traded their 2nd round pick from Outer Space to get Detroit's Maurice Evans who has been a bench warmer at SG his whole carreer. He is already 28 and their is no reason to believe he is going to get much better than he is now, which is average. Kupcake fell asleep again on draft night in the second round by not taking Guillerm Diaz who at age 20 has unlimited potential with his record 48" vertical leap. Oh well, the Clippers stole him with the very next pick. Elgin was not napping at the time.
So, it seems the Lakers have only one more piece to put in place. If they get the PG of their dreams they will feel like they had a good summer. Next summer as Brian Grant's contract comes off the books they will be able to snag another good player or upgrade one of their starters. When you look at the roster now it is hard to imagine who or what will be on their wish list next season. It will probably depend on how things go next year.
If they no longer have the cap space to sign a max player in the upcoming off seasons, as long as you have good competent, and not over priced players, you have the chance to trade for one who is disgruntled with their current team. Maybe somebody like KG or AI. Well dream your own dream on that one.
So here is the roster as it most likely appears next year.
PG - Free Agent(or trade), Smush Parker, Jordan Farmer
SG - Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic, Maurice Evans
SF - Vlad Radmanovic, Luke Walton
PF - Lamar Odom, Ronny Turiaf, Brian Cook
Center - Kwame Brown, Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm
Free Agents - Jim Jackson, Devin Green, Devean George
Odd Men Out - Von Wafer, Laron Profit, JR Pinnock, Aaron McKie
If the Lakers sign a veteran free agent PG, things are really tight with 14 players on board and only one roster spot open. If they trade 2 or 3 players for a PG, that opens the door for our free agents and players who are on the bubble to maybe make the roster. This propsed roster will have to be revised after the Lakers make their next move.
JamFan
