Busy Lakers Conceding Nothing in Wake of Dwight Howard’s Departure

When Dwight Howard chose the Houston Rockets as his preferred free-agency destination, the Los Angeles Lakers easily could have given up. 

Saddled with a ridiculous set of contracts, Mitch Kupchak had no money to play with and was left with just the mini mid-level exception and veteran's minimum contracts to dole out to the remaining minnows in the free-agent pond.

It would have been perfectly understandable if he'd just decided that this wasn't the Lakers' year. Instead of trying to make something out of nothing, he could have chosen to tank. Or at the very least, he could have accepted being terrible. 

The experience would have been an ugly one during the 2013-14 season, but it would have been quite rewarding next summer when the Lake Show was figuring out which stellar prospect to use its lottery pick on. They could have even had a shot at Andrew Wiggins. 

Rather than taking the easy route, L.A. decided to prove once more that "quit" is not a word in the franchise's vocabulary. 

I can't even begin to imagine the peals of laughter that would echo through the locker room if such a concept was brought up in Kobe Bryant's presence. This isn't directly relevant to the situation at hand, but let me remind you what type of player the Black Mamba is. 

Remember when he tore his Achilles tendon at the end of the 2012-13 regular season? What did he do? 



Instead of getting helped to the locker room, Bryant limped over to the foul line and calmly drilled both of his free throws to give his team a better shot at winning the game. Then he exited. 

Considered the microphone sufficiently dropped. 



Like I said, "quit" doesn't exist while Kobe is on the roster.  

To prove it, the Lakers have actually been active in their pursuit of usable depth. Sure, they're trying to patch up holes in the ro...

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