The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to rebound after a tough season and after losing Dwight Howard, the team feels it is in an even better position to win, as the team brought in Chris Kaman, Wesley Johnson and Nick Young as well as Jordan Farmar while Metta World Peace was waived.
The team will be much better without Dwight Howard and despite the fact that he is an elite player, he never meshed with Kobe and he never fit in LA. Kaman will give the team size and ability down low and the team should be much better scoring the ball if Bryant is back to his old self after being injured. The team says that Bryant is ahead of schedule and if he comes back at full strength, there is a good chance that with Pau Gasol the team could do something special.
The team suffered last season from the media attention as well as Howard's inability to get comfortable and now that he is gone, that shouldn't be an issue for Bryant and company, especially since they brought back a fan favorite in Farmar and added a solid player like Young to help on offense. Robert Sacre will be a solid big to have and the team should be much improved from last year as Kobe tries to make one more playoffs and championship run.
The Lakers have a number of issues to deal with over the summer and after adding free agent Chris Kaman as well as center Robert Sacre, they will look for some other areas where they can add depth before finalizing their roster. Lakers assistant coach Dan D'Antoni will be the head coach of the summer league team and the roster will have 18 players, including Robert Sacre and rookie forward Ryan Kelly, although he likely won't be playing due to the foot injury he had in college.
Young averaged 10.6 points and 23.9 minutes a game last season with Philadelphia and the guard signed to the veteran's minimum with the team. Young had some accuracy issues from the floor, but playing alongside Bryant when he returns from his Achilles injury should help him get some open shots. Young will likely backup Kobe, but he should get chances on the floor with him as well.
Sacre will be back with the team for the second straight year after being taken with the final pick of the second round in 2012 and while he barely played last season, he could have a much bigger role this time around. Last year he averaged 1.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.3 minutes and he also played for the Lakers' D-League affiliate L.A. D-Fenders, averaging 11.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 32.6 minutes and depending on how things go over the summer, he could get regular time in the rotation now that Howard is gone.
Another thing that could help: According to ESPN Los Angeles, Kurt Rambis is close to coming to the team as part of the coaching staff after working as an ESPN analyst in recent years and it wouldn't be the first time, as he previously worked for the team at various times over the past decade. Rambis was the lead assistant from 2001-04 and 2005-09 and he has eight rings during his career between being a player, coach and front office man.
The Lakers have made a number of significant moves this offseason after losing Dwight Howard to the Rockets and Kobe Bryant is excited about the prospect of trying to win another championship. The team brought in Kaman as well as Wesley Johnson, who averaged 8.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game last year for the Phoenix Suns and will provide depth off the bench. He played the previous two years with the Timberwolves and Kaman comes over from the Clippers.
Kaman averaged 10.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks last season for the Mavericks and now along with Pau Gasol, he will give some size and depth in the middle after the team lost Howard. Nick Young was also signed to a contract that has a player option for the second season and the team also added Robert Sacre and should be primed for a better run than last year. While Howard is an elite player, he never fit in with the Lakers and now the team can concentrate on getting back to the top of the West.
