Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol are all on the roster, but the team is missing a prolific scorer on the outside.
Dave McMenamin and Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com reported that the Lakers have already contacted several players to help improve the team's scoring.
Among those contacted are guards Francisco Garcia (Houston), Wayne Ellington (Cleveland) and Nick Young (Philadelphia).
McMenamin and Shelburne also reported that Howard wants to win championships, so the Lakers need to find players who can hit shots on the outside. The team has Bryant, but he is still rehabbing from an injury. Other than their franchise player, the Lakers don't have an explosive scorer.
The Lakers ranked in the bottom half of the league in three-point shooting by hitting on 35.5 percent of their perimeter shots. The team took the third-most three-pointers per game in the league, but it had trouble knocking those shots down.
Only the Milwaukee Bucks shot worse than the Lakers did from deep in the postseason. The Lakers shot only 27 percent, and they struggled to score without Bryant in uniform.
Howard could be persuaded to stay if he sees that the team is committed to improving its current roster.
Nash and Steve Blake were the only players on the team who shot better than 37 percent from three-point range.
Los Angeles needs to find shooters if it has any chance of keeping Howard in purple and gold. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they won't be able to afford a premier shooter if Howard sticks around.
Garcia and Ellington are among the best bargain shooters available. Garcia has hit at least 38 percent of his three-point shots in four seasons in his career, and Ellington has only had one season in which he s...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
