LA Lakers: 5 Reasons Lake Show Is Team To Beat out West

Despite an ominous lack of buzz, the Lakers are the best team in the Western Conference. While basketball reasons may have denied this team landing Chris Paul, it left them a far better squad for this season. 

Fear not Laker fans, and fear wholeheartedly non-Laker fans, this team is in a prime position to make their fourth finals appearance in five years.

Frontcourt

On the flip side of the Chris Paul trade falling through is the fact that the Lakers' unmatchable length remains intact.

There is not another team in the NBA that can match the Lakers up front. Andrew Bynum has developed into an elite big man. He showed the world what he was capable of in the postseason last year when he averaged 14.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game when the Lakers needed him the most.

He has good feet, great hands, a solid shooting touch and he is capable of being a fine defensive performer. And opponents will not be able to double-team because of Pau Gasol at his side.

Gasol is one of the most skilled big men in the league. It is too much to ask of any defender to guard the tall Spaniard one-on-one, and with his solid passing skills that is what teams will have to do. Gasol is effective passing out of double-teams, and with the soft-handed Bynum waiting in the wings, centers cannot leave him. 

Gasol was miserable in the playoffs last year, but this will prove to be a road bump in his fine career. He is just 31 and age has not deteriorated his skills.

With Bynum and Gasol on the floor, the Lakers are capable of owning the boards and controlling the low post in half-court sets.

New Depth is a Better Fit

Thus far, the Lakers have lost more talent than they have brought in. They watched SG Shanon Brown walk away in free agency and they traded Lamar Odom. But they have added two nice pieces to the puzzle in Jason Kapono and Josh McRoberts.

Kapono isn't going to add big minutes, or one asset that doesn't involve outside shooting. However, that is exactly what this team needed. The Lakers have been hurting from downtown in recent seasons. Kapono and his career mark of 43.7 percent shooting from three-point range will help that.

Kapono can play small forward or shooting guard. He can't defend a lick, but with the defensive versatility of Meta World Peace and Matt Barnes this won't be a detriment for the small minutes Kapono will play. 

The sharp shooter will be backing up Kobe Bryant, and now the Lakers offense won't have to worry about stalling out in half-court sets when Bryant is on the bench. It is going to be a lot harder to double the bigs with Kapono waiting in the wings. This is a much better fit than the erratic Brown.

McRoberts will provide nice depth for the frontcourt. He will essentially take Lamar Odom's role, with one big exception. McRoberts is capable of playing center. This will allow Gasol to stay in his more natural power forward position.

McRoberts is just 24 and he is coming off a season where he averaged 7.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in 22.2 minutes per game. He also shot 54.7 percent from the floor.

Still, these guys alone are not enough, but they won't have to be.

Trade Exception

Odom is going to be missed—especially on the defensive end where McRoberts is not close to his equal.

However, the signing of McRoberts allows the Lakers to use the trade exception they acquired for Lamar on another need.

The Lakers are now in a position to grab a talented player from a team that wants to clear salary cap space for the following offseason.

This will allow the Lakers to upgrade the point guard position. This has been the Lakers' weakness for years. They now have a variety of options here.

The player to keep an eye on here is Steve Nash.

The Lakers could swing a three way trade with a team that is willing to dump a player to clear cap space, and ship that player to the Suns for Nash—who will be a free agent at the end of the season.

This offense would be impossible to defend with Nash setting the table and stretching the D with his outside shooting.

While that trade may or may not happen, one thing is for certain, and that is the Lakers are not just going to sit on this trade exception.

Players will become available as the season goes on. LA will either use this for a Dwight Howard blockbuster, or they will add a huge upgrade at the point guard position.

Chip on Their Shoulder

For the first time in years, the Lakers are being counted out. They are getting disrespected by fans even in their own town.

This will lead to a refocused team, and a team with an us against the world mentality.

The Lakers not only will feel slighted by fans and the media, but also by the league. There is not a person in this organization that isn't upset with the handling of the Chris Paul trade debacle. They will be hungry and eager to prove everyone wrong.

The Mamba

Kobe Bryant's window as an elite NBA player is quickly closing. He is not going to let that window silently close.

Bryant's numbers dropped last season as he battled a bum right knee, but that knee will be as strong as it has been in years.

He underwent a platelet-rich plasma therapy on that knee in the offseason. As you can see, his knee seems to have taken to this procedure.

Combine that procedure with the extra rest from an early playoff exit and a prolonged offseason, and you have a Kobe Bryant that will be as healthy as he has been in years.

With a careful monitoring of his minutes in back-to-back games, and the fact that he will be playing far less minutes due to the shortened season, Bryant will enter the playoffs in peak form. And the Black Mamba will prove, maybe for the last time, why he is one of the greatest players of all time.