21 May 2014 23:08:31
2014-2015

Kobe Bryant $24 million
Steve Nash $9 million
Pau Gasol $8 million
Avery Bradley $7 million
Aaron Gordon/Julius Randle/Noah Vonleh $2.5 million
Jordan Hill $5 million
Jodie Meeks $4 million
Robert Sacre $1 million
Jordan Farmar $1 million
Xavier Henry $1 million
Kent Bazemore $1
Ryan Kelly $1 million

-Starters-

Bradley/Meeks/Kobe/Hill/Gasol

Farmar/Henry/Bazemore/Randle (or Vonleh or Gordon)/Sacre/Nash/Kelly


Roster costs $64. 5 Million


Nash can teach Avery Bradley how to Point Guard for a year until 2015 free agency where we overpay Kyrie Irving and package the nice contracts of Meeks, Hill, Gasol, and our 2014 draft pick to get another star. So in Kobe's last year, in the 2015-2016 season the roster could look much different and could be a contender whereas a lineup of Kyrie/Bradley/Kobe/draft pick/Gasol ain't bad pre-trade, and in 2016 there could be a young core of Kyrie/Bradley/our pick/and whoever we may have traded for.

2014 Free Agents 2015 Free Agents
PG: Lowry, Bledsoe Kyrie, Rondo, Kemba, Knight
PF: Jordan Hill, Kris Humphries, Blair Love, Aldridge
C: Gortat, Pau, Monroe Marc Gasol

It is worth it to sign Pau this summer because there are not going to be elite Centers available next summer (yea there is Tyson Chandler and Hibbert but I don't consider them leaps and bounds above Pau) and it makes sense to draft a PF and sign Jordan Hill again because there is no guarantee that Love or Aldridge will be available not to mention Jordan Hill won't be too expensive and is obviously serviceable as a PF or backup Center and hopefully our draft pick blossoms into something legitimate but the point is that the Lakers cannot wait until 2015 to try do anything because nothing is at all guaranteed. Fielding the roster I have posited above is their best bet to still be competitive this coming year and to have an opportunity to sign one max free agent who could be Kyrie or Kemba or Aldridge or Love or Marc Gasol where the lineups could look like one of the following:

Kyrie, Bradley, Kobe, Randle, Pau
Kemba, Bradley, Kobe, Randle, Pau
Rondo, Bradley, Kobe, Randle, Pau
Bradley, Meeks, Kobe, Love, Pau
Bradley, Meeks, Kobe, Aldridge, Pau
Bradley, Meeks, Kobe, Gasol, Gasol

Going about it this way makes the Lakers competitive this year to make the playoffs and will make them even more competitive the following year (Kobe's last year) and then possibilities reallllly open up with Kobe and probably Pau also retiring opening up $34 million in cap space.

1.) 24 May 2014
Love This. But where is nick?
And melo? I think melo and kobe would work really well. People say it will be a dwight situation but melo is not dwight. he has to play alongside kobe if he wants RING. and they can win it if they play together.
I like this lineup
1)Nash (Lavine if we trade for a late first round pick or smart)
2)kobe
3)melo
4) (gordon-randle-vonleh)
5)pau
and with these starters we can have a pretty good bench
And need a GREAT coach

2.) 24 May 2014
Can’t afford to have Nick Young unfortunately as much as I love him. And to my limited understanding of the CBA the Lakers could not afford Carmelo not to mention the unlikelihood that Kobe and Carmelo would work together—there’s only one ball.

The Lakers cannot get Lavine/Smart and one of the Gordon/Randle/Vonleh triumvirate, there is only one pick to get one of those five you have listed. Cannot trade to get more picks because Lakers have no assets to do so; nobody wants Steve Nash or Robert Sacre.

It is also of course beyond foolish to start Nash who likely will not make it through the season. And it is pointless to sign any SF when LA can slide Kobe to SF where Meeks is more than serviceable as the starting SG.

3.) 25 May 2014
I didn't mean to get five of them my friend
i mean just get 2 of them
1) lavine or smart
2) gordon or randle or vonleh or 0. 5% chance embiid.
the lineup would be like this next year if we can't get melo
1) Lavine or Smart
2) Meeks
3) Kobe
4) Gordon or Randle or Vonleh
5) Pau
or
1) Lavine or Smart
2) Meeks
3) Kobe
4) Pau
5) Embiid if we can get him

4.) 26 May 2014
There is no way to get two of them either is the point and there sure as hell is no way the Lakers can get Embiid. There is only one pick at the 7 spot and that pick will get Gordon, or Vonleh, or Randle, or Smart. Even if we traded the number 7 pick for two picks, those two picks would not be in the top 10 to get any of the players mentioned except MAYBE Lavine