Team Name: Los Angeles Lakers

Last Year’s Record: 65–17, 1st in Western Conference

Key Losses: Trevor Ariza (Houston), Assistant Coach Kurt Rambis (Minnesota)

Key Additions: Ron Artest, Championship Confidence, Ron Artest’s baggage

What Significant Moves were made during the off-season?

The Lakers may have only added one man to their roster, but one would be wrong to mistake lack of turnover for lack of drama.

Even though nearly the entire roster will return to defend their championship, the Lakers certainly had an eventful off-season. From the off-court tabloid drama surrounding Lamar Odom to the major free-agent risk taken by management, the Lakers provided the blogosphere headline fodder all summer.

And to think: none of the commotion involved Kobe Bryant in the slightest!

Essentially, the Lakers traded Trevor Ariza to Houston, as they let their versatile wing walk and signed Ron Artest in his place to the tune of a five years, $34 million deal. It goes without saying that this is the biggest roll of the dice taken by any major contender this off-season.

Where Orlando and San Antonio each made major movements, nothing equals the risk the Lakers’ brass took in not paying Ariza.

That is because they turned instead to Artest.

The dollar figures around Artest’s deal are not as troubling as its length given how mercurial he has been at every other stop in his career. He remains a tremendous on-ball, physical defender who can guard positions 2 to 4 and who gives them one of the few guys in the league that is in the same stratosphere as LeBron James in terms of raw strength.

That said, Artest struggles off the ball and when chasing through screens. He provides a similar high risk/high reward proposition on offense: he is an animal in the post against smaller defenders and is a solid spot-up shooter, but he often destroys his team’s offensive flow or rhythm by holding the ball too long or taking downright awful shots.

None of those on-court concerns begin to approach the real red flag against the signing, which is that Artest has, to put it lightly, struggled to control his behavior on and off the floor.

And that was before he had the potential distractions of Hollywood to deal with, or the reality of being his team’s fourth option on offense.

The Lakers are betting their season on the idea that Bryant and Phil Jackson can control his attitude and avoid his mood swings. If they can, the risk Artest presents just might prove worth it…but you can bet Laker fans will be losing sleep next spring worrying about it.

The Lakers other key move this off-season was one of preserving the status-quo, which meant keeping possibly-starting guard Shannon Brown (two years, $4 million) and more importantly, re-signing Lamar Odom (four years, $33 million). We don’t know for certain how close Odom really came to bolting for Miami (or Portland, or Oklahoma City…) but what can be said for certain is that he has been comfortably taken care after finally delivering in the Playoffs last season.

As for Odom’s suddenly-very-public love life, the less said the better in hopes that his new contract has not caused him to shift his gaze away from the game.

After this much time though, Los Angeles fans should know what to expect from Odom – inconsistent, but potentially brilliant, play from night-to-night.

What are the team’s biggest strengths?

In Hoops Addict’s Season Preview last year, I used this space to wax poetic about how the Lakers’ greatest strength was that they have Kobe Bryant and every other team does not. While that obviously remains true, that kind of over-simplified analysis does a disservice to the Lakers’ true core competency.

While having one of the game’s all-time greats leading the charge is certainly enough of an advantage already, the Lakers chances to repeat are rooted in the paint.

Put simply, no other team in the league can match the Lakers’ size and quality on the blocks, and it is a major reason for their success. Andrew Bynum is the kind of Goliath that demands being guarded by the other team’s biggest and best post defender, which means that L.A.’s more skilled and accomplished big man, Pau Gasol, will draw a mismatch on almost any given night.

That is good for the Lakers, and a nightmare for their foes.

As if having two seven-footers with All-Star caliber talent (yes, Bynum would be that good if he were ever to stay healthy) in the same lineup weren’t enough, the Lakers frontcourt assault is supported by Artest and Odom, each of whom can shift between at least three positions and create a plethora of match-up problems with their unique skillsets.

Of the major contenders in the West, only Portland and Denver even approach having the kind of athletic size to deal with Gasol and Bynum to begin with; adding Artest and Odom shows the kind of depth that no one else has around the rim, providing Los Angeles’ second unit an extremely formidable threat.

Beyond their length, the Lakers’ have a second major advantage over nearly all other teams, with the exception perhaps of San Antonio: quality leadership. In Phil Jackson, they have perhaps the greatest head coach of all-time on their bench. The first nine of Jackson championships can together in runs of three, which should give pause to anyone wanting to write off last season as a one-shot victory. The man wins in bunches.

At this point in his career, Jackson is more concerned with being a master motivator than a daily manager or X-and-O’s guru. No other coach in the league today this side of Gregg Popovich understands the situation he is faced with better than Jackson, and no one triggers the same sort of response he can to get the best from his players.

What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

The Lakers’ greatest threat to repeating the glory their achieved last June is not complacency, or selfishness. It is not even the unpredictable nature of Ron Artest. The biggest threat Los Angeles faces does come from within, but it is far less philosophical than that.

The Lakers’ biggest problem is that they are still weak at point guard.

Perhaps is it a testament to how solid Los Angeles is at every other spot on the floor, but point guard is so obviously a question mark that it should give all Purple-and-Gold diehards pause. While Fisher hit two huge shots against Orlando, he was atrocious against Utah and Houston, and is not a real solution for a grueling 82 game season.

A year ago it was thought that Jordan Farmar would slip into the role of competent caretaker of this high-powered offense, but instead he metaphorically fumbled with the keys to that offense all season. Farmar has enough talent to be the starter on a championship team, and has the kind of quickness and lateral speed Los Angeles sorely needed against Deron Williams and Jameer Nelson (and would have lacked against Tony Parker, Chris Paul, or Steve Nash) but he needs to deliver on the promise his talent suggests.

As for Brown, a year ago he was a throw-in in the trade that brought the Lakers Adam Morrison, which should speak volume about his potential as a future starter for this veteran team.

What are the goals for this team?

In order: First place in the West; Home court throughout the Playoffs; hope to contain LeBron; plan parade route.

While their season checklist of goals may have detailed milestones and achievements on it, the real aspiration of this team is simply to repeat as champions. With this much talent, anything else should be a failure.

When are we going to address the 7-foot elephant in the room?

Ah yes, Andrew Bynum.

There is no getting around it: Bynum’s health will continue to be a question and a major point of concern up until he proves that he can stay on the floor. His last two seasons were cut down just as he seems to be ascending to new heights of consistency and familiarity.

One school of thought on the Lakers’ loaded roster is that, if they were able to win without him, just imagine how frightening they will be if he can stay in the lineup for the full year.

Of course, the most pessimistic view holds that the Lakers lucked out to not have to face a healthy Tim Duncan or Kevin Garnett last season, and that that sort of luck is unlikely to repeat itself.

That fear speaks directly to Bynum’s importance.

The Lakers may have the league’s best frontline, but it would all be for not if the anchor of their post-defense is on crunches and sharing the same view of the floor as Jack Nicholson.

The man child will still be wearing a brace on his right knee all season after returning from a torn MCL. He will also still be carrying the hopes of ownership, who invested heavily in the young man from New Jersey before last season became in hopes that he would soon realize his awesome potential and perhaps take his place among the pantheon of great Laker bigs that features the likes of Mikan, Chamberline, Jabbar, and O’Neal.

At seven feet and over 280 pounds, Bynum is one of the last “true” young centers in the league. While his soft hands, considerable offensive skill, and ever-improving footwork suggests that those heights of greatness might someday still be possible, playoff averages of 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds last year certainly do not.

If Bynum can return to the level he reached each of the last two Januarys, he will be the biggest game changer on the Lakers roster that doesn’t share a nickname with a poisonous snake.

Projected Finish?

San Antonio fleeced the Bucks and walked away with Richard Jefferson (and admittedly, a hefty luxury tax penalty).

Orlando made the executive decision to replace their emotional leader with Vince Carter, a talent upgrade surely but is a risky shakeup to team chemistry.

Cleveland may have topped them all by acquiring arguably one of the ten best players ever, who even in the twilight of his career could mean a major shift of power in the East by giving James a body guard.

The Lakers? They largely stood pat, with the Artest addition as the obvious exception. The team made this choice for good reasons: they have a coach that has won 1041 regular season games; they were third in the league in offensive efficiency; they possess the game’s greatest closer still in the tail-end of his prime; and they are coming off a title.

The Lakers are built around Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant. Gasol will be his predictably efficient, lethal self and will repeat as an All-Star. Bryant will continue to adjust his game to suit his team’s needs and increasing age.

Together, they should guide Los Angeles back to the Finals, and to another title.

66-16, first in Pacific Division, first in Western Conference, NBA Champions

Recent Headlines

• March Madness Preview
• March Madness Prize Package From Coke Zero
• Six Players To Watch In The NCAA Tournament
• Scouting Report: Courtney Fortson
• In The Scrum With Shaun Livingston