Are the Lakers legit title contenders?

Earlier in the season most people, myself included, did not think the Lakers were legit title contenders. They looked like a team that would be a mid to low seed who may or may not make it past the first round. Definitely not past the second round.

Now we have Ramon Sessions at the point guard position. It was our weakest area. He's looking like the real deal and seems to be a good fit for the team. Combine that with 3 legit all star caliber players K/B/G and they have the look of a legit title contender. One could even argue Sessions is a 4th all star caliber player when given the chance to start. How many teams can say that?

But the bench is still the same. Are we legit contenders with this bench? Or will it make Brown give the starters extensive minutes, causing them to wear down late in a tough, physical playoff series? Can we survive 4 series with this bench?

Well, so far this Lakers team has stepped up on almost every major challenge and done well, haven't always won, but they have at least shown that despite some horrible losses, they still do have a 'championship gear'. Also, being a weird lockout year does make me think that their chances are a little improved, even though the lockout doesn't affect the playoffs really, I think the entirety of this year from scoring being down league wide to the hectic schedules to major team shake-ups and player uncertainties all collectively has an effect.

Lakers still play a 'playoffs style' of basketball and do have a pretty strong roster, top-heavy though it may be.

I think the Lakers could make it happen but it wouldn't be easy and they'd probably have to get a little lucky on their opponents. I don't trust Mike Brown's coaching really at all for the playoffs, and I am also pretty worried that Kobe will have some 6-31 shooting night that more or less loses a series for us. But it should still be possible if the Team really pulls together and goes all-out in the postseason.

Well with this bench i would say NO......we can win series agains any team but not vs OKC......they have bigs who can guard our twin towers, i like sessions and i love his game but westbrooke is fantastic PG ....and of course they have Durant who is unstoppable for anyone in our team....ok we have kobe, this is our advantage in that series but I think its not enought.....so we can beat anyone and i belive in that but i dont belive we can beat OKC.,.....i hope my feeling is wrong

shaq222 wrote:Well with this bench i would say NO......we can win series agains any team but not vs OKC......they have bigs who can guard our twin towers, i like sessions and i love his game but westbrooke is fantastic PG ....and of course they have Durant who is unstoppable for anyone in our team....ok we have kobe, this is our advantage in that series but I think its not enought.....so we can beat anyone and i belive in that but i dont belive we can beat OKC.,.....i hope my feeling is wrong

We are going to kick Oklahoma City's a** this Thursday.

Yes.

We have the best front court in the league in Bynum and Gasol. We have a very, very good backcourt in Kobe and Sessions. I like how Barnes has flourished at SF since the arrival of Sessions to solidify that position.

I think the Lakers have a clear advantage over the Spurs and Mavericks in the Western Conference. OKC is going to be a tough matchup. Winner of OKC-Lakers in the West will meet up with the winner of Bulls-Heat in the East.

Active thread on this topic here:

http://www.clublakers.com/lakers-discussion/are-contenders-now-t133610.html