The LA Lakers missed out on Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol in free agency, but as the Los Angeles eyes Byron Scott as their next head coach, the team had more free agent moves it could make, as players like Eric Bledsoe, Greg Monroe, Carlos Boozer and Shawn Marion remain on the market and those are players that can support Kobe Bryant, while a Steve Nash trade is also another option and now Lance Stephenson is out after signing with the Charlotte Hornets.
The Lakers are coming into the season after a rough year in 2013-14, but the team at least got a lottery pick in Julius Randle and now they have some players to build around. According to ESPN.com and Pro Basketball Talk, the Lakers are looking at Scott as a head coaching option for next season, but they are in no rush to hire anyone. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Lakers are closing in on Scott and Bryant approves of that option, but so far they have not made a deal with him. The Lakers are planning on signing a coach within the next week or two and after losing some top free agents they feel they have the flexibility to wait.
The Lakers still are a year or two away from being good unless they make a major trade, as they missed out on Carmelo and LeBron James, but the team really had no chance to sign LeBron. James is back in Cleveland and Melo opted to return to the New York Knicks, although reports did say that Anthony was very impressed with the LA presentation in free agency. Pau Gasol is now with the Chicago Bulls and that is another team that missed on Anthony, but they are thrilled to have Gasol in the fold.
The Lakers and the Chicago Bulls are in similar situations, as their success likely hinges on one player coming back from an injury this season with Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose coming back. The Lakers were mentioned as a team interested in the Kevin Love trade talks before the draft, but once that passed the team faded out of those talks and now likely will try and wait yo see if Love becomes a free agent in 2015 with the Timberwolves.
Love has said that he is intrigued by the idea if playing in Cleveland now that they have LeBron James, but that is still no easy deal to pull off. The Wolves want Andrew Wiggins to give up Love, but Cleveland is not interested in doing that and now they will see if they can get the team to take a lesser deal with Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and a first round pick in the future. So far no deal is close but Cleveland could keep pushing to try and get a trade through before the season starts.
The Lakers tried to get involved in the Love talks when the Golden State Warriors were engaging the Wolves, as they tried to turn things into a three team deal to try and swing Klay Thompson. The Warriors weren't too keen on that and one reason the deal fell through with the Timberwolves was a reluctance to deal Thompson.
