For me it's Kwahi Lenard and Marc Gasol. Not gonna happen but still. With Lin, Kobe, Hill, Davis, Randle and Young should be enough to contend.
Jimmy Butler or Wesley Matthews + Robin Lopez or Omer Asik Any combo of that SF/C group and we are cookin'.
There's so many... My top two? Or the most realistic? My top two are Kawhi Leonard and Rajon Rondo. The most realistic?... I like Doc's Jimmy Butler or Wesley Mathews idea. I'm also holding out hope for Greg Monroe. I love that kid.
I can't stick to just 2.. This team has too many holes. Dragic, Kemba, Knight, Monta, or Rondo at guard, probably in that order (Rondo last because he'll probably cost more than the rest). Wes Matthews, Kawhi, Jimmy Butler, or Afflalo, again probably in that order. Asik, Jordan, or Biyombo, whoever we can afford out of those 3. Of course if we have enough left after adding a guard & a wing, I'd love to get Marc. But he's getting the max for sure & probably from a much better team than us.
If you guys wanted to see the whole list of free Agents (2015 & 2016), you can find them here. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11377133/nba-free-agents-2015-2016
Marc is number one for me. I'd love to see us with a great center again. However, we do have some glaring holes. Lenard would be incredible but I don't think it's going to happen knowing SA. More likely I think we could get Rondo but we need to see where we are at with Lin. If Lin actually pans out I wouldn't be opposed to keeping him here, but he has a LONG way to go to be anywhere close to Rondo's level. Not that he absolutely has to, but might be better just to upgrade to Rondo even though he was one of Those Guys.
I would actually really like to have Rondo here as a Laker. We honestly haven't had an "elite" PG in a very long time. Thinking about it, we haven't had an "elite" PG at all. You can make a case for Magic, but as a prototypical PG, we haven't had many, if not, any at all.
If Lin keeps playing like this we might be able to keep him for cheap and still get Rondo... Just sayin'... Rondo/Lin would be a pretty rock solid rotation.
Marc is number 1. We desperately need an anchor and the fact that he can be a 1b option offensively is ever better. The max HAS to be offered. After that, it's between Rondo or Aldridge.
Aldridge has already said he's not leaving. For Marc though, you realize he's going to turn 30 in January? He's no spring chicken anymore. I don't know that he's the kind of guy a rebuilding team goes for. I wouldn't be mad, but I wouldn't be exactly happy either.
I like Aldridge but I don't think a face up PF is what we're looking to build around. So I have no problem with him staying where he is. I'd rather just develop Randle who looks like he can be a very, very good player at that position. Marc Gasol is a guy who I'd go after for sure. He plays a position where I'm not that concerned about his being 30. Centers if they stay healthy can keep going until their late 30's certainly. Especially one with the skill set of M. Gasol. Big guys get paid and I do think it will take max money to pry him away from Memphis. But the good thing for us is if Memphis continues to not make it that far in the playoffs he'll have some motivation to go to a bigger market. Despite how Pau paints it, too, we treated him extremely well aside from D' Antoni. He got a three year 19 per deal extension from us after taking us to the Finals three times. Yes, we traded him a year later for Chris Paul but that's because he didn't show up the season after he got that deal from us. Even at the end we offered him another very generous contract especially given how half-hearted he played for four years. We didn't trade him for peanuts, and we didn't disrespect him (other than D' Antoni who was just a jerk all around to everyone basically, not just Pau). Marc would have a lot of good reasons to come here. Mitch after all was the guy who drafted him in the first place, plus huge market here to cap off his career. Besides, for us a four year max deal only takes him to 34. Not exactly over the hill age for a center in this league at all.
Just to be devil's advocate... Pau Gasol turned 34 THIS year... so the last three years of Pau were 32, 33, and 34 years of age.
