They did the right thing keeping Kobe and trying to hit in free agency.
What they did wrong was mortgage their future picks in useless trades like the Steve Nash one, incredibly short sighted, even more so than the Nets trades. Take out a few of their bad trades and the Lakers would be looking at a very positive future right now..
The original Nash trade was bad, but it could have been so much worse. Because the Lakers had top 5/top 3 protections on their picks, they were able to select and keep their last three high lottery selections (all at #2). Philly will now only get the #10 pick in this draft and Orlando will now only get two future 2nd rounders.