First, the Lakers owe a major salute to Mitch Kupchak.
Not the Kupchak who was shoehorned into the big chair with Jim Buss when the Lakers disastrously traded for Steve Nash and signed Dwight Howard and soared helplessly into space like Elton John’s Rocket Man.
Not him. Rather, the Kupchak who hung the 2009 and 2010 title banners when he got Pau Gasol, and the one who got enough for Shaquille O’Neal to keep the Lakers presentable.
He dipped into the lottery once and got Andrew Bynum, who, for all his warts, was one of the last of the useful post-up centers.