After the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in last season’s Western Conference semifinals, Magic Johnson felt general manager Mitch Kupchak needed to rebuild the team. While Magic may be the greatest point guard ever, he’s wrong about this.
To be fair, his comments came after the culmination of Game 4, so emotion—instead of reason—was their driving force.
Although Dallas pulled off a sweep, LA was very close to winning Games 1 and 3. A few less mistakes and it’s a different series. Of course, that’s all moot now.
The Lakers still have a great team and Kobe Bryant. While Kobe’s declining, he doesn't need to be in vintage form to get another ring because of the strong options around him. There’s no reason he can’t reinvent himself by distributing more and average 18-22 points and seven to nine assists per game over the next couple of years.
Pau Gasol is a superstar-level talent who provides close to 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. Marc’s older brother is amongst the league’s 15 best players and was the Lakers' most efficient player in 2010-2011.
Andrew Bynum is the NBA’s second-best center. The 23-year-old’s become a monster in the low post, dominates on the boards, alters a lot of opponents' shots and seems ready to ascend into a perennial All-Star if he stays healthy. His presence in the 2009 and 2010 NBA Finals helped LA win back-to-back titles, and he was their most efficient player during the 2011 postseason (besides this major gaffe). Considering how difficult it is to find a skilled big man who’s willing to play physical down low, the Lakers shouldn’t let Bynum go anywhere.
Unless the Lakers can get Andre Iguodala for Lamar Odom, which is both doubtful and a bad trade for Philadelphia, they should hold onto last season’s Sixth Man of the Year. Odom’s versatility provides a huge boost for the second unit, his size gives LA three quality seven-footers and he’s a great insurance option for the injury-prone Bynum.
The Lakers also have two solid small forwards in Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) and Matt Barnes. Both are solid on-ball defenders who make life more difficult for guys like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Manu Ginobili and Paul Pierce when they play LA.
Tinsel Town definitely wants to bring back the team’s second-most exciting player in Shannon Brown. Brown has stated he wants to return, but is still weighing other options. While the high-flier has evolved into a solid shooting guard, he doesn’t have much consistency with his jump shot. Other teams will likely offer him more money, but may end up disappointed a couple years from now that they didn’t get what was expected.
Brown would likely be better off taking less money from LA to gain more experience from being on a championship-contending team, which could land him a nice contract in the future when he’d be better prepared to take one on.
Los Angeles could use help in the point guard department—Derek Fisher might be the NBA’s worst starting guard—but their current roster is still good enough to win next season’s championship. New coach Mike Brown’s offensive system will take pressure off Kobe Bryant by running more plays through their talented big men. This will open up more shots for Fisher, Artest, Brown (if he returns), Blake and Barnes.
When the 2011-2012 free-agency period rolls around, the Lakers can pursue either Chris Paul or Deron Williams to shore up their weakest position. Even if the next salary cap comes down hard on Los Angeles, it’d be difficult to imagine both Paul and Williams passing on a roster with that much talent and experience.
Dwight Howard may also be interested in taking his talents to Hollywood after next season. The Lakers might try to make a trade for Howard during next season—if there is a season—but they’d be better off waiting to get him as a free agent, since a midseason trade would likely decrease their frontcourt depth and Orlando would have much less leverage in a sign-and-trade scenario because Howard could elect to walk away and leave them with nothing.
In today’s media-rich sports world filled with cynical analysts who seem to forget that losing is an inevitable part of any sport, temptations to make radical changes to win a championship are hard to resist. Sometimes, a team with as much playoff experience as the Lakers should stick the course and cherish the fact they’re still serious contenders.
I'm sure Boston's veterans wish they were in a position like LA's are right about now.
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Jason Kidd Allen Iverson Paul Pierce Eric Gordon Dwight Howard
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