Lakers News: Updated Buzz Surrounding Roy Hibbert and More

The key to running any successful business is having a clear plan. One reason the Los Angeles Lakers have been near the NBA cellar the last two years is that they had no idea what kind of franchise they wanted to be. 

Much like the Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball, the Lakers have been caught in that tricky area with veteran-laden, expensive talent that was good or great at one point but age and injuries have hit them. 

While the Lakers front office hasn't fully embraced the need to rebuild, there are signs that things have changed. They haven't traded young players like Julius Randle or this year's first-round pick D'Angelo Russell, which is a positive step. 

As for what general manger Mitch Kupchak and the staff have planned for the Lakers in 2015-16, it seems like there is a clear plan in place. 

The Roy Hibbert Situation

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Having missed out on all of the big-name free agents thus far, the Lakers are taking to the trade market to address their center situation. 

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Lakers are working to finalize terms on a deal with the Indiana Pacers to acquire Roy Hibbert:

The only snag, per Wojnarowski, is that Hibbert has a $2.3 million trade kicker that will have an impact on the Lakers' salary cap even though the Pacers are going to pay it and the deal can't be completed until the transaction moratorium ends on July 9. 

Hibbert is hardly the splash Los Angeles fans were hoping to make, though he's not a bad alternative given what could have happened. The Lakers could have tried throwing a lot of money and years at second- and third-tier free agents, like Kosta Kofous or Robin Lopez. 

Instead, the Lakers can get a one-year stopgap center in Hibbert who is going to play solid defense and has stayed healthy throughout his career. 

Plus, as Lakers Nation noted on Twitter, it's not like the Lakers are committing long-term to Hibbert:

Let's do some math here, shall we? According to HoopsHype, the Lakers have two players under contract for next season (Randle and Nick Young). That doesn't include D'Angelo Russell, so let's make that No. 3. Two of those players—Russell and Randle—will be on cheap rookie deals. 

So this puts the Lakers at roughly $10 million in guaranteed salary commitments for next season, when the salary cap is going to balloon with the new NBA television contract kicking in. 

Now, this summer has shown that the allure of Los Angeles and money alone won't lure prime free agents. But imagine what can happen if Randle and Russell play up to their potential.

That's asking a lot of two players, one who is actually a rookie and another who is essentially a rookie after playing 14 minutes in one game before getting hurt last season. Still, young players can drastically change the course of a franchise in a hurry. 

It's easy to say LeBron James went home by returning to Cleveland last summer, but he also saw the situation in Miami and what it would be like to play alongside a young star like Kyrie Irving. 

Again, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, because Irving had three years under his belt before James' decision and the Lakers' duo has just 82 games to make an impression. But finding a young nucleus opens the door for everything else. 

That's why the potential acquisition of Hibbert makes so much sense for the Lakers, both for the upcoming season and what could happen next summer. 

Free-Agent Roundup

Jim Cowsert/Associated Press

One thing teams trying to build around young players do is go after past-their-prime free agents who are happy to take a short-term deal knowing that there is a chance they will get traded at midseason. 

That seems to be the direction Los Angeles' front office is taking at this juncture in the offseason. Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reported the Lakers are among the teams that have reached out to Carlos Boozer. 

Medina also reported Jeremy Lin was generating interest from the Lakers, despite noting the star guard was "uncomfortable" in Byron Scott's system last season and losing his starting job in January. 

It should also be noted that Medina lists nine teams as having interest in Boozer and six in Lin, so it's not going to be as simple as the Lakers making an offer to a desperate player who will be forced to take it. 

In Medina's report on Boozer, he also wrote that there are potentially conflicting aspects in play that could push the veteran forward to find a new team:

"

In his exit interview, Boozer continuously praised the Lakers’ rebuilding process, Kobe Bryant’s leadership, Scott’s coaching and the team’s young talent. But Boozer expressed interest in staying with the Lakers only if they seemed equipped to make the playoffs next year after finishing last season with a 21-41 mark, its worst in franchise history. 

"

(Note: Medina wrote the Lakers finished 21-41 last season, but their record was actually 21-61.)

But the Lakers aren't limiting their veteran options to in-house candidates they know well. B/R's Jared Zwerling reported a mutual interest between the team and Amar'e Stoudemire:

Even though Stoudemire's reputation has cratered over the years, mostly due to age and injuries, he's still a productive big man when healthy. 

Take a look at this blind resume of two players' stats from last season:

Player A	Stat	Player B
19.7	PPG	18.5
9.5	RPG	11.9
1.1	BPG	0.6

Player A is Amar'e Stoudemire, who doesn't figure to get a lot of money on the market this offseason. Player B is Greg Monroe, who agreed to a max contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, according to Wojnarowski. 

There are obvious differences between the two, most notably that Monroe just turned 25 and Stoudemire is 32, but the production per 36 minutes isn't substantially different in those key categories. 

These aren't sexy names for the Lakers to keep pursuing, but this isn't a franchise that's appealing to anyone at the moment. It takes time to build back up when the foundation is as broken as it is in Los Angeles. 

Things will turn around eventually, because the Lakers have too many smart people and too much history for it not to, though 2015-16 will be more about what Russell and Randle do than how the team's overall record turns out.