5) Jordan Farmar / Wesley Johnson / Nick Young / Elias Harris / Xavier Henry
Going into the Summer of 2014, ideally the Lakers wouldn’t be filling 9 or more roster spots – indicative of a complete overhaul – but just adding key pieces building off of this season. The key to that is the development of a few of these young players. If Farmar, Johnson and Young are good fits, the Lakers’ have the infrastructure of a championship level rotation, to be fleshed out with Bryant, Gasol, and a star or two going forward into the 2014-2015 season.
Harris and Henry are developmental players but with enough potential worth waiting on and skills perfectly suited to a Mike D’Antoni system.
Lakers’ Nation has experienced 3 consecutive seasons where numerous things have gone wrong; bad coaching hires, aborted trades, jettisoning the championship era bench, injuries, trades that didn’t work out, Lamar leaving for nothing, and the Dwight Howard debacle. It was karma for all of the success in the Kobe Bryant era. Instead of foreseeing doom and disaster let’s look at what could go right and brace for one the most unpredictable seasons in team history.