If there are any major concerns we should have about this season's Lakers (as presently constructed), they should be focused squarely on the backcourt. Sure, there's Kobe, but take a look at the rest of the guards: Derek Fisher, Steve Blake, Jason Kapono, Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock, Gerald Green, and Elijah Millsap. In other words the Lakers have an All-World legend, a 37 year old defensive liability, a current free agent bust, a one-dimensional shooter whose never clocked meaningful minutes for a good team, a 2nd-Round rookie, and three guys who'll get cut. Ouch!

You could also say Kobe Bryant and nothing else. So weak are the Lakers at guard, Mike Brown is toying with the idea of giving Devin Ebanks (whose yet to show his chops at small forward) some time at back-up shooting guard. Sans Mamba, the situation at guard has the potential to get very ugly. Which is why Kobe has to play better than ever.

For a man who has accomplished what Kobe has, this just might be the year that Kobe Bryant has to do his finest work.

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You might be wondering what in the hell is going on here, so allow me to explain.  Every year, my brother from another mother (who I guess could theoretically be my brother from the same mother) Jeff Clark, from CelticsBlog, organizes a blogosphere-wide preview of the NBA's 30 basketball teams.  It's an awesome project to undertake, and one that takes about 6 weeks to do.  Well, there are two truths to be said about the NBA season: One, we have no idea if and when it will happen, and two, if it does, we sure as hell won't have six weeks to prepare for it.

Generally, in life, I try to avoid being on the wrong side of cliched phrases that describe stupid or inane activity, but there are times when you have no choice but to put the cart before the horse.  Sometimes, that means building a bridge before you've built the road that uses it, other times that means previewing a season that seems likely never to take place.  If the worst that can happen is that you, dear reader, get to spend 10 minutes pretending that basketball has not been forcibly taken away from you, that seems to me a noble enough pursuit.  Think of this as an awesome hike for folks who believe in making life's sweet, beautiful lemonade.

Team Name: The Los Angeles Lakers

Last Year's Record: 0-4

Last Year's Actual Record That Is Misleading Because It Might Indicate The Team Was Relatively Successful When We All Know It Was A Pretty Abysmal Failure: 57-25

Key Free Agents: Shannon Brown? Theo Ratliff??

Team Needs: A fire under their asses and, judging by the performances of Steve Blake and Pau Gasol, perhaps a team psychologist.  Oh, and a starting point guard.  Always, always a starting point guard.

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It's time to put our cards on the table, hombres. We've previewed the living hell out of this new season from every angle we could think of. All that's left is to answer the last, and only, question that truly matters about the 2010-11 Los Angeles Lakers, the one issue that will define success or failure for the franchise and its fans....

Will Hot Rod Hundley have to fill in for Stu Lantz at some point?!?

Wait, sorry. That's not right. It's just - you know how I am when it comes to ol' Hot Rod. I just... I really miss him sometimes. But OK, the question I should have posed is....

Will the Lakers win another championship this season?

That's it. That's the essence of life in Lakerdom these days. It's a binary proposition brutal in its simplicity.

Per longstanding Silver Screen and Roll tradition (in other words, we did it last year), we've collected the bottom-line predictions of each of our authors and are posting them on your computer screen for posterity. Read and enjoy and/or mock them after the cut. And naturally, we'd like to hear what you think. Will the season ahead end in heartbreak? Or in glorious, joyful burning and looting outside Staples Center? Let your voice ring out!

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If you've spent much time at this here Internet website, you know a couple things about me. One, I'm ruggedly attractive and have abs of steel. Two, I like numbers. Do you like numbers? If not, feel free to skip this piece. I won't take offense. I might pout a little, but I'm not going to stop talking to you or come egg your house or anything.

As the new season approaches - and good lord, it can't get here soon enough - I've been gassing up my Radio Shack TRS80 calculator (programmable in BASIC, bitches!) and taking it for a few spins around the Lakerverse. By that I mean, I've been studying Laker stats from last year and trying to figure out which are likely to change, which ones will stay the same and how it'll all wash out in the team's won-loss record. It's an exciting hobby that keeps me busy while I wait to hear back on my bartending-school applications.

After the flip, I walk through a half-dozen stats that I'll be keeping an eye on as the new season unfolds. I'm not saying these are the most critical issues facing the team. Some of them are of big-picture importance; others are small-bore curiosities. The only thing they have in common is that they've each piqued my interest for some reason. And I think they'll pique yours, too!

Are you ready to be piqued?

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An NBA season is a very long ordeal, a marathon, as the cliche goes; and as such there will always be highs and lows. This is compounded by the abstract nature of scheduling in the NBA, with the long home-stands and wearying road trips. Here I'm going to be taking a look at the Lakers' schedule month by month and predicting the outcomes.

October/November: 18 Games (10 Home / 8 Away)

Headline Games: vs. Houston (season opener, Oct. 26), @Denver (Nov. 11), vs. Chicago (Nov. 23)

The Lakers open the season without an especially tough palette of opponents. Whilst this season lacks the remarkable home/away imbalance of last season (no 20-game homestands here), the Lakers start off the season on a relatively cushy note with only two challenging games at Denver and hosting Chicago, as well as a couple of decent matchups at Utah and against Portland at home. This is of immense benefit to the Lakers considering the number of players they need to work back in from injury and the number of new players that need to be acclimated; and it also hopefully means Andrew Bynum will be back before the Lakers really need him.

Prediction: 16-2 or maybe 15-3, with the losses being @Denver on Nov. 11 and the season opener against Houston. A loss vs. Utah on Nov. 26 is also possible.

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Today we wrap up our Contender Previews, in which we look at challengers to the Lakers' throne in the upcoming season. Up today we have.... ugh.

All right, guys. I'm no more thrilled about this than you are, but we knew this conversation was coming. It's time to talk about the Miami Heat.

There's no need to rehash their offseason. If you've been alive and paying even the slightest attention to the basketball world, you're familiar with every detail - from the Chris Bosh announcement, to "The Decision," to Dan Gilbert's Comic Sans letter, to Pat Riley's signing of various bits and pieces to fill in the roster. In the history of sports, never have so many pixels been spilled over a team that hasn't actually played a game that counts.

A part of me would love to ignore this entire odious crew until they visit Staples Center on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, we as Laker fans don't have that luxury. Throughout the season ahead, and in all likelihood for a few seasons to come, the Lakers and Heat and will be linked in a state of opposition. Every move that one team makes, and every game that they play, will bear on the fortunes of the other. Both franchises are mobilizing huge resources toward the goal of winning an NBA championship, and there's only one of those to go around in any given year. Today's version of the Lakers exists for the sole purpose of completing a three-peat, and although the Heat aren't the only obstacle in the way, they're pretty clearly the most formidable.

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Today we continue our Contender Previews, in which we look at challengers to the Lakers' throne in the upcoming season. Up today is that Florida team that suddenly no one's talking about anymore.

For the Orlando Magic and their fans, the spring of 2010 was what one might call a missed opportunity.

After two rounds of the playoffs, the Magic looked just about ready to claim the franchise's first NBA title. They'd blasted through the Charlotte Bobcats and Atlanta Hawks without dropping a game. The Cleveland Cavaliers, the only team seeded higher in the postseason, had been helpfully disposed of by the Boston Celtics. The defending champion Lakers, of course, loomed on the other side of the bracket, but in a Finals rematch the Magic would have had home-court advantage. Orlando was healthy and on a serious roll, seemingly kicking into top gear at exactly the right time.

As you probably know - spoiler alert! - the Magic never got a shot at that Finals rematch. The Boston defense, led by Kendrick Perkins's stellar play against Dwight Howard, shut down the Orlando attack in a six-game Celtic series victory. Howard once again came under fire for limitations in his offensive game, and rather than spending the NBA Finals listening to Stan Van Gundy bellow hoarsely at his team, we Laker fans had to spend it listening to Doc Rivers bellow hoarsely at his team instead.

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This is the first of our Contender Previews, in which we look at challengers to the Lakers' throne in the upcoming season. Today, we discuss an up-and-coming rival in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Denver are good. San Antonio are good. Phoenix are good. Utah are good. Houston are good. Portland are good. They're all Western Conference contenders, per se. However, one crucial aspect separates the young Oklahoma City Thunder from their counterparts, and that is quite simply their youth. Every other Western Conference contender, even the Lakers, have virtually reached a standstill in terms of developing homegrown talent and are thus either in stasis or regression barring infusion of talent via free agency (which, courtesy of GM Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers have done ever so well, once again) or trade.

The Thunder, however, are almost a personification of the 'young superstar' in a team form. Aside from a few solid veterans, the entirety of the team's core is young and oozing with potential. From record-breaking 21-year-old scoring champion Kevin Durant, to best-point-guard-on-Team-USA Russell Westbrook, to sophomore #3 draft pick James Harden, the Thunder have an already dangerous core that will only improve with time. There are also solid role players in Jeff Green (who may be overrated, but can still function as a role player on a contending team), Eric Maynor, Serge Ibaka, defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha  and rookie big man Cole Aldrich.

These guys were the Lakers' toughest opponents in the West last season.

And exceptional circumstances barred, not one of them will regress next season. In fact, they should all improve.

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