To be fair, I'm not sure the Lakers are actually going to be any good this season.
That's been my POV all off season. I loathe how teams like LAL and DAL are suddenly considered playoff teams w/o having proved anything yet. Especially when neither accompished a damn thing last season. At this time 1 year ago, the pundits had the LAL in the postseason too, but how'd that work out?
Fans and media often place too much stock into 'names'. Doesn't matter what a player has done in the past. It's about the chemistry of the team they're currently on and whether the players can find a way to play together the right way.
Until proven otherwise, I refuse to believe LAL or DAL are better than the KINGS. They very well might be. But I have to see it play out that way over the course of the long season before I believe it.
I still believe the odds are good that either or both of LBJ and AD spend time on the IR this season. LBJ is breaking down after years of long seasons and AD has pretty much always been made of glass.
With regard to DAL, I need to see #77 duplicate what he did last season after opponents had an offseason to scout him and make adjustments and I'm still skeptical about the 'Unicorn' until he can prove he's healthy and anywhere near as good as he was beforehand. Furthermore, those two need to prove they can play together. They probably can. And probably will be good. But I need to see it over an extended period of time first.
In other words, show me, don't tell me.