He could easily become a rotation guard for a good team in the NBA.įree agency and trades: The Lakers were extremely active in the offseason, building up a team of veterans who can possibly be competitive enough to satiate Kobe's appetite. Clarkson can play both guard positions and is a very good shooter. They didn't have their second round pick, which belonged to the Milwaukee Bucks after a bevy of deals, but they gave the Washington Wizards cash considerations in exchange for Jordan Clarkson out of Missouri. He's also big on running the floor and impacting the game on the move. He can dominate the boards and use his strength and quickness to score in the halfcourt. He's a power forward with All-Star potential. Randle was regarded as a top 3 or 4 prospect heading into the college season and had a very good freshman season. They used the seventh pick on Julius Randle out of Kentucky. It was only the third time in the last 20 years in which they picked in the lottery. The draft: The Lakers' horrendous season landed them the seventh pick in the draft - their highest selection in the draft since 1982 when they selected James Worthy with the No. This roster needed an overhaul though and one that would keep their flexibility while keeping Kobe happy about them trying to contend. But with so much up in the air for the Lakers' future and not knowing where the next star might come from, it was hard to figure out whether or not this was going to be a placeholder coach or the coach of the next Lakers' era. A brand new roster of replacement parts was going to need someone who could find a way to preach and teach defense. The Lakers also needed to find a new coach after parting ways with D'Antoni. That meant they either had to get lucky or maintain a pretty poor roster to keep the flexibility they might need in the summer of 2015 or the summer of 2016. By giving Kobe a two-year, $48.5 million extension before he came back from injury, the Lakers locked themselves into a tricky cap situation in terms of adding a couple of stars beside him over the next two years. The Lakers need stars to fuel their roster and bring in the discounted role players that round out a championship roster. Offseason needs: Get a star or get ready for a restart. It was a season to forget in every way for the Lakers. Kent Bazemore and Shawne Williams both played more minutes than Kobe and Nash combined. Jodie Meeks and Wes Johnson played the most minutes on the Lakers during the season. They had four different losing streaks of six or more games throughout the season and Steve Nash's career playing into the final season of his contract started looking like a pipe dream. Mike D'Antoni was a sitting duck in every sense of the term and the only joy to take out of it was trying to find something promising in Ryan Kelly or figuring out if Kendall Marshall was the real deal and reviving his career. Empty stats piled up in a system designed to maximize the play of the marginal. By season's end, it was a glorified summer pro-am team looking to secure themselves contract consideration for next season. Even if Kobe had come back at full strength and scoring with the efficiency he had in the 2012-13 season, the team around him was abhorrent. ![]() The Lakers started out 10-9 on the season, but it was mostly smoke and mirrors. And even if he had been "Kobe," I'm not sure it would have mattered. It was a rather unspectacular six games, but it's impossible to expect him to be crisp in his first games back from such a hard injury to overcome. After working so hard to return to the Lakers 20 games into the season, Bryant lasted just six games before fracturing a bone in his kneecap. The start and end of the Lakers' season was Kobe Bryant's return from an Achilles' injury and then his subsequent injury that ended his season. How they finished 2014: Well, the Los Angeles Lakers of 2013-14 finished with the worst season in the history of the Los Angeles era of the Lakers’ franchise, so it’s safe to say they didn’t finish it all that well. ![]() Check out the rest of the offseason reports here. We continue with a once elite franchise trying to transition to the next era, the Los Angeles Lakers. More Offseason Analysis: Coaching changes, news | Free Agency | DraftĬ's Eye On Basketball is taking a team-by-team look at the 2014 NBA offseason. The Lakers are at least trying to compete for Kobe Bryant's final seasons.
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