Comments on the Lakers Vision for the future

I am thinking more broadly and that this off-season, the Lakers shouldn't focus on how they will do in the playoffs next season and should instead focus on moving some of their older players to acquire some young talent. Unless Mitch pulls off some of the greatest trades/drafts of all time, the Lakers aren't going to compete for a championship this year. I would much rather they continue to add to the foundation this off-season while remaining competitive. The already have young players in 5 of their top 6 spots - Mihm (25), Odom (25), Butler (25), Bryant (26) and Jones (26). They also have Cook (24), Walton (25), and Vujacic (21), but I don't know if the Lakers will re-sign Walton or if Cook and Vujacic will ever be quality players. So to me, they should move Atkins, Divac, George, Grant and/or Medvedenko for draft picks and/or young players, make a good draft pick, play for a low playoff seeding this year and then do more talent evaluation.

As for the rumor trades, the first of which is with Indiana for Bender and #17 pick for George, Slava and 1 or 2 of the second round picks. If the Lakers pull this off, they get a mid-first round pick and a 24 year old backup PF for a surplus SF, an inconsistant PF and some near useless draft picks. I like it.

Next is the rumored Butler, 17, Atkins, Vlade, trade X for Boozer and Borchardt. To me, this is a quantity for quality trade, which IMHO is the most difficult trade to make. I like it.

The two trades would move all of the players I would like to move except Grant. As Grant's contract makes him almost impossible to trade, that's not surprising. The Lakers would have a huge hole at PG, but they would have a slew of young players - Mihm (25), Boozer (23), Odom (25), Bryant (26), Jones (26), Cook (24), Vujacic (21), Bender (24), Borchardt (24), maybe Walton (25) and their #10 pick. That gives them a large number of options for filling that last hole.

Posted on a thread at LG.net