Leverage your advantages in ways other teams can't touch

The NBA's salary cap levels the playing field between the Association's richest and still-rich-but-less-well-off teams — on the court, anyway.

But there's no limit to how much you can spend off it. Moving forward, the Lakers should be head and shoulders above every team in every professional sport when it comes to facilities, training staffs, sports science, scouting, and, well, everything else.

Remember when Mark Cuban was the toast of free agents across the NBA because he outfitted his locker room with everything a player could want? The Lakers should be the modern equivalent of Cuban putting PlayStations in the lockers, only with the added bonus of being in the greatest city in the country.

If you spend handsomely and spend intelligently, no one can touch you.

As for scouting? No team should know more about any prospect on the planet than you do. The Lakers need to approach building a roster like a small-market team searching for every marginal advantage, with all the resources in the world behind their process.

That kind of support staff is essential for a front office light on decision-making experience and long on charisma, to say the least.

Combine a state-of-the-art franchise with the mystique of the Lakers — yes, it's real; it's just not enough to attract free agents on its own — and Los Angeles would be right back in the driver's seat as the premiere destination in the NBA.

From there, it's time to start fleshing out the roster ...