Why the Los Angeles Lakers are better than you think
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers, despite having the best player on the planet, LeBron James, seem to be left out of the elite category amongst the NBA community.
Before the NBA offseason, LeBron James gave us a dominant season-long performance and carried the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. Although Cleveland was swept, LeBron turned a lottery-caliber team into a team that was four wins away from being champions of the world.
Last season was one of the best of LeBron’s career and was defining to how he evolved not only as a player but as the face of basketball. All last season James carried the Cavaliers while a plethora of rumors circled around his head on where he would play next.
With the roster that was around him, James easily could have taken it slower, still received a max contract and saved his body for the future. He didn’t. He took up the biggest workload of his career.
Thus, throughout last season NBA fans repeatedly brought up the question: which NBA team wouldn’t be a playoff team without James?
The answers were usually few and far between. Maybe the Brooklyn Nets, the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings? Regardless, James’ impact is evident.
However, now that he is on a new team in the Los Angeles Lakers, many are doubting what LA is capable of. While many still think the Lakers are a playoff team, few give the team recognition as a top team in the Western Conference.
ESPN predicts that the Lakers will be the sixth seed while Bleacher Report predicts that the Lakers will be the seventh seed.
Despite these predictions, the Los Angeles Lakers are much better than you may think and here is why.