Although last year's playoff debacle raised plenty of questions, the Lakers are still in prime position to make it out of the Western Conference.
Don't get me wrong, they have plenty of issues—their point guard situation is terrible, they don't have consistent threats from the three-point line, and the dropoff after their first three guys is massive.
Still, the Lakers are as dangerous as any team in the West.
Kobe Bryant entered this season hell-bent on proving the folks over at ESPN wrong, and he's doing a pretty damn good job of that so far.
Despite playing with a torn ligament in his right wrist, Bryant leads the league in scoring with 31.2 points per game. He's dropped at least 40 in his last three games (all Laker wins) and has scored at least 25 points every game since his 6-of-28 outing against Denver.
Kobe has been criticized for shooting so much, but it's tough to argue with the results. Over their last seven games, Bryant has hit 50 percent of his field goals, and the Lakers are 6-1.
Equally important to L.A.'s success is the play of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.
Bynum has been a monster this season, dominating opposing big men while averaging 16.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game. Gasol is also putting up quality numbers, averaging 16.6 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting better than 55 percent from the floor.
L.A. can also take solace in the fact that nobody else is running away with the West. The Thunder have their Durant-Westbrook alpha-dog issues, the Mavericks can't play defense, the Grizzlies are riddled with injuries and I'm not sold on Portland or Denver.
Things looked bleak in Lakerland before the season started, but L.A. has a deadly big three, and the rest of the West i...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
