The Los Angeles Lakers Look to Repeat
The NBA season has just about arrived, and the Los Angeles Lakers are the definite favorite entering the season. Why, you might ask?
Well, for one, they’re the defending champions. They defeated the Orlando Magic with relative ease in the NBA finals, and looked very solid throughout the duration of the 2009 NBA playoffs.
It should also be noted that the only significant player the Lakers have lost is Trevor Ariza. While Ariza was a valuable role player in Los Angeles, he’s not one of the team’s stars, so all indicators would point to the notion that they should be okay without him.
Lamar Odom was – and maybe still is – one of the most inconsistent good players in the NBA. There are some games Odom was a top 5 player and other times you wouldn’t even notice him on the court.
Contributions from Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza, Derek Fisher, and others made the Los Angeles Lakers a team with many dangerous weapons, and a team that no one wanted to face in the playoffs. This was an extremely deep team.
The only issues with Ron Artest is problems he may face off the court, but I believe those days are pretty much behind him as he’s learned his lesson.
It’s hard to repeat as champions in professional sports because players get hurt and more trades happen now then ever before. The Lakers still have Kobe Bryant and he is playing at an elite level.
Then there’s the x-factor, of course. The signing of Ron Artest, one of the best defensive players in basketball. Artest will turn 31, making for a well aged team that has the physical prowess and the knowledge to do anything a team is capable of doing. The Los Angeles Lakers are favorites to repeat entering the season.
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