Lakers Rumors: Wing players to make this Cleveland Cavaliers west

There is a narrative about LeBron James that needs to be addressed!

There are a lot of analysts in the media that believe that LeBron James should have a strong opinion on the way the Lakers roster is put together.

Here’s an example right here in Ryan Hollins on First Take. He talks about how LeBron James and Klutch Sports should have Jeanie Buss’ complete trust going forward.

Where do you think he got that experience? Lakers fans should know him quite well. It happens to be Pat Riley, who invented the process that the Lakers are desperately trying to execute right now.

Seemingly from the Heat bench, for four years, James witnessed Riley put together a roster of three superstars (LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade) and surround them with veteran players on minimum contracts, mid-level exceptions and a few rookie deals.

Pat Riley always seemed to surround the “Big Three” with capable players like Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and Ray Allen. I think we all remember Ray Allen’s contribution to the team.

All for the tidy sum of the $3 million dollar range. Pat Riley and the Miami Heat took advantage of Allen’s deteriorating relationship in Boston and convinced him that he could be an important part of a championship team. Something that Boston was not doing to Allen’s satisfaction. Riley then filled the end of the bench flipping multiple players earning the league minimum.

After four years in Miami, LeBron took his talents (and Pat Riley’s playbook) to Cleveland and set up the same situation. David Griffin took advantage of Kevin Love forcing his way out of Minnesota to swing a deal to get Kevin Love. With Kyrie Irving already locked in on a long-term deal, the Cavaliers had their own big three.

With the front office flipping the roster on the fly while LeBron James bringing in James Jones and Mike Miller, two players he was close to in Miami, the roster was filled with veteran players with minimum wage contracts.

All of the attention will be given fairly to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but Rob Pelinka’s real job will be filling out this roster on a shoestring budget.

Pat Riley did it in Miami. David Griffin did it in Cleveland while LeBron James constantly complained about the roster. Remember the “Top heavy” rant.

"“It’s like when you don’t have bodies. It’s tough,” James said. “The f—ing grind of the regular season. We’re a top-heavy team. We have a top-heavy team. We top-heavy as s—. It’s me, [Kyrie Irving], [Kevin Love]. It’s top-heavy.” “We need a f—ing playmaker,” James said. “I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that.”"

Now think back to how Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal debated on the subject.

Cleveland was in FIRST PLACE at the time. To take it further, they were the defending champs. David Griffin did some magic and added some veterans with Dan Gilbert’s blank checkbook. This is totally different. There’s a budget here. Man is next year going to be fun!

Here’s the list of league minimum veterans the Lakers can get in LeBron’s image.