Los Angeles Lakers Roster & Trades News Update: Starting Lineup Looking Strong for 2014-15 Season?

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most closely-scrutinized teams in the NBA, thanks to their history of era-defining dynasties. As of late, the Lakers have been in a slide, falling from their top contender spot, and appearing as a team that is trying to claw their way into the playoffs.

With no head coach, and no top-tier free agent acquisitions, Laker fans can only look to Kobe Bryant as their saving grace.

Bryant has been plagued with injuries over the past couple years, but his lack of playing time could be looked at as an elongated break for his war-torn body. Bryant is arguably the hardest working athlete in the game, but at some point age inevitably catches up.

With all the recent injury-induced rest, Bryant should have in theory have fresh legs. No matter what the additions were to the starting five, with Bryant in a Laker jersey there is always the possibility for hope.

The Los Angeles Lakers let Pau Gasol go for nothing, at least in a sense. Over the past three years, they have paraded him about the trade market without ever pulling the trigger. Gasol elected to leave by signing with the Bulls as Carlos Boozer traded places, taking his role as a Laker at a discounted price.

Boozer was once a dominant force in the NBA, but his lack of playing time with the Bulls has hurt his stat lines. It will be interesting for Laker fans to see what the power forward still has in the tank.

Jeremy Lin signed with the Lakers, but fans are skeptical, wondering if "Linsanity" was just a fluke in New York, or if Lin can indeed be a valuable piece. Lin's style of play requires a great deal of ball handling, which Bryant may or may not approve of.

In all probability, the best move that the Lakers have done in the offseason was signing "Swaggy-P" back for a four-year deal. Nick Young is an effective scorer, and also someone who could easily run the offense of the second unit.

Ryan Kelley also got a contract extension, but when put into perspective, fans know not to expect a high offense performance.

A potential bright spot could be the drafting of Julius Randle by the Lakers in the first-round. Los Angeles isn't used to having high unproven lottery picks, but it could be a nice change of pace if Randle turns out to be a valuable piece to the puzzle. He's looked good in the Summer League, but it remains to be seen how that will transfer over to the Staples Center floor.