Exactly, you guys are acting like Howard leaving is going to make the Lakers irrelevant for years, like they won't be able to attract marquee free agents. Sorry guys but if Howard isn't under contract the Lakers will have a completely empty roster in 2014. They'll sign two max players then, and make sure they have enough for Love in '15....
LeBron is the target in I believe '14? Correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Kemba is a gamer and it's going to be fun to watch him lead this team into the future. The question is at what point is the roster slate completely swiped clean of guys like Diop, Thomas and Gordon who are killing the cap number and providing little to nothing for this team.
At this point, I trust Ron Rivera late in a game more than I do Mike Dunlap. The way this team crumbles under pressure with comfortable leads night-in and night-out is ridiculous. It's like they're told to lose the game in the fourth quarter to get more ping-pong balls in the lottery. It's like at some point it hits them that they're up on a team like the Lakers comfortably and they go completely away from everything that made them successful up to that point in the game.
This is rebuild year 1 following deconstruction year 1, and though the team is more competitive, the inability to close out games is a concern that I fear will follow this team no matter how far it goes if it doesn't get stopped now.