Patience is the key for Lakers

Even before Dwight Howard joined the Lakers many fans and members of the media looked to the 2014 off-season as a chance for the purple and gold to make a splash and start focusing their personnel moves on their post-Kobe Bryant days. Going into the 2013-2014 season with absolutely no hope of a championship, the Lakers stuck to their “plan” by signing a large majority of their roster to 1-year contracts to preserve the cap space they would enjoy the following offseason. Once the 2014 offseason hits, the Lakers will only have three players on their salary cap giving them flexibility to do what they want. But the real question is, what should the Lakers do with all that cap space?

After signing the injured Kobe Bryant to a two year contract extension, the Lakers have put themselves in position to have at least one star player on the roster to try and entice other players to come play in Los Angeles. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and Eric Bledsoe all currently have contracts that expire during the 2014 offseason. Many have speculated that Carmelo Anthony would end up joining the team but I implore the front office to keep their checkbooks cool during the 2014 offseason. Other than the possibility of LeBron James, I don’t think the Lakers should make any major moves this offseason. Since the beginning of the NBA, the Lakers have been championship contenders for most of their years; not some team that overpays players just to patch up roster spots.

My plan would be to save the cap space, despite how Kobe Bryant might feel about it, and save it for the 2015 and 2016 off seasons in order to more-thoroughly return the team to its rightful place atop the NBA. First off, the Lakers will be getting a top pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, which is linked to being one of the deepest drafts in recent memory and might eventually be compared to the historic 2003 draft (we hope Jerry West was wrong). So they will more than likely get a young star in the making to put alongside Kobe for the 2014-2015 season. Once the following offseason starts, however, the fun begins. Such players as Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marc Gasol will be free agents come 2015 and many expect the Lakers to snag Love, who played at UCLA, from Minnesota.

Wait another offseason, which could mean post-Kobe, and the 2016 free agent class is even better. With such players scheduled to become free agents as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard and others, the Lakers could put themselves in position to return to championship contention within a few seasons simply by being patient in free agency for a few years. The two names most heavily linked to the purple and gold are Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, which matched together, could be a deadly combination for opponents.

As for the fans, we might need to bite the bullet on next season as well in order to potentially celebrate another title a few seasons later. Those of us in the seats as well as the Lakers front office should realize that. The one problem is that the pressure of an impending Kobe Bryant retirement may put the Lakers in an awkward situation and they may push the panic button and sign a player like Carmelo Anthony this offseason. Nothing against Carmelo — he is a great player — but the best thing for the Lakers future would be to wait for now and use the cap space in future off-seasons.