WHAT GRADE DO YOU GIVE THE LAKERS THIS OFF-SEASON?
Colin Lopez (@colinRlopez) – The Lakers get a B- from me. Losing Dwight Howard is obviously going to be a huge negative; although, the Lakers did an excellent job filling out the rest of their roster with only the bi-annual exception and veteran minimum deals available. The Lakers added youth at the guard positions, a new center, and drafted a stretch power forward, all which filled needs for the Lakers.
Jacob Rude (@JacobRude) – C. Just a plain old C. Their sole goal for the summer was to bring back Howard, which they failed out. Regardless of what person issues he may have had with his teammates, he’s still arguably the best center in the league. For that alone, they’d get an F. But considering the moves they made after, including get Nick Young, Chris Kaman, Jordan Farmar, and Wes Johnson on huge pay cuts. That somewhat saved their off-season, but it’s an overall loss.
Caleb Cottrell (@Caleb_Cottrell) – C. The Lakers off-season wasn’t too great. First of all, they lost Dwight Howard, who, when healthy, is a top five player in the league. So, without Dwight Howard, the Lakers decided to go to Plan B: Nick Young, Wesley Johnson, Jordan Farmar, Chris Kaman, and Elias Harris. Those moves weren’t too terrible, considering the Lakers financial situation, but losing Dwight Howard hurts.
Brian Booth (@BBooth248) – C+. I fought the urge to hand out a B for this one, because the Lakers mainly stayed pat this summer. The addition of Chris Kaman will likely adequately fill the wide hole left open by the loss of Dwight Howard, and as a fan, I’m happy to see Jordan Farmar return to the city of his best days. After the Howard circus left town, the Lakers’ options were quite limited, and so they did the best they could under the circumstances/ There were no bug splashes, nor were there expected to be. They, and we, will have to continue to exercise patience until next summer.
Skyler Gilbert (@SkylerJGilbert) – I’d give the Lakers a C for their efforts in free agency. Obviously, losing Dwight Howard was a big blow, but I’d certainly like to believe they could have done more to salvage a productive off-season that would be beneficial to the future of the franchise. I would have much preferred the amnesty clause to be used on Pau Gasol as opposed to Metta World Peace, who was the only above-average defender that LA had left on the roster. This would have opened up more financial options to put together a more youthful, promising lineup in the coming years. The summer wasn’t a train wreck, but it certainly had a lot of room to have been better, in my opinion.
Mike Garcia (@CanyonDriver) – This is B+ offseason. Ideally it would be an A+ with Dwight Howard, but the Lakers never keep players that aren’t interested in being the Lakers. This isn’t the first time this has happened. But, they were able to acquire solid talent all at veteran minimum contracts for one year leading up to the free agency of 2014. They have a vision for 2014, and were still able to acquire Jordan Farmar, Nick Young, Chris Kaman, and Wesley Johnson. Any of those would have been huge factors during the injury plagued 2013 season. I would have given an A- if I felt more confident about the draft. Ryan Kelly has perimeter talent, but considering the impact of the Las Vegas Pro League and which players were available; Dwight Buycks FA signing for Toronto, James Ennis, local project wing from Long Beach State, BJ Young, elite athlete at the PG position with defensive abilities, CJ Leslie, a lesser Josh Smith type, and Brandon Paul, there were a lot of prospects that fit into D’Antoni’s system than just another stretch-4. Elias Harris getting a two-year deal just puts Kelly further behind the cut.