Don't Count Out the Los Angeles Lakers

By Evan Williams on November 4, 2013

Having Bryant, Nash and Gasol all healthy will be key for the success of D’Antoni and the Lakers

The NBA has experienced the Showtime Lakers of the 90’s and the “Lake-Show” Lakers of the 2000’s. Now in the 2010’s, the Lakers organization is in unfamiliar territory.

NBA experts and analyst have voiced their opinions for the 2013-2014 season, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone outside of the Los Angeles area placing the Lakers in the Western Conference playoffs.

The team lost All-Pro Center Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets. And the controversial, yet productive forward formerly known as Ron Artest signed with the New York Knicks. With little salary cap room to spare, the Lakers were left to sign cast-offs and to the league minimum.

Nick Young will need to spark the Lakers offense in the absence of Kobe Bryant.

Chris Kaman, Nick Young, Xavier Henry and Wesley Johnson were added to the roster that brings back Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Jordan Hill, Jodie Meeks, Steve Blake and Kobe Bryant. Jordan Farmar also returns to the team after a two-plus year absence. Ryan Kelly was drafted in the second round to serve as a stretch-big man.  Robert Sacre and Shawn Williams make 14 players on the roster.

This is what the Lakers have for the season. Expect no trades, no free-agent acquisitions. What the organization has now is the product that will be on the floor come October 29th.

Current circumstances would make everyone agree that the Lakers will be on the outside looking in come playoff time. Bryant is entering his 18th year and coming off of a devastating Achilles injury, the team unsure when he’ll be available. Steve Nash and Pau Gasol are both coming off of injury riddle seasons and entering, if not already in, the twilight of their respective careers. Nick Young is a career journeyman who has shown flashes, but been inconsistent in his five-year career. And Xavier Henry and Wesley Johnson are both former first-round picks who have yet to live up to expectations.

Again, this team looks like one destined to struggle, predicted to force Lakers fans to experience something that happens literally once in a decade. A losing season.

After spending time around this team in Las Vegas, I’m here to tell you not to count this team out yet.

I will preface my entire argument with this; ultimately the team’s success is dependent upon the return of Kobe Bryant. Unlike many people out there, I don’t expect Bryant to return as the player he was just a season ago. It would be unfair, and unrealistic, to expect the man to lead the team in almost every statistical category yet again. Having said that, 70 percent of the production we saw last season would still be better than a majority of the players at his position. The Lakers can’t, and shouldn’t, expect vintage vino on a nightly basis, but rather be satisfied with the production he provides. Moving on.

Until Bryant returns, I expect the starting unit to feature Nash, Meeks, Young, Gasol and Kaman. Obviously that is subject to change, but that unit provides the best mix of talent for a starting five. At 39, Nash is considered a grandpa in NBA terms, but expect an average of double-digit points and seven assists.  Kaman seems to gel better with Gasol than Dwight Howard did in Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense. And Nick Young seems destined to remain a Laker forever. The 29-year old guard/forward returns back to his hometown of Los Angeles and is soaking up this opportunity. With Bryant expected to miss a good portion of the beginning of the season, Young will prove capable of stepping into the role of shot-creator and maker vacated by Bryant.

Xavier Henry has shown flashes of productivity during the preseason, getting to the charity stripe 25-plus times during the first three games. I had a chance to speak with him in Las Vegas, and anointed him the “poor mans” James Harden. Other than being left-handed, they do have a similar offensive skill set. Now in his fourth NBA season, this could be the year where it all starts to “click.” If Henry can provide solid contributions off the bench, this team adds another weapon.

Jordan Farmar provides youth and athleticism to an aging backcourt.

Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar are great fits for D’Antoni’s system. The two point guards will add youth and athleticism in relief of Nash, while sustaining the shooting and playmaking ability of the veteran once he leaves the game.

This unit, when healthy, has more top-to-bottom talent from the team a season ago. Equally as important, this team genuinely likes each other.

Remember the Bryant-Howard saga a season ago? Bryant stated that it didn’t matter if he and Dwight liked one another personally, but rather they just needed to respect each other on the court. That philosophy hasn’t been successful since the Kobe-Shaq days, and that remains the case.

Watching this team interact during the Las Vegas trip showed me that they not only got along on the court, but also enjoyed the company of one another off of it. Chemistry is everything in basketball, and the Lakers are establishing it early.

All in all, preseason predictions usually mean nothing. We learned that first-hand from the Lakers a season ago. As Bryant and Nash eloquently stated, their predicted 12th-place finish in the west “doesn’t mean shit.”

The Western Conference is talented, and many teams have playoff aspirations. But injuries can derail a teams outlook and change the landscape of a conference. Let’s watch the season unfold and make judgments along the way.

I won’t guarantee anything except that this Lakers team will surprise people, one way or the other.

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