i know it's a little late but nooooooo... the Lakers have lost Shaq (noooooo),thank god Kobe Stayed.though, i think i would have died if we lost all of the Showtime lakers.

What are your thoughts on the 'New' Lakers squad.(Odom, Grant, Divac, Butler....)

I'm happy for Odom.. he's definitely getting better and deserves the attention. Vlade Divac really isn't great stuff. His peak was quite some time ago and he was doing a mediocre job with the Sacramento Kings.

Without Shaq, the Lakers definitely won't have such an advantage as they did in the past because of his cheap points because of height and strength. Kobe will enjoy hogging the ball more often without Shaq there and he'll get a chance to finally demonstrate his individual talent.

Other than that, the Lakers took a fairly bad turn with all of the changes. It'll be neat to see how well they work with their new coach too.

i forgot to mention the new coach, i feel sorry for him because many people expect him to bring rings to the club but i think he is going to be under a lot of pressure.

bad_guy, who expects Rudy T to bring the Lakers rings? I surely haven't heard anyone speaking about him bringing championships to L.A. Sure he has championship EXPERIENCE, but I don't think ANYONE is seriously looking at the Lakers right now as title contenders. Sure maybe if they get more pieces to the puzzle, but you have to remember, they lost Payton, Malone, Shaq, Fisher & Phil Jackson this off season. They are NOT going to get by the TimberWolves, Spurs, Kings or possibly the Mavericks & Rockets with just Kobe, Odom, Butler, Grant & Divac.

they have an average team now, and at least Kobe do some kind of magic they won't go anywhere

They won't be the same Lakers, but they'll still be good. It's the end of an era, though, really. I don't know if they'll get another championship (in fact I almost doubt it, but I'm a Laker fan so I've gotta have some hope!), but I think they can still get pretty far.

It's just a matter of how well these guys can work together, and with the new coach. That's something that can't really be predicted until we see it, you know? You can really be surprised.

Irish, you said they won't get past the TimberWolves, Spurs, Kings, Mavericks or Rockets, but I think they're better than that. There's no denying that they might not and probably will not get past the Spurs, who (God forgive me) are exceptional. As for the rest, I think we might be surprised.

I just hope Divac puts his drama-queen tendencies aside; L.A.'s got enough drama as it is. And I think the Staples Center court is clean, we don't need him sliding across it to polish it like Sacramento did. :p I hope we get through the season on all the players' own merit, not on Divac getting fouled! Get up off the floor and play, dammit!! Suck it up! :rolleyes:

Zia I hear what you're saying and yes the Lakers will be a playoff team, but come on, when they play San Antonio, who's going to guard Duncan? He'll put up triple-doubles all over them. Who's gonna guard Garnett? He'll have a field day. Wholl guard Yao, Dirk, Webber, etc. Sure L.A. has an advantage at guard with Kobe, but if Kobe plays like he did in the Finals this year, forgetdaboutit!