In all fairness, Nash has only played in six games so far and only four under new coach Mike D'Antoni, Dwight appears to still be recovering a bit from offseason back surgery and Gasol has dealt with sore knees.
At the same time, the Lakers have only one expectation every season: to win the NBA Finals. Anything less will be a disappointment to players, fans and management.
It is at that standard that the Purple and Gold are always evaluated, which makes it easy to see why they can get crushed by their own hype.
As we head into a brand new year, each player's value to the team becomes a bit more clear.
The following rankings combine how successful each individual on the Lakers active roster has been so far, as well as how much they will mean to the team moving forward.
All stats are accurate as of December 31, 2012.
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Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers