With a frenetic summer signing period finally slowing down, we have finally have a chance to evaluate how everything has come together for teams across the league. Five franchises in particular stood out because of the collection of talent they acquired both in the draft and free agency. In this series, we’ll look at not only why these teams “won” their summers, but the work that’s now required in order to mold their new-look rosters into a cohesive units.

What the Los Angeles Lakers got right

This was a franchise that had a lot of cleaning up to do after a messy end to the Kobe Bryant era. The Lakers took a step in the right direction by keeping things simple this summer. While you can quibble about the age-money combination, the signing of Timofey Mozgov filled a need, as did the signing of veteran forward Luol Deng. Neither player will turn L.A. into immediate contenders, or even a playoff team, but they will make a team with an impressionable young core more competitive on a nightly basis -- something that was sorely needed after the Bryant-Byron Scott circus last season.

What’s particularly interesting about the Mozgov addition, and Deng to an extent, is the type of player he is. With a crop of talented young backcourt players and head coach coming from the Warriors system, the Lakers needed to sign veterans that could be effective without commanding a major role.

While Walton is unlikely to run the exact same system, the core tenants of it may be reflected in the Lakers current crop of bigs. Mozgov, second round pick Ivica Zubac and the recently re-signed Tarik Black are all blue-collar bigs -- content to set screens, roll hard, rebound, defend and move the basketball to free up their callow, but talented backcourt mates. Just look at how Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao operated in Golden State. Signing a veteran big man whose effectiveness is correlated to jump shots or post touches would create a counter-productive tug-of-war for a team in a developmental phase.

Deng’s presence works along the same lines. For years under Tom Thibodeau, Deng was an offensive glue guy -- working in a complementary role as a screener, second-side dribble hand-off/pick-and-roll operator or spot up shooter. His ability to seamless slide to the four also has value because should second overall pick Brandon Ingram prove capable for a bigger role than expected, there won’t be a roadblock in the way of doling out major minutes.  

Again, the money for both Deng and Mozgov is less than ideal. They will combine to make over $35 million combined while flirting dangerously close to a far less appealing 35 (years old, that is). But if these two players assist in creating an on-court environment that allows to Ingram, D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson to thrive, it’s a good bet people won’t care about those numbers.

On a smaller scale, acquiring Jose Calderon and re-signing Marcelo Huertas give the Lakers two grizzled vets with a ton of experience and moxie when it comes to running a team -- something that Russell would be wise to pay attention to. Those two players have serious flaws, but for 10-15 minutes a night on a team without title-contending aspirations, they will do just fine. And if their approach to running an offense (and, ya know, not just getting buckets or making flashy passes) rubs off on Russell, it’ll be an added bonus.

A question that will need answering

- Can Luke Walton actually coach?

This question isn’t meant to cast doubt on Walton, who obviously deserves his shot given his experience. It’s one that applies to everyone assistant who has never sat in the head chair before (without the safety net the actual head coach still being around). Walton in particular is interesting because pretty much everything about his new situation couldn’t be more different than his old one.

Instead of stars in their primes, Walton has stars-in-progress. Instead of a collection of savvy vets, Walton will work with callow youth and some vets (*cough* Nick Young *cough*) with a history of shaky on-court judgement. Not to mention his new roster is devoid of defenders capable of have an impact anywhere near where Bogut, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson had for Golden State.

Getting this young team organized defensively will be the first real test of how ready Walton is to run his own ship. Last year, L.A. was dead last in the league in defensive efficiency. Any improvement above, being, ya know, the worst, will make Walton look capable but a big jump up the rankings, especially, with such a young group, will be a very positive sign for Laker fans that their coach is the real deal.

In general, it will be interesting to see how much Walton brings with him from his Golden State experience and how much he tailors to fit his current situation. It’s the latter approach that is the tell-tale sign of a great coach (On a quick tangent, if you’re talking to a basketball coach that replies to any question about offense with something along the lines “ but it basically depends on your personnel”  somewhere in the answer, you’re getting good info).

How Walton fares at building a culture, developing youth, organizing a team defensively and creating a system that allows individual talents to flourish together will be a key step to the Lakers rebounding quickly from their recent run of dismal play and general disarray. If Walton proves to be capable (or better!), a rapid return to relevance -- without the help of a free agent superstar defecting -- is on the way. If Walton looks overmatched and overwhelmed from the jump, it’ll be another setback for a franchise that doesn’t have the patience for a false start.

The Synopsis

In the glamour market that is Los Angeles, a path to rebuilding methodically and organically typically isn’t a route that earns any rave reviews. But if this was a team located in say, Milwaukee or Memphis, there’s a good bet this offseason would be viewed through a different lense. What the Lakers seem have to done is start a layered approach -- finding low maintenance vets to complement burgeoning youth -- and given a young coach an opportunity to build a new culture from scratch. A lot of their success will hinge on how Walton fares, but things are certainly looking more promising for the Lakers.