EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Lakers spent the last few summers attempting to sell the NBAs top free agents on the franchises glamorous combination of history and Hollywood.From Dwight Howard to LaMarcus Aldridge, that pitch went terribly -- even more terribly than the Lakers last few seasons.So general manager Mitch Kupchak is trying something new this summer: The Lakers are selling their future, not their past.I do feel like we have a lot more going for us this year than we did last year, Kupchak said. We can focus a little bit more on the basketball side of it, because we do have more to sell. The franchise and the city have always sold themselves. Im not sure well concentrate as much on that as we did last year.After the worst season in franchise history and the retirement of Kobe Bryant, the Lakers have roughly $55 million in salary cap room to use in the free agent signing period -- but the glitz and celebrity that once attracted the likes of Shaquille ONeal arent as impressive in the 21st century.Instead, Kupchak hinted that the Lakers will attempt to attract players who are interested in getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing, not in joining Bryant in an attempt to climb back to the heights repeatedly scaled by this team.Will it work? Even Kupchak isnt sure. At least the Lakers are ready to start their next chapter.It might not be different, Kupchak said, before quickly adding: I think this year is different.The Lakers are looking for leaders and contributors to join an interesting young core, consisting of No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram, DAngelo Russell, Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. The group is unproven, but undeniably intriguing -- and in clear need of a veteran presence beyond guard Lou Williams.We didnt have as much to sell last year and the year before, Kupchak said. And we only had enough money for one (maximum contract for a) player last year, too. So I think this year, we have more to sell. We have Julius, DAngelo, Jordan Clarkson, whos a year further along, and Larry Nance.Running the show is 36-year-old coach Luke Walton, a prized prospect himself after his standout work with the Golden State Warriors.The former Lakers forward began his pitch to potential new players at his introductory news conference, emphasizing his knowledge of the teams tradition as he begins to change the way it plays.The future is bright, Walton said. Were going to play an up-tempo game ... and we have money to spend. I know the Buss family, and I know the Lakers organization. They do what it takes to win. That, to me, is all you really need to know. I dont see why you wouldnt want to come here and play.The Lakers already know they wont land the biggest prize in the market after Kevin Durant declined to meet with them. Yet there are plenty of candidates who could be intrigued by their combination of potential and the lavish compensation for playing on LAs most popular team.Big men Al Horford and Hassan Whiteside both intrigue the Lakers, as does forward Nicolas Batum. DeMar DeRozan, a Compton native, has long been rumored to be a homecoming candidate, although Lakers fans are sharply divided on the wisdom of giving big money to a streaky player.The Lakers have just six players under contract for next season, and that includes shooting guard Nick Young, who might be gone soon. Ingram also will definitely be on the team, but Kupchak is eager to put veterans around his blue-chip prospects.I think history tells you that a bunch of young guys on a team is probably not a good thing, Kupchak said. They look around for leadership and advice from somebody whos been through this a couple of times, and if theres nobody to talk to, then they really dont know how to handle the situation. 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Up close and personal: January 1992 Im seven years old, sitting with other children on an embankment above a school cricket ground. The field seems enormous, but with familiarity and a few years Ill realise its not. Ive just met my first two Test cricketers - ginger giant Gary Cosier, of whom I know nothing, and Shane Warne, a week on from an inglorious Test debut.Theyre coaching us but right now theyre also giving a demonstration, Cosier batting and Warne bowling on the centre wicket. First up, Cosier dispatches Warne further than Ive ever seen a ball hit, over the fence and past rows of houses. Its probably the single coolest thing Ive seen in my short life.Until the next ball. Ive never seen legspin up close but now I know because Warne gives this one an extra rip so that the ball spins violently and audibly past Cosiers thrusting blade. Cosier was our hero a second ago but now he looks like a chump. You should have heard the ball fizzing, said the coach standing in the umpiring position. We did, all the way from the boundary.Ball of the Century: June 1993 When youre a child there are a few authority figures you look to for certainties and reassurance in life. If youre lucky its your parents. If you were a kid like me, perhaps you also found it in cricketers and footballers.Thats what shocked me at first about Warnes Gatting ball because I was too young to appreciate its technical perfection, its ominous context and its sheer beauty.I just saw stocky Mike Gatting, greying at the temples, and so not unlike my dad or my friends dads, grasping desperately and failing; not just that but being humiliated. As Warne launched into celebration, the earths orbit was suddenly a mystery to Gatting. That unsettled me. Dont get me wrong - eventually Id realise the cricketing implications of the delivery, but if Gatting didnt know what he was doing then maybe no adult did. He crumbled, so all adults did. Sport and life suddenly felt so different.Basit for dinner: December 1995 Many have been the theses that - as well as being a peerless practitioner of his craft - Warne had an ability to mentally outmanoeuvre batsmen before they had even taken guard. Often this approach was entirely lacking in subtlety and nuance, but damn it if it wasnt fun to watch. Warnes a bit of a ham these days. We should have seen that one coming.Basit Ali stood there patiently before Warnes final ball on the third day of 1995s Sydney Test - watching, waiting as the bowler ostentatiously conferenced with Ian Healy about the exact specifications of the finale.dddddddddddd That or they talked about what was for dinner. It doesnt really matter. Basit might have used his bat, I suppose, but he also just looked powerless to prevent his demise. It was cheesy, it was predictable, but what I wouldnt give to watch it again for the first time.Warnes genius also unlocked the best in crickets vernacular. You wouldnt believe it, said Richie Benaud, hes done him between his legs.Psyched out: January 1994 Its both the physical and psychological domination. Imagine being so confident, so cocky and so good that you allowed a batsman success for tactical purposes. Warne does it here with a decoy flipper. Daryll Cullinan pulls for four. Benaud senses it. He calls it the minute Warne bowls the first one. Well… that looked to me to be the one Warne shows them. You could almost pick that from up here. Really, Richie? Really. Now theres a legbreak. Cullinan cuts it for four more. Maybe this isnt so bad after all. Hes actually looking good. Hes looking even better to Warne, though, who has him exactly where he wants him: buoyed by the confidence of minor victories, and thus more inclined to yield to his own momentum and attacking instincts.Now comes the real flipper, the one Cullinan cant even hope to read. Its impossible to imagine worse footwork - two or more decisions in a split-second, all wrong - and then his stumps rattled. Not only has Cullinan been burgled, he has helped the thief load up the getaway car.The classic: December 1996 Warnes in his 46th Test now. Time enough, perhaps, for us to have grown a little complacent about the shapes, angles, torque and trajectories he would produce from a cricket ball.Its the SCG Test, late in 1996, and he produces perhaps his sharpest-turning wicket-taker: the legbreak that screams out of the rough a couple of feet outside off stump, then veers back into Shivnarine Chanderpauls pads and onto off stump.This is why replays exist. My brother and I get home from school and go wild when we see it in the evening news promos. The VCR is put to work because we know well want to watch it over and over, which we do. Theres something a bit odd, though. Chanderpaul is Warnes 216th Test victim, but in the immediate aftermath, just seconds after his fall, Ian Chappell focuses mainly on Chanderpauls error. There it is: we just expect these things of Warne now. ' ' '
