Reasons why the Lakers are playoff team worthy.

[EArl]

Its too early to tell. Most likely we don't make it. It would take a great year from our rooks and sophs for us to be the 8th seed.

[DEEP3CL]

I have us as a .500 team, 41-41 won't be bad at all. It's easy to say "they can't make the playoffs", but the reality of it is that for the last 4 seasons injuries have wrecked our seasons and the team was never able to build cohesion.

And it's no automatic that the so called teams that are better than us, will be any better than they were last season. If we can win 41, then they have to figure a way to steal those 8 or 9 games that will put them in the 8th seed.

The way I see the 8 teams....

The 7 Locks
1.GSW - Champs and most likely to win division
2.Spurs - I reluctantly put them here, I still think injury is lurking for their older guys and depth will be issue
3. LAC - Need to see their final roster, Blake and CP in for big minutes could lead to missed games.
4.Griz - Window is closing and still need perimeter shooting, NO can take this spot if injury occurs to key guys
5.Pels - They have confidence of knowing they belong now, AD ready to take next step and offense will be top 5
6.OKC - Questions surround KD and their depth took a blow
7.Houston - Still no roster depth and they may lose Josh Smith
8. Dog fight with....

Dallas - Guard play will be horrendous, and I don't see a clear cut leading scorer on that team...don't say Dirk
Phoenix - Got a rim protector in Tyson, but still playing with 2 lead guards and depth is shaky
Lakers - Have to keep Kobe healthy, D will be improved with Roy, scoring won't be our problem, consistent D will
Jazz - Sticking with their development plan and no FA pick ups, which is why we jump them

I see problems with Phoenix and Dallas that I won't get into now, they'll show in regular season. As for us the kids have to play well, but most importantly we have to create an identity. I like that we got some good IQ guys and not guys just playing for another deal now, this is why it was important to sign guys for more than a year.

Note: Move Clips back to 3rd after getting DJ back.

[Mamba Mentality]

@DEEP, where do the T-Wolves fit in all this? They had very little roster turnover and added an excellent two way player in Towns who is going to make an immediate impact. You've got to figure they'll be in the hunt for a playoff spot if the core can stay healthy. I'd put them in the mix with the Mavs and Suns, Jazz and Lakers are a longshot.

I still can't see us finishing any better than 35 wins, which will probably put us anywhere from 9th-11th in the west.

[Pointgod]

The only reason the Lakers make the playoffs is if there is a cataclysmic event that eliminates 8 other teams. Please guys don't do this to yourselves, it just isn't happening. Don't set yourselves up for the painful sting of disappointment when we don't make the playoffs. Too many young guys, too many question marks and not enough impact players. Just enjoy the development of our young cats, Kobe's last hurrah and screwing the Sixers out of a top 5 pick.

[RingsDontLie]

@DEEP, where do the T-Wolves fit in all this? They had very little roster turnover and added an excellent two way player in Towns who is going to make an immediate impact. You've got to figure they'll be in the hunt for a playoff spot if the core can stay healthy. I'd put them in the mix with the Mavs and Suns, Jazz and Lakers are a longshot.

I still can't see us finishing any better than 35 wins, which will probably put us anywhere from 9th-11th in the west.

I don't see how Towns is going to boost the wolves into a playoff team. While some people believed towns had the most upside, everyone agreed that Okafor was more skilled and more NBA ready than Towns.

Towns is going to get beat up by the big boys in the NBA imo in his 1st season or so.

[PICKnPOP]

Randle, russell, Clarkson, and hibbert are all impact players. If we add upshaw that's another guy that impacts the game. I think people are underestimating this team.


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[Mamba Mentality]

@DEEP, where do the T-Wolves fit in all this? They had very little roster turnover and added an excellent two way player in Towns who is going to make an immediate impact. You've got to figure they'll be in the hunt for a playoff spot if the core can stay healthy. I'd put them in the mix with the Mavs and Suns, Jazz and Lakers are a longshot.

I still can't see us finishing any better than 35 wins, which will probably put us anywhere from 9th-11th in the west.

I don't see how Towns is going to boost the wolves into a playoff team. While some people believed towns had the most upside, everyone agreed that Okafor was more skilled and more NBA ready than Towns.

Towns is going to get beat up by the big boys in the NBA imo in his 1st season or so.

His defense is NBA ready, sure he'll need to pack on a few pounds to bang with most the big men in the league but he has good size, lateral quickness, and court awareness. His offense will come with time, but he's shown a lot of scoring versatility. Just off raw talent alone I could see him putting up 12-15 points a game--he can stretch the floor, shoots really well from the line, and is good at finishing around the rim. He, Pek, are Dieng are going to be one tough front court to contend with.

[what would jack bauer do?]

The jazz were a monster team the 2nd half of last season. Trey Lyles is a great sleeper pick for them and Gobert is only going to get better. I think Utah's going to fare better than the Mavs and Clippers. If I had to guess I think it'll be a dog fight between us, the clippers, and the mavericks.

[DEEP3CL]

@The Regime....

T-Wolves have a nice projected starting 5 but bench depth will be a issue. At the 1 and 4 especially. As far as Towns, he might have been the player with the most up side but he's still gonna need a season may 2 to finally hit stride. Most players hit it or find it by year 3. Wiggins and Lavine are good but you can still put them on hold for stretches of the game, just like teams are going to do our young guys and this is why you have to have vets.

They have KG but it's been a long time since KG could impact a game, and that's the difference from us and them. Kobe 36 and all can impact a game however he chooses to. Make no doubt about though the T-Wolves will be in the mix, I just feel it'll be a tad behind us though.

[Dr Aki]

let's get a 4 game win streak first

[BEazy]

How about getting to .500 before we even think about playoffs?

[dipstick]

Dallas is a wild card. They, like us will be searching for an identity. Clippers is another one. They are trying to get rid of Jamal Crawford who was huge for them last year in favor of Lance Stephenson and Paul Pierce. Obviously PP is solid. We will wait to see how Lance pans out. But their biggest problem is still at Center a position where they don't have anyone. As for the T-Wolves, they had a strong starting 5 already last year. But even after the injuries, they did not improve at all and played worse than us. Mind boggling.

As for us, barring any major injuries, I see a lot of improvement. Improved D up front, and a lot better perimeter shooting. PG play from Russell should also be better than anyone we had last year. The problem is D on the wings. The Hibbert acquisition will help also since we can guard shooters closer knowing that we have a good rim protector. The young wings like Clarkson, Russell, A. Brown and J. Brown and even Williams should take their defense to heart and B. Scott should bench those who don't show effort.

I don't know if we can contend for playoff position, probably not. But our main goal is to make that pick that we owe to the Sixers as bad as possible.

[MAMBAEMD]

I'm optimistic about next year.
I think we'll be fun to watch and we will be competitive.
We'll have a better defense, and I think the guys will have a chip on their shoulders.
We've talked a lot about the impact of this bad FA period on the Laker franchise, but we've not talked much about it's impact on the players.

My suspicion is that they will come out with an "us against the world" attitude, which will be great.
We had a team made pretty much entirely of 2nd and 3rd stringers last year.
Next year, we'll have legitimate starting talent, as well as a solid bench.

We'll be good. But not good enough to crack the playoffs.
The West is just ridiculous.
Even Sacramento has made some improvement.
I do think Portland and the Clips will drop off significantly, and Portland will not make the playoffs.

[Hector_Reyes_8]

Timberwolves ain't making the playoffs. They didn't with Love and they won't with Wiggins or Towns. That team has little depth at all.

Suns really didn't make a good move with Chandler, it stunts Len's growth.

Blazers are bottom feeders, Lillard is getting more and more overrated by the day.

Mavs may get into the playoffs if they pick up Lin.... He's a serious upgrade over Barea and Rondo.

Jazz are somewhat iffy, I really wanted Hayward. If they don't play Burke, they may get in. Burke sucks.

Nuggets... They're always in the hunt for a low seed, especially now with the firing of Shaw.

[rand0m]

You guys really think we will battle with a team like Dallas for the 8th seed at this point? Maybe I'm a pessimist but I don't see it at all. Dallas just has way more talent then us. Sure they will most likely have issues but they have proven above average nba starters while we have a lot of young guys that are big question marks. They'd have to have more than just a solid rookie year to have the kind of impact that pushes us into the post season. It's a lot to ask for Russell and Randle to become superstars year 1.

As for Kobe I guess I'm just not expecting him to have a significant impact for us. He's one of my all time favs so I hope I'm wrong but 2011 Kobe is long gone. I don't think he would be here even without the injuries. Simply too my mileage. Barring significant injuries, I expect Portland to drop out and okc to be in with the same teams as last year. Clippers took a huge hit but they still have 2 all stars in their prime, added a vet that's still effective(PP), and a guy that could make an impact (lance). Jazz and suns with an outside chance for the last spot. That being said, I'm pretty excited to see this team play anyway.

[LFAHFN22]

I'm sorry, but I really don't see us being better, at least on paper, than most of the teams in the Western Conference. The obvious ones that should require no explanation are:

Golden State, Houston, Memphis, San Antonio, Oklahoma City.

Now, here are some of the teams that shouldn't need an explanation, but we like tricking ourselves into believing we can hang with them:

New Orleans: they're just better than us, and it really shouldn't require an explanation
Clippers: they lost DeAndre but if they can plug in someone like Sanders, or even McGee, or a combination of the two, along with their additions, they're easily better than us
Dallas: they were the seventh seed last year and have so very clearly upgraded their roster; we just like to pretend that point guard play will limit them, even though that seemed to be their most glaring weakness last season, too
Utah: honestly, I think they just have better talent/prospects; we'd love to have someone like Hayward, or Gobert, or Favors, or even Burks on this team
Timberwolves: I might be higher on their young talent than most, but I think if they stay healthy, they're easily a better team than what we have (Dieng, LaVine, Wiggins, Muhammad, Martin, Pekovic, Rubio)

That leaves us competing with Portland, whose roster is shot, Phoenix, who had 18 wins on us last season with no noticeable departures, the Kings, who are absolutely dysfunctional, and the Nuggets, who could go either way. Their front office seems to be just as messy as the Kings', and I'm expecting them to blow it up for an asset collection/rebuilding phase. Ultimately, I see us in the 12-15 range, which is the worst possible range to be in (considering how likely we are to lose our pick).

I usually leave Kobe alone, but I really don't see him having the sort of impact that others do. In fact, I'd rather see him sit out most of the season so the young dudes can build some on-court chemistry. Kobe's been known to blow up the offense to sort of do his own thing, and I'd rather just see Clarkson and Russell have the ball as often as possible.

[Airnick15]

35 wins at best...

[cashflo]

Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me? Playoffs?! I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game!
Jim Mora

[NBAWestFan]

Lakers are a year or two off.

Sacramento is going to be tough also.

Lakers need to learn more about Analytics it seems.
Mitch start reading or hire a team of young guns like other teams.

After LMA mentioned it I look at it but don't know a lot about it
but realize there is a lot to making a Modern Championship team.

There are still Five players on the floor for a team
but with 3 points after making 3 shots puts your ahead
of a team that scores 3 two pointers or a score of 9 to 6.

Lakers need more solid three point shooters.

Sacramento took Belinelli that guy would have been good.
A tall three point shooter is a big advantage to say JJ Redick is one of the best
but has to work hard to get his shot off.

Even Seth Curry had a hard time getting his shot off at times.

A 6-6" to 6'-10" guy who shoots out lights out 3's seems to be the guys to collect.
Kevin Durant,

Anthony Brown I want to see shoot and play.

[Marionettetc]

Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me? Playoffs?! I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game!
Jim Mora

THE LAKERS ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE

AND WE LET THEM OFF THE HOOK