Los Angeles Lakers: 3 things this roster desperately needs this offseason

3. The Los Angeles Lakers need to figure out what they want to do at the center position

There is not a certain thing the Los Angeles Lakers need in particular with the center position other than the team simply figuring out what its vision for the position is and sticking to that. The Lakers were all over the place at center this season and it made it really hard to establish a rotation with a consistent offensive presence.

The Lakers signed Marc Gasol to be a stretch five and add playmaking but he was not panning out so they pivoted to Andre Drummond, who the team assumed would be able to give the Lakers the same thing that Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee did the year prior.

Drummond clogged the lanes to the point where the Lakers didn’t start him in Game 6 as it was painfully clear that the offense was worse with him on the floor. Howard and McGee accepted smaller roles and were fine with rebounding, shot-blocking and catching lobs.

Drummond is someone who wants the ball in the pots and quite frankly, he is nowhere near efficient enough to meet those demands.

While all this was happening the team had Montrezl Harrell, who the team leaned on in the regular season only to not play in the playoffs because he is undersized and is a bad defender.

Mix all of this with the potential of playing Anthony Davis at the five, which they should be doing anyway, and the Lakers have so many different dynamics at the center position. Last season they could not commit to one and it burned them.

Do they want that rim-protecting big that can catch lobs and rebound? Cool, bring back McGee and sign Robin Lopez to cheap deals to provide that. Do they want the stretch five? Convince Gasol not to retire (not saying that is a guarantee) and bring in another stretch five. Do they want Davis to play more five? Keep Gasol around and have Davis get half the minutes at center and use the resources elsewhere.

Pick a route and stick to it.