Lakers: How Should Front Office Approach Rebuilding?

As the Lakers usher in the post-Kobe Bryant era, management must decide what course of action to take to try to rebuild the team into contenders

When you look at the Los Angeles Lakers current position, they have some upside. Guard D’Angelo Russell and forward Julius Randle are two young players brimming with potential. Barring an unforeseen trade or surprise, promising forward Brandon Ingram will be added as the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft June 23^rd draft. Meanwhile, they’ll likely match any offer to retain restricted free agent guard Jordan Clarkson.

The big question is what approach should the Lakers front office use to augment the roster? Do they hold onto the youngsters and build around them? Should they bundle two together to trade for an established star? How seriously should they pursue the top free agents this summer?

Let’s look at how recent league champions and contenders have built their teams. Over the last five seasons, only five teams have made it to the NBA Finals. They’ve used two different methods to stock their rosters.

First, we have the Western Conference model—building your contender slowly by drafting your big stars, then adding veterans around them.

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The Golden State Warriors drafted four of their starters—Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green. They ultimately added three key contributors, Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut via trade and Shaun Livingston through free agency. (Note that they didn’t win their first title until six years after drafting Curry and four years after taking Thompson.)

Then you look at another contender in the West like the San Antonio Spurs, the most consistent franchise of the past 20 years. The Spurs drafted three starters from their 2014 championship team—Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker, and effectively drafted a fourth in Kawhi Leonard via a draft-day trade in 2011. They surrounded those stars with solid role players like Danny Green and Boris Diaw. And last summer they signed their first prominent free agent, LaMarcus Aldridge.

Similar to both the Warriors and Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder have made it to the Finals just once, but of course they battled the Warriors in a seven-game series this year and possibly would’ve made it further recently if not for injuries. They too built through the draft, selecting stars Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, James Harden, and Steven Adams (with a pick from the eventual Harden trade).

However, the model put forth by a couple of teams from the Eastern Conference is quite different.

Out East, you have examples like the Miami Heat and their construction of the Big Three. They first drafted Dwyane Wade in 2003, but later added star free agents LeBron James and Chris Bosh in 2010, and even later Ray Allen as well.

Then of course there are the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that originally drafted James in ’03. After he left in free agency, they drafted Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson and picked Andrew Wiggins in 2014, but traded Wiggins for Kevin Love after they re-signed LeBron in free agency.

That begs the question of which method should the Lakers utilize?