L.A. Lakers: Kirk Hinrich or Raymond Felton, Which Point Guard Fits Lakers Best?

There is a very strong possibility that the Los Angeles Lakers will choose not to strike a gargantuan blow when it comes to tinkering with their roster for next season, which is a line of thought that runs contrary to popular opinion.

Some observers assume that the Lakers' embarrassing loss to the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Playoffs was an illustration of how much work the team's roster really needs.

I agree with this sentiment to some extent, but with each passing day I am less convinced that the Lakers need to make the drastic changes that some people have proposed, including myself.

Of course, I am starry-eyed by the thought of Chris Paul, Dwight Howard or Deron Williams donning the team's signature purple and gold, but do the Lakers really need any of those players to return to the NBA Finals?

All three players are enticing, but I'm not sure any of them is worth what the Lakers will have to relinquish in order to acquire their services.

I'm also not certain if any of them is worth destroying the chemistry the Lakers managed to cultivate over the past three seasons.

Make no mistake—the Dallas Mavericks were able to expose the weaknesses of the Lakers in their four-game sweep, but the pieces that remain after their historic collapse are still impressive by any measure.

Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are each expected to return next season, and that core group of players is one that most NBA teams would love to have.

Gasol, Bynum, Odom or more likely a combination including two of those players would have to be sacrificed to make the Howard dream a reality, and the post is not even the area of the team that needs the most attention.

That area would definitely be the backcourt, more specifically the point guard position. By upgrading to a player of Williams' or Paul's caliber, the Lakers frontcourt would still suffer, because Bynum, Odom or Gasol would still be needed to make a deal work.

So unless the Lakers are content with waiting until the 2012 free agency signing period to chase Paul or Williams, they must decide whether or not either player is worth mortgaging the immediate future of the franchise.

The Lakers can pursue a talented point guard who may not have the same level of ability as Paul or Williams but is still capable of improving the Lakers at the point of attack.

Two of the names I have heard mentioned the most are Atlanta Hawks lead guard Kirk Hinrich and new Portland Trail Blazers point guard Raymond Felton.

Both Felton and Hinrich would be major improvements over current Lakers point guards Derek Fisher and Steve Blake, but each player also has certain characteristics that set him apart.

Felton and Hinrich played college basketball for North Carolina coach Roy Williams, and as a result each one of them is more comfortable playing an uptempo game.

Felton is naturally quicker than Hinrich and gets to the rim off the dribble a little better, but Hinrich makes better decisions with the ball in transition, and his four-inch height advantage over Felton allows him to see and dissect an opposing defense more thoroughly.

Felton blossomed in the first 54 games of the 2010-11 season with the New York Knicks, posting career highs of 17.1 points and 8.3 assists per game, and he started every single game.

Felton was traded to the Denver Nuggets in the deal that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York, and his scoring average dipped to 11.6 points per game. He failed to start any of his final 21 regular season games in Denver.

Hinrich was also traded during the last regular season, from the Washington Wizards to the Atlanta Hawks, and although he didn't average as many points as Felton, he played a much larger role for the Hawks in the postseason until he was injured.

Hinrich was the type of steady, consistent and disciplined player the underachieving Hawks needed manning the point, and his play was a major reason Atlanta was able to beat the Orlando Magic during the 2011 postseason.

Not to mention that Hinrich is a pretty good defender as well, which should be the most important attribute when it comes to selecting a point guard for the Lakers next season.

Felton is a strong defender also, but at 6'0" he is a little undersized. Although his defensive fundamentals are impeccable, he still falls victim to periods of undisciplined play on the defensive end

If it were not for the injury suffered by Hinrich last postseason, I would give him the edge over Felton since he is taller, more disciplined and a better and more consistent outside shooter.

Hinrich's injury is a reminder that he is already on the other side of 30, while Felton is three years younger and clearly a superior athlete.

The Lakers demonstrated their commitment to upgrading the point guard position by selecting lead guards with their first two picks of the 2011 NBA draft, and attempting to acquire Felton or Hinrich would be a nice step in the same direction.

More importantly, the Lakers can probably sign either one of those players without destroying the nucleus of their team.