3. Shooters
Perhaps the most important thing to add to a LeBron James-led team is shooters. That is even more relevant when the team also has Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, who are not much of shooters themselves.
We watched the Lakers win a championship less than two calendar years ago by having LeBron an AD surrounded by guys who can make shots off the ball. Granted, there were other aspects of that team (that we will dive into), but the shooting was a key part.
So why are shooters just the third-ranked need for the Lakers in this article? It is undoubtedly important to add shooters to the roster and the team should be starting that process by re-signing Malik Monk. That being said, there are two reasons why this need ranks third.
First is the fact that LeBron James is shooting the basketball more as an effort to put less wear and tear on his body. With LeBron’s three-point frequency rapidly climbing, the need for shooters is not as high as it would have been five years ago.
More importantly is the fact that the Lakers need players who are more than just shooters (again, more on that later). The Lakers swung the pendulum too far in the shooting column last season as they had quite a few role players who could shoot just fine off the ball but could not do much else.
That hurt the depth of the team both for the versatility on both sides of the basketball as well as the redundancy and lack of different outlooks.