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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Pau Gasol left his exit meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday with an increased sense that he may have played his last game with the Lakers.

“The future is uncertain,” Gasol said. “There’s no doubt about it. It’s a possibility that I could be gone and there’s a possibility that I could stay. I don’t know the exact percentages of it. But I’m prepared for either way.

“I understand the challenges that the franchise is facing, the decisions that they have to make in order to keep the team in the direction that they want to -- looking at the present and the future and also understanding the business side of it. So, it’s a lot going on. I wish things were a little simpler, but they’re not. So we’ll see.”

If the Lakers keep next season's payroll at about $100 million, as it was in 2012-13, the team would owe about $85 million in additional luxury-tax penalties because of the more punitive stipulations in the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

Could Gasol and the rest of the Lakers' major pieces all be back next season? Kupchak said that possibility is “in play.”

“We haven’t ruled anything out as of now,” he said.

Yet Kupchak used similar language to admit that the opposite is also a possibility: "When you lose, everybody is in play ... whether it's Pau or anybody else, we'll look for ways to improve the team."

Gasol's contract has one year remaining at $19.3 million. From a financial perspective, the assumption was that the Lakers would try to trade his expiring deal or opt to use their one-time amnesty provision on the 12-year veteran.

“(Kupchak) couldn’t really tell me, ‘Hey, thanks for everything you’ve done, it’s more likely you’re going to be gone,’ or no, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’re going to stay here. We’re going to make it happen,’” Gasol said. “Which is to be expected. I appreciate Mitch’s honesty and everything that he’s done and the franchise has done for the last two years to keep me here and have me on the team.”

The two-year time frame Gasol was referring to started with his nearly being traded and has included a second-round exit from the playoffs last season, coach Mike Brown's being fired early this season, and a first-round sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs last week.

Gasol, who turns 33 in July, said his experience with the Lakers changed significantly after the three-way trade between the Lakers, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets was vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern on the eve of the first day of training camp for the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.

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Give the Lakers credit. They never run out of ways to keep the world guessing. One day after giving Mike Brown a public vote of confidence, they send the guy packing. And then upon prepping everyone for the “Godfather Part III” installment of Phil Jackson in L.A. (“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”), an audible is called for Mike D’Antoni, the man painted as the distant second choice. There’s a reason this franchise has flourished in Hollywood.

Given how “We want Phil” chants have echoed through Staples Center the past two days, I know this decision will leave many fans disappointed. Each of Jackson’s stints in L.A. have featured multiple championships, and this is a team built to immediately carry that tradition. In theory, what’s not to like?

However, something about hiring Jackson always struck me as overly familiar. Predictable. A bit too convenient. You could hear the wheels turning inside the heads of fans, media and players alike. "Phil is available. ... He lives in the South Bay. ... Eleven titles. ... Zen Master. ... Of course he's the guy."

Except, of course, most complex situations typically don't resolve in ready-made, neat solutions. And I wasn’t entirely convinced another go-round with Phil was quite the slam dunk most people thought.

To begin with, the seamless-return narrative was exaggerated. Only five current Lakers players have played under Jackson, and three had relatively short stints. A few notable highs notwithstanding, Metta World Peace’s time in PJ's system was, to say the least, turbulent. Steve Blake played one year under Jackson and was visibly uncomfortable in the triangle. During Devin Ebanks' lone campaign with Phil, the then-rookie rarely removed his warm-ups. Only Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol have truly flourished in the triangle. As Bryant noted after Friday's win, the 1999-2000 squad won a title in its first triangular season, but it was also loaded with veterans who spent years playing against Jackson's Chicago Bulls, which created some degree of familiarity. This 2012-13 roster wouldn't figure to benefit from that luxury.

There was also the issue of Steve Nash, who remains the same odd fit in the triangle as he was in the Princeton. Either the Hall of Fame point guard would have endured another learning curve in a system that doesn't cater to his style, or Jackson would have been forced to tweak his offense to accommodate a type of player he's never coached. Both approaches could have meant more heads bumping, and at least one reason Brown was fired was to avoid such a scenario.

It's also worth remembering that Jackson's last season with the Lakers didn't end particularly well, beyond just the second-round sweep at the hands of Dallas. As I wrote at the time, 2010-11 wasn't a strong season for Jackson. He had to be cajoled into returning, then throughout the season often seemed disconnected with players, unable to reach and motivate them. The team appeared less prepared than it should have been at key moments, and that lack of poise reared its ugly head during a playoff run that went from wobbly to disastrous. Too often Jackson relied too heavily on his established approach rather than venturing out of his comfort zone to address what clearly wasn’t working with the team. Truth be told, he appeared tired of the NBA grind, like a man who realized he might have made a mistake in returning.

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With the season just around the corner, I texted two-time Grammy winner and lifelong Lakers fanatic Ben Harper to see if our buddy could drop by the studio to record a show.

His response? "Gotta be done!"

Oh, yes. Yes, it does.

With the Lakers on the verge of playing real games with one of their most star-studded rosters, we wanted to get Harper's take on what may lie ahead for the purple and gold. As always, we also talked some music, including "Get up!," his upcoming collaboration with blues legend Charlie Musselwhite. (Harper was kind enough to give us advanced copies of the CD, and it's fantastic. Chock-full of slide guitar, harmonica, gorgeous vocals and other assorted goodies; if you enjoy blues, mark your calendars for Jan. 29.)

The show can be heard by clicking on the module, and a breakdown of talking points is below:





- (1:15): Less than two minutes into the podKast, a Christmas present for Ben emerges: A Lakers jersey with "Kamenetzky" on the back. Seriously. He wants one. How can someone with such strong taste in music have such poor taste in Lakers gear?

- (4:02): Harper recounts his delighted reaction to Steve Nash and Dwight Howard entering the fold. It was yet another strong summer for Mitch Kupchak, which raises a poignant question. Why don't more people rock a "Kupchak" jersey in gratitude for everything he's done over the last five years? Or a "Kupchak" neck tat, if that's your preferred way of giving thanks?

- (6:36): Harper may be a rock star whose life is filled with fame, connections and oodles of perks. But that doesn't mean he can't relate to Joe Q. Laker Fan shut out while Time Warner Cable negotiates deals with various providers. As US Weekly would say, "Stars: They're just like us!"

- (11:00): Ben shares his expectations for the season, neatly summarized in one word: Championship.

- (12:30): From Cream to Audioslave, rock has seen its share of "super groups." They often produce fantastic music, but the shelf life is typically short, given the egos involved. Harper, who's collaborated with enough legends to understand the dynamic involved, explains how the "super group" issues mirror those that faced by the Lakers with their video game starting five.

"You have to be as ready to learn and listen as you do contribute. And you contribute by learning and listening. Taking a step back. Knowing when to step back. Knowing when to leave the room. Knowing when to be present. A lot goes into the personal dynamics of making a super group or a collaboration work. But when they work, they work. It's chemistry."

- (21:45): Ben didn't get my August memo about why the 2013 super team Lakers aren't the 2004 super team Lakers, so we break down the differences and calm his nerves.

- (27:00): Kobe has talked frequently and insistently about retiring after 2-3 seasons, in part because of a drastic slippage he'd rather avoid than accept, and also because of how hard the aging process makes the preparation that comes with playing at Kobe's level. As a musician with a career now 20+ years in the books, Ben understands the difficulty of maintaining his own standards, as well as the physical and mental grind of touring, seeking inspiration, etc. How does he keep the process feeling fresh?

He also attempts to uncover the meaning of life and our purpose on this planet, but that's a bit trickier.

- (35:08): We close the show with "I Don't Believe a Word You Say," a track from "Get up!" Good stuff.

ANAHEIM -- Andrew Bynum is the Philadelphia 76ers' to worry about now.

The Los Angeles Lakers have quite enough to keep them up at night as Dwight Howard continues to work his way back from offseason back surgery.

But with Monday's news out of Philadelphia that Bynum received another injection of Synvisc -- a gel-like substance that sometimes provides relief for inflamed tissue -- in his knee, it raises a larger question:

Whose problems would you rather be saddled with: Bynum's chronically painful, injured knees or Howard's still-unproven back?

It was a question Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had to answer over the summer before he made the trade that sent Bynum to Philadelphia in a four-team deal that brought Howard to Los Angeles from Orlando.

"Whatever concern we had (with Bynum's knees) was offset by Dwight coming off offseason back surgery," Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Tuesday. "Our doctors were able to look at (Howard's medical records) but not until after the trade, which was conditional on him passing a physical."

Howard has been cleared to participate in full-contact scrimmages but has yet to play in any of the Lakers' first four exhibition games.

Bynum was able to participate in 60 of the Lakers' 66 games last season, but he took the entire summer to rest and recuperate from the increased workload, skipping the Olympics in the process.

You'd think after a summer off, he'd be ready to go at the start of training camp. But he has yet to participate in training camp with his new team as he continues to recover from a cutting-edge treatment on his knee he received in Germany, and a bone bruise on his knee.

As 76ers CEO Adam Aron tweeted: "If all goes to plan, he's back Oct 24. But we won't know how the knee feels for sure until, no surprise, Oct 24. While conditioning in Sept, unrelated to German procedure, he got a bone bruise which we transparently announced. From there, he has to get into game shape. That is everything Sixers know. The rest of the loose talk is guessing."

Bynum's former teammate Metta World Peace seconded that sentiment:

"I think he's going to be amazing this year," World Peace said. "He's tough. That year we won the championship (2010), he was playing through a lot of pain. A lot of pain. But we needed him. I don't think we could've won without him.

"Last year he played in a lot of games. The last couple years he's been dominant. And he's still young. You need him on your team."

With Lakers Media Day approaching Monday, it dawned on me how Oct. 1, 2012, doesn't just mark the official launch of training camp and the 2012-2013 season. It also marks the five-year anniversary of the Media Day following Kobe Bryant's "radio tour." To say the least, Oct. 1, 2007 provided a surreal atmosphere. As Lakers fans remember, after missing the playoffs in 2005, then consecutive first round exits against the Suns, the Mamba appeared on a number of radio shows expressing a desire to be traded -- Pluto was cited as an option -- and was recorded blasting the front office for their unwillingness to trade Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd. (If we learned one thing from that summer, Kobe Bryant the player is a first ballot Hall of Fame lock, but his credentials as a general manager leave something to be desired.)

Save bringing point guard/Kobe confidant Derek Fisher back into the fold, Mitch Kupchak and Dr. Buss responded to the outburst by presenting Bryant a roster essentially untouched. Thus, speculation swirled as to whether 24 would actually report to camp. Lest anybody assume this was simply the media churning the waters to create drama, think again. After 15-20 minutes with no sign of Kobe, I vividly remember Kwame Brown asking me if I'd seen the superstar, and if I knew whether he was gonna show up. This was truly the $1,000,000 question, and nobody was quite sure how the day would shake out.

Eventually, Kobe did emerge, palpably unenthusiastic, but committed to remaining professional. The season turned out considerably better than expected, even before Pau Gasol trade. Since then, Kobe has collected his fourth and fifth rings, and despite this offseason presenting seemingly few avenues for upgrading a team stuck in good-but-not-great purgatory, we're now looking at a starting five of Steve Nash, Bryant, Metta World Peace, Gasol and Dwight Howard.

And Oct. 1, 2007 feels about 100 years in the rear view mirror.

It reminds me of this exchange between Glen (Sam McMurray) and H.I. (Nicolas Cage) in Raising Arizona:

Glen: It's a crazy world.
H.I.: Someone oughta sell tickets.
Glen: Sure, I'd buy one.

Enjoy the season.

Did you miss it? Click below for the transcript of today's chat. Talk of Dwight Howard's back, Kobe's #NBARank, how L.A.'s offense will work, and the ways they match up with other elite NBA squads. Among other things.

It has been an outstanding summer for Lakers head coach Mike Brown, and not only because he was able to take his first real family vacation since taking the gig last year. With the lockout in the rearview mirror, Brown now can prepare for the season as a detail-oriented man like himself prefers, dotting i's, crossing t's and creating a season's blueprint for his roster.

And a fine roster it is, having added Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks, with Jordan Hill re-signed.

“You’ve got to give [vice president of player personnel] Dr. Buss, Jim Buss, and [general manager] Mitch Kupchak credit,” Brown said in a phone conversation last week. “They always will, as you’ve seen in the past and as we see currently, they always will try to put a product on the floor that they think can compete for an NBA championship. The guys that they brought in, they’re all professionals, they’re all very good players, and they give us a chance.”

Even pain has been wrapped in joy this offseason, evidenced by his reaction when Kupchak told him the Lakers had acquired Howard while keeping Pau Gasol.

“I got a little excited. I tried to jump up and down, but my mind was telling me to do something that my body wouldn’t allow me to do. I almost pulled my hamstring sitting down. I don’t know if that’s ever happened to anybody, but I was so excited that my leg tensed up. I almost tore my hamstring. So I got up slowly and gave him and Jim Buss a hug,” Brown said.

“That might be the first hug they’ve gotten from their coach, ever, when it comes to a trade happening.”

Given the incredibly rapid and odds-bucking reversal of fortune for the Lakers this offseason, I’m sure Lakers fans would react the same way to seeing either Kupchak or Buss. Many of those fans will hold their hug for Brown until the end of the year. Brown understands the pressure facing him this year, one of the many things we covered in our phone interview. Below is a transcript of highlights from our conversation.

LO’L: In London [for the Olympics], Kobe Bryant spoke about the team installing the Princeton offense this year. Is that more or less the plan?

MB: “I like some of the things that we did last year, and we’re going to keep some of those things in place. But in the same breath, I’ve always been infatuated with what Eddie [Jordan] did when he was in Washington. I think if you take away the individual players and how talented they are -- obviously if you have certain players it doesn’t matter what you run as long as you run something to their strengths, you’re going to have success offensively.

“So if you take away the individual players and their strengths and all that and just look at the purity of different offenses and how to defend them on a night in, night out basis, I always felt that the stuff [Jordan] did in Washington was difficult to defend. It was difficult to come up with a game plan because of the spacing and ball movement and stuff like that. It’s a stress-free offense because of the counters that are built in and so on and so forth. So I started looking into that at the beginning of the summer a little bit and talked with a couple of guys that have done it on the collegiate level and on the professional level, and then I brought Eddie in for a while.

“I spent about a week or so with him, talking about it. So there’s a good chance we’re going to go down that road to incorporate some of that, or a lot of that, into what we did last year.”

Note: Multiple outlets have reported Jordan's expected addition to the staff, something confirmed to me as well by a source familiar with the situation.

LO’L: Is the installation at least in part because you have guys who have been system players? Kobe, Pau et al? You know system basketball is something they’re comfortable with?

MB: “Yes, that is part of it. This team is built that way, and because they’re built that way, because they’re used to it, I think it will help them out at the end of the day.”

LO’L: How does the Princeton work with having someone like Nash? As is my understanding, it’s not as much a heavy pick-and-roll offense, but more motion and ball movement.

MB: “The way that we’ll put it together, Steve’s going to have an opportunity -- he’s going to quarterback the team -- and so he’s going to have an opportunity to come down the floor every possession and in early offense play pick-and-roll if he wants to. It’s up to him, based on where he decides to take the ball or a call that he makes or an action that he does, it’s up to him to get us into some of the looks of the Princeton offense.

“So again, with him quarterbacking, or making that decision, he’ll still have a chance to get the ball back after he moves or after bodies move. I don’t want to completely give away what we’re trying to do, but in a nutshell, he will have an opportunity to play pick-and-roll at the beginning of almost every play set coming down the floor in early offense. And if not, he can also choose to get to some of the looks out of the Princeton by making a pass or doing an action or doing a call or whatever.”

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On the off chance there was still any question after the 2010-11 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder proved unequivocally they'd passed the Lakers in the Western Conference pecking order. Whipped past, like Russell Westbrook on the break. Six more wins in the regular season (no small figure in a 66-game schedule, and bigger than the gap between L.A. as the W.C.'s third best team and Utah in the eight spot). Then came the playoffs, when OKC romped in five games.

Don't give me any of that "Yeah, but the Lakers could have won!" stuff, either. In the NBA, when a team beats another 4-1 over a seven-game series, it's better, and usually by a lot. Period.

Of course, that Lakers team didn't have Dwight Howard. Or Steve Nash. Or bench scoring in the form of Antawn Jamison. Needless to say, the Summer of Jitch (Jim and Mitch -- feel free to go with Miim if you'd like) has changed the conversation significantly. With that in mind, how do the new-look Lakers match up with other contenders around the NBA? In an effort to froth up some preseason debate, we're chatting up bloggers around the Association, starting in OKC with our man Royce Young, proprietor of the outstanding Daily Thunder:

Brian Kamenetzky, Land O’Lakers: So what was the reaction in Oklahoma City to the Dwight trade?

Royce Young, Daily Thunder: I'm not going to go all Kevin Durant and pretend it didn't catch my attention. Because it's huge. It's unavoidable to act like this doesn't shift the balance of power toward Los Angeles. The Thunder very likely had a fairly wide open road back to the Finals next season, but now there is a legitimate road block in the way. I wouldn't say it was complete fear. Oklahoma City didn't start shaking or anything. But it was definitely attention-grabbing. The Thunder are still very good, match up well and have weapons to combat what the Lakers have, but to try and ignore what L.A. has done is silly.

LOL: Yeah, he's very McKayla Moroney about it all. (Note: Joke stolen from J.A. Adande.)

RY: Jimmy Fallon asked KD and Harden about it Monday night and that was the exact thing they did.

LOL: I can see why they'd be annoyed. They're young, and don't want to look like they're concerned about anything other than themselves and their team. But how do you think Howard impacts the matchup? This is even before we get to Nash, and an improving bench for L.A.

RY: See, I thought the Nash signing was maybe a bigger deal, at least in terms of impacting the Thunder. Because nothing really changes too much for OKC. Kendrick Perkins was on the roster to defend Andrew Bynum and now he just moves to defending Dwight Howard. But Nash, he makes everybody more threatening. Pau Gasol is a fourth option, but with Nash running the controls, he's a monster, massive threat. Howard improves the Lakers defensively, no doubt. He makes them a little more versatile. But I don't think too much has changed in the way the Thunder will approach playing the Lakers. Not to say there's an advantage there now for L.A., but OKC won't have to adjust too much to match up.

Perkins has to be thankful, too. Mitch Kupchak just kept him relevant.

LOL: Mitch is a giver, there's no question.

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Before a "big three" became a requisite for NBA teams establishing credentials as serious contenders, it wasn't too long ago that a splashy big four graced the Association. It was assembled during the summer of 2003, when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were joined by free agents Karl Malone and Gary Payton to create a genuine super-team. And ever since Dwight Howard's arrival in Los Angeles last Friday, I've heard fans and media likening Kobe-Pau Gasol-Steve Nash-Howard to the 2004 Lakers, and more often than not, that's a negative. That 2004 foursome is remembered as the last hurrah for the Kobe-Shaq-Phil Jackson three-peat era, a modern-day dynasty that nonetheless left potential on the table because of in-fighting. Those Lakers, beaten by the Detroit Pistons in five games during the Finals, are remembered as a failed experiment, the cautionary tale for front offices utilizing the formula of "instant championship: just add superstars."

With the Lakers now boasting among the splashiest starting fives in league history, naysayers are quick to cite the 2004 Lakers as a worst-case scenario.

The comparison is inevitable, but also lazy. Yes, there are commonalities. Both teams featured four big names, each of which is a lock or near-lock for the Hall of Fame. Both teams were built by Mitch Kupchak and the Buss family with the blueprint of "championship or bust." But a deeper look makes it pretty obvious that there are massive differences. Most negatives surrounding the 2004 squad were part of a specific backstory, one not shared by the 2012 team. Below are four huge factors favoring the 2012 big four.

1. The coach and players are on better terms.
The discord between Kobe and Phil has been documented to death by now, most famously in "The Last Season," Jackson's diary of the tumultuous 2004 season. (Ironically, Phil was prompted to return in part to amend his largely negative portrayal of Kobe.) But the Mamba wasn't the only player failing to see eye to eye with The Zen Master. Payton sulked over his role in the triangle, and The Glove was often a tough customer when happy as a clam, never mind when he was surly. Those misgivings spilled onto the court and resulted in a watered-down version of Payton.

This year's incarnation, however, features no such conflicts. That's not to say everyone has bought into Mike Brown, no questions asked. Some prominent holdovers, notably Kobe, Gasol and Metta World Peace, expressed skepticism about their new coach throughout 2012, and I imagine Brown still hasn't truly proven himself. However, there's a difference between disenchantment and defiance, and the player who openly chafed most at Brown's authority -- Andrew Bynum -- is now the starting center in Philadelphia. Players and coach may still be feeling each other out, but outright hostility doesn't appear to be looming.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- After months (and months and months and months) of speculation, the trade finally bringing Dwight Howard to Los Angeles came together quickly. So, too, did the press conference. Howard and Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak met the media Friday afternoon, and to say the least there was a buzz at the team facility in El Segundo.

For what it's worth, Howard seemed genuinely excited not just about the end of the Dwightmare, but more specifically to be in Los Angeles. And seated next to him, Kupchak looked equally satisfied. Given the challenges facing them heading into the offseason -- zero cap space, no draft picks of value, only a mini-mid level and veteran's minimum contracts to offer, trade chips difficult to turn into superior talent since they're already very good (Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol) -- this becomes one of the most impressive offseasons in modern league history.

After the big Howard show ended, Kupchak answered more questions for the assembled writerly hordes and delivered some interesting comments on the evolution of the deal, Bynum, Mike Brown's reaction to getting Howard while keeping Gasol, and the willingness of the Buss family to spend what's required to win.

The transcript is below...

Going forward, having Dwight, your payroll is huge. Any concern about that?
“Absolutely. Sure, it’s a concern, and if you’re familiar with the collective bargaining agreement, there have been some significant changes made for teams that exceed certain thresholds.

"But once again, over the last year there has been some criticism. When we traded Lamar, that it was just a way to save money, and I think this proves when it comes down to it, and I’ve always said it, certainly nobody who owns a family owned business doesn’t want to make a profit so their business can survive and prosper. But when it comes down to it, Dr. Buss is a very competitive owner, and his family is also very competitive. And when it comes down to making a decision about a couple dollars or a million dollars or 10 million dollars or putting another banner up? He can’t help himself. He chooses to go for the banner."

LOL: If ever there was a quote summarizing why Lakers fans should raise a monument to Dr. Buss, that's it. "He can't help himself. He chooses to go for the banner."

Based on your conversations with team Dwight, how much of a risk is it he’ll walk?
“You know something, we’ve had no discussions? The press conference started at four o’clock. They came into my office at about a quarter to four, and I had a little private chat with Dwight that maybe lasted four or five minutes, and that was it.”

So no point, you never had anything in there to measure his interest in staying here?
“No, in fact our decision was independent of anything you may have read about what maybe his desires were or weren’t. Our feeling was, no matter what anyone says, let’s just get him to Los Angeles and we’ll take our chances.”

Is the thought process that winning takes care of it?
“It’s the organization, ownership, the city of Los Angeles, our ability to win games, surrounding Dwight with players that will make it easier for him to play the game and not have to burden a load that’s maybe not fair."

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It must have been some kind of scene in Mitch Kupchak’s office last December.

After working the phones relentlessly and putting in 17-hour days for close to two weeks in order to land Chris Paul, the Los Angeles Lakers’ general manager received one more phone call from the league office. The trade was vetoed.

The normally reserved Kupchak began throwing objects from his desk against the wall, causing Lakers vice president of player personnel Jim Buss to forget about his own anger over the aborted deal so he could duck for safety.

That was then. This is now.

The great ones don’t get mad -- they get even.

If it wasn’t already apparent, then the Dwight Howard deal should solidify Kupchak’s reputation as a great NBA executive.

Soon after the Paul debacle, Kupchak’s anger subsided and his focus returned to figuring a way to get the Lakers back to championship contender status.

And the deals that Kupchak has been able to orchestrate since losing out on Paul last December have the Lakers in an even better position to win it all than if everything had gone according to plan.

Would you rather have Paul, Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant as your Big Three -- as would have been the case had the Lakers traded Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to get the coveted point guard -- or Bryant, Howard, Gasol and Steve Nash as your Big Four, as the team stands now?

The Lakers have responded from their second straight second-round exit by adding a three-time defensive player of the year in Howard, a two-time MVP in Nash, a two-time All-Star in Antawn Jamison (for a bargain-basement veteran’s minimum price) and by re-signing the promising 25 year-old Jordan Hill for a reasonable deal when Hill had a host of competing free-agent suitors.

Some might say Kupchak has an easy job running the Lakers, what with owner Dr. Jerry Buss’ deep pockets routinely pushing the payroll north of $90 million, plus the franchise’s location (Hollywood glamor meets beach living) and history (16 championships) keeping L.A. a perennially attractive destination.

But Kupchak’s challenge isn’t in building a contender from time to time. It's in maintaining that status from year to year. In the NBA there is no such thing as stagnant. Either you are getting better as a team from season to season, or you’re getting worse -- even if it seems as if you’re staying the same -- just by virtue of all the other teams around you that are getting better.

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Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, along comes the shark fin and ominous music, packaged in the form of a rumor involving Dwight Howard. Here's a excerpt from the ESPN news link:

"The Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers have been pulled into talks between the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers that could ultimately put Dwight Howard in a Laker uniform, Yahoo! Sports is reporting.

Talks have taken place this week and have "grown serious," Yahoo! said, citing league sources, although a trade is not considered imminent. The moving parts of the four-team discussion, according to Yahoo!, would involve both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol being dealt by the Lakers. According to the web site's sources, Howard and Nuggets forward Al Harrington would go to the Lakers, 76ers guard Andre Iguodala would be moved to Denver, Bynum would be dealt to Philadelphia, and Gasol and Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo would go to Orlando.

The proposed scenario also includes the Magic receiving draft picks and salary-cap relief, the sources told Yahoo."

Two noteworthy points right off the bat: The more teams involved, the generally less feasible a trade becomes. It's difficult to concoct a scenario making two franchises happy, so doubling the parties in need of satisfaction only further lowers the odds. It's also important to remember those unnamed folks proposed as cap relief can change the picture, positively and negatively. But looking at the principles mentioned by name, here's my immediate reaction:

This deal makes little sense for the Lakers, and ain't a slam dunk for hardly anybody involved.

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The Lakers have made a couple of things clear in regards to filling out the roster:

1) They would like to find one more player, preferably on the wing or in the backcourt.

2) They will not be using their mini-mid level exception to make it happen*, short of finding value simply too good to pass up. It's hard to argue any of the players left on the market meet that standard. If they don't, all the Lakers can offer are veteran's minimum deals.

One of the names on the radar has been former 76ers shooting guard Jodie Meeks, whose outside shooting would be a valuable addition to the L.A.'s offense. But that's only if the Lakers can get him, which right now, at least, they can't. As Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times reports, Meeks' agent David Bauman says his client won't sign for the minimum. Certainly no agent worth his salt, and Bauman is a good one, would declare otherwise.

Generally speaking, players willing to accept vet minimum deals fall into two categories. First, guys who have made plenty of money over a solid career and want to win a ring. Antawn Jamison, for example, has earned about $140 million over 14 years in the NBA but hasn't played games of consequence.

Second, guys who for any number of reasons can't get a better deal.

The Lakers already landed the former in Jamison, and now will be looking for the latter. Every year, when free agency's big game of musical chairs ends and all the cap space and exceptions are gone, decent players are left without somewhere to sit. (It is, more or less, how the Lakers landed Matt Barnes a couple of summers ago.) That's the pool from which the Lakers hope to pull players -- likely to grow a little deeper under the new CBA, which squeezes backups and role players toward shorter, cheaper contracts -- but it takes time to shake out. The lure of a championship run and franchise mystique notwithstanding, most players try to get what they can, when they can. Certainly Meeks, 24, the 41st pick of the 2009 draft who in three seasons has averaged about $750,000, will rightly look for as much money and security as possible.

Bauman will certainly try to find it for him, and could very well succeed. If so, the Lakers won't get Meeks.

Then again, he might not. The same is true for other players still without a team. Either way, while plenty of names will run through the rumor mill in the meantime, odds are that final addition won't come quickly and who they ultimately get depends more on how other teams play their hands than anything the Lakers do.

*Some fans are upset the Lakers aren't willing to spend the MML, and on some level it makes sense. Why not get as many potentially useful players as possible? It's just money (and not any of ours). But accepting the idea the Lakers are allowed to put some limits on the payroll -- seems reasonable to me -- particularly when the available names are fairly underwhelming, there are advantages to holding on to the exception. Most notably, the ability to offer something more than the minimum to a player hitting the wire later in the season, thanks to a contract buyout or other roster machinations. Having a couple of (pro-rated) million more in the coffers could be useful, and might net a better player than the Lakers can get now. Granted, it might not, but it's a reasonable strategy.

And who knows? They might just use it this summer. Wouldn't be the first time the Lakers said they were done spending before spending some more.

Wednesday afternoon in El Segundo, Antawn Jamison put pen to legally dense paper and officially became a Laker. Fair to say he was very pleased to have done so.

Reinforcing nearly ubiquitous reports about the quality of his character and solid influence in the locker room, Jamison spoke in glowing terms about the opportunity in front of him, and the desire to contribute to a winning team. He talked about coach Mike Brown, of his own defensive reputation, and more, but if one quote summarizes why he jumped at the chance to play in L.A. over other more lucrative financial opportunities, it's this:

"The type of career I've had, as an individual, it hasn't been bad, but as a team standpoint, it hasn't been good. And to come into this situation and know that every game, every practice, every film session, this is what it's all about. To be in this situation for me, I've been through the bad, now it's time to be a part of things that really matter."

On to the video...

Jamison, on the process of choosing the Lakers and the opportunity in front of him:

On his defense, which he freely acknowledges hasn't been a strong suit throughout his career. Jamison vowed, however, not to be a "weak link" for the Lakers, and said playing games of consequence with highly motivated teammates will definitely have a positive impact. Dennis Rodman, he is not, but hopefully Jamison can avoid being a liability. Still, it's enough of a question mark that even general manager Mitch Kupchak joked about his less-than-stellar reputation on that end of the floor during his opening remarks. But that Jamison didn't shy away from questions nor sugarcoat answers about that part of his game is definitely a positive thing.

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Early last month, I looked at some pressing needs for the Lakers heading into the summer's draft/free-agency period, noting similarities to the list from the summer of 2011. Now the collegians and internationals have all been selected. Players, including most of the significant ones, have flown around the NBA in a flurry of trades and signings. DwightWatch! is in full swing (though reviews indicate viewers believe the plot is moving too slowly for their tastes).

There is still business to do and some help remains on the market, but after agreeing to terms with Jordan Hill on a two-year deal on Friday, it's as good a time as any for a progress check for the Lakers. Below are five areas of need faced by the purple and gold entering the summer, as well as thoughts on how they've been addressed.

Fair to say I'm a lot more optimistic about the 2012-13 season than I was before.

1. Outside shooting.

The problem: "[In 2011-12] the Lakers again fell short from the perimeter in the playoffs, hitting only 28.2 percent of their 3-pointers against the Thunder. Disappointing, but unfortunately not far off their 32.6 regular-season mark, meaning nothing about the way L.A. shot against OKC was fluky. Throughout the year, the Lakers had little floor-stretching capability, limiting space inside for their high end post game or lanes for dribble penetration. Help defenders could collapse on the ball whenever it entered the paint, comfortable nobody on the perimeter would make them pay."

The address: The Lakers still could use a classic floor-spreading spot-up shooter -- a Steve Novak type could put up video-game numbers surrounded by L.A.'s Big Four -- but certainly addressed the need with the acquisition of Steve Nash. While his primary value will come in doing point guard stuff, Nash will also be a major weapon on the perimeter. Last year's 39 percent mark from downtown was his worst in more than a decade, but would have pushed for the lead among regularly used Lakers. And while it was Nash's second straight sub-40 percent season, the slippage was more likely because of the decline of the roster around him than his actual shooting skills. Joined now with great post players and an elite wing in Kobe Bryant, there is every reason to expect Nash's percentages to rise back into the 40's.

If so, it's a huge boost to the offense. Plus, Nash's skills at the point should help improve the flagging percentages of his teammates.

The addition of Antawn Jamison brings another potential perimeter weapon (he's averaged no fewer than 4.1 3-point attempts in any of the last three seasons), though not necessarily a deadeye. A career .346 3-point shooter, Jamison has averaged 34.1 to 35.1 percent from downtown in every season since 2008-09. Not bad, but not remarkably efficient either.

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