LA Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak gives pre-season media interview at Laker’s Training Facility in El Segundo. Photos by Brad Graverson/LANG/09-24-15

A blank slate awaits the Lakers as they eagerly try to erase the stench from last season’s mess.

Then, the Lakers won 21 games in what marked the franchise’s worst record in its 67-year-old history partly for reasons ranging from injuries, lack of talent and a debilitating Western Conference.

A blank slate also awaits Roy Hibbert as he eagerly tries to forget about last season’s nightmare. Hibbert, a former two-time NBA All-Star, quickly became trade bait amid the Indiana Pacers’ quest to go smaller and faster. So much that the Pacers traded Hibbert to the Lakers last July for only a second-round pick, a move that cleared Hibbert’s $15.5 million salary.

Can the Lakers and Hibbert write their come-back story together? Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak thinks so.

“I’m hoping he can back to where he was two or three years ago,” Kupchak said on Thursday at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. “That’s my hope. He has great size and he has great length. His wingspan approaches 7’8. He has great length. He’s on the last year of a deal and I know he wants to play well. That’s not to say that he didn’t play hard the last two or three years. I think he just needed a change of scenery.”

The Lakers need a change of scenery from last year, too.

They lacked a true rim protector. They finished 29th out of 30 NBA teams in defensive efficiency. After missing out on top free agency targets in LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Monroe and DeAndre Jordan, the Lakers needed a center to make for up the free agent departures of Ed Davis and Jordan Hill.

Hibbert, who will become a free agent next July, can fit that mold.

“I know he’s motivated and I know he’s highly skilled and he could be our best mid range shooter,” Kupchak said of Hibbert. “We know that he can pick up a lot of space in the paint, whether it’s through positioning or contesting a shot, he can be a presence defensively. As far as how many points is he going to score and is he going to make the All-Star team, I don’t know. But the pieces to the package are there for him to have a very effective season.”

The 28-year-old Hibbert has posted career averages of 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in his seven-year NBA career at Indiana, modest numbers for an elite NBA center. But the Lakers want Hibbert mostly to concentrate on the defensive end, while Kobe Bryant, D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, Lou Williams and Nick Young take care of the offense. Hibbert has also reportedly lost weight in hopes to adapt to the modern NBA that calls for smaller and quicker lineups.

That left Kupchak optimistic Hibbert could adapt and thrive with the Lakers’ young group of players long-term.

“If Roy has a good to great year, and we can bring him back at 28 years old,” Kupchak said, “I don’t know why he can’t be part of that core.”

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com