Los Angeles Lakers: 2016 Offseason Grades
Overall
The Los Angeles Lakers came into this offseason looking to finally turn the page from the worst three-season stretch in franchise history and the troublesome ending to the Kobe Bryant era and start anew. This summer, the front office took concerted steps to do just that, starting the long process back to contention.
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Jim Buss, Mitch Kupchak and company have made it clear that they are finally buying in to the youth movement, making the development of its young core of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram the chief priority and putting the right kind of veterans around them to help them grow while helping the franchise to stay competitive.
The team more than addressed their points of need by adding the likes of Ingram, Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov and Ivica Zubac and retained important pieces of their roster in Clarkson, Tarik Black and Marcelo Huertas.
While the Lakers may have tossed more money around than they needed to and added more age than they would’ve liked, the additions they’ve made will help to improve their play on the court and the culture off of it. The front office has built a team that should be more competitive than it has been in recent years and give Lakers fans something to be excited about next season in their first in the post-Kobe Bryant era.
Grade: B-