What now for the Lakers?

Now that Dwight Howard has spurned the Lakers and chosen to sign with Houston, we ask ourselves, where do the Lakers go from here?

The Lakers have Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, Metta World Peace, Steve Blake, Jodie Meeks and Robert Sacre. That is eight players and the Lakers normally like to have 13-14 players on the roster, which means there will be some new faces wearing purple and gold this coming season. Unfortunately for the Lakers the only contracts they can offer to free agents is the veteran minimum because of their salary cap problems and the unwillingness to dig themselves deeper as they await the 2014 offseason, where they now that Howard left, will only have Nash’s 9 million on the books.

The Lakers will look to re-vamp the team in 2014 offseason but as for the 2014 regular season, it remains to be seen. The Lakers will likely try and build a team around Gasol at the center and Kobe Bryant, something which worked quite well if anyone remembers.  I do agree that the Lakers need to get younger and more athletic just to keep up with some of the teams in the NBA but the money situation puts them in a tight place. The Lakers will and are looking to add shooters to the team to help spread the floor. Familiar names such as Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic have come about but who knows with rumors nowadays.

Many people especially now that Howard has bolted have been quick to immediately throw the Lakers out, saying that they will be at the bottom of the standings but I for one disagree. The starting lineup of Gasol, Hill, Metta, Kobe and Nash is still pretty good and can make a run in the playoffs, just not for a title. But because the Lakers are the Lakers and not winning a title is considered a failure, I believe the team should “tank” unless they can find a way to make a huge splash of a trade. The 2014 draft is considered to have one of the better draft classes in a long time so falling in the standings for a year and drafting a good young player wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Who knows when Kobe will return, even though I believe it will be opening night and while Kobe and the rest of the Lakers might not like the idea, it makes more sense than to just be another mediocre team in the Western Conference without a chance to win the title.

Have Kobe come back fully healthy and play a little bit and then come back in 2014 full strength and hopefully take a pay cut to remain with the team to help with salary purposes and add leadership to the new core of Lakers. This is a strange time in Laker land but I think Laker fans would accept one year of “tanking” so that we could come back even stronger the next one. The Lakers will have trouble tanking and while that’s a good sign, they do have something going for them and it’s that they will have their checkbooks open and ready come the 2014 offseason.