Offseason and roster construction

[LeCalinou]

There were a few things I observed in the latter part of the season and the playoffs: the unclear knowledge of roles on offense and defense, and the lack of determination.
It is quite clear that this year is an aberration (injuries, COVID protocols, schedule density), not because they should have won a 'chip again, but because they didn't fully reach their own potential.

Personnel-wise, they had too many players not excelling at anything in particular, and when they met adversity, there was a team-wide malaise as to who should they call on.
Another thing that was missed was intensity. Only a few role players play hard by default: Caruso, Matthews, Harrell. It might sound paradoxical, but if enough players were cutting and giving it their all, a player like Gasol might have excelled in this role.
He's an excellent offense and defense coordinator, but if no one is sprinting, if no one is competing, then his IQ isn't put to use.

So here are the moves to be made:

1. Sign and trade Schroeder + Harrell (player option) to Toronto for sign and traded Kyle Lowry.
Toronto needs younger, hungrier players, and I think they could do right by Lowry and send him to an ideal situation: the Lakers would really use his leadership and steady hand on Offense and Defense.

2. Clear some cap space to be enough under the cap to sign Caruso and THT to contracts in the neighbourhood of 3 years / 25 million each.
Trade KCP + Kuzma to a team like OKC (with some cash + a second round pick) in order to clear some cap space.
Why would OKC do it ? Because both KCP and Kuzma could return value from other teams, if they perform well enough. With so much youth on the roster, both could be scoring around 15 ppg with good averages, and then be traded before the deadline to teams with needs for their specific skills.
The Lakers in turn, would get trade exceptions to use in case they need to compete for a mid-season free agent, while allowing Caruso, THT and others to soak up extra minutes.

3. Sign different profile players:
PG:
TJ McConnell. He plays so smart, and he's such a good orchestrator of second units. His IQ with LeBron, AD, Gasol would be very useful
WING:
Re-sign Matthews.
Re-sign Ben McLemore.
Sign Terrence Davis.
Sign Otto Porter.
POST: Re-sign Drummond.
Re-sign Morris.
Sign Javale McGee.

Units:
Lowry - THT - James - AD - Drummond.
McConnell - Caruso - Matthews - Morris - Gasol.

McLemore, Davis, Porter, McGee for spot minutes, with roster spots open for later in the season when needs / injuries might demand some tweaking.

I think Drummond's skill (rebounding) and size can be put to really good use, if the whole team focuses on providing him with opportunities to get easy scores. His IQ needs improvement on both sides of the ball, but who better than Marc Gasol to mentor him ?
His value is shot right now, teams are going in other directions, so he needs the right context to excell.

Morris too could stick around, because his value decreased from last year. If he signs another 1 year deal, the Lakers will have bird right and might do right by him by doing a sign and trade for him to earn a better salary elsewhere.

Gasol might also stay for another go at a ring; with less competition for minutes (12-15 mpg for him sound right) and better suited players around, he could average 5 ppg, 5 rpg, 5 apg.
To be honest, I'd actually have a go at really playing him Point Center with the second units, because Jokic, Adebayo and other showed you could be successful with it.

[lazybatman]

How many threads for trades?